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From the time our ancestors lived in caves to that day in the late '80s when Chrysler sanctioned unofficial "tech clubs" to promote the flow of information between teams working on different vehicle platforms, bands of like-minded individuals had been gathering in a wide variety of settings to recount their experiences and share their expertise. Few paid much attention until a number of possible benefits to business were identified, but many are watching more closely now that definitive links have been established. In Cultivating Communities of Practice, consultants Etienne C. Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William Snyder take the concept to another level by describing how these groups might be purposely developed as a key driver of organizational performance in the knowledge age. Building on a 1998 book by Wenger that framed the theory for an academic audience, Cultivating Communities of Practice targets practitioners with pragmatic advice based on the accumulating track records of firms such as the World Bank, Shell Oil, and McKinsey & Company. Starting with a detailed explanation of what these groups really are and why they can prove so useful in managing knowledge within an organization, the authors discuss development from initial design through subsequent evolution. They also address the potential "dark side"--arrogance, cliquishness, rigidity, and fragmentation among participants, for example--as well as measurement issues and the challenges inherent in initiating these groups company-wide. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Today's marketplace is fueled by knowledge. Yet organizing systematically to leverage knowledge remains a challenge. Leading companies have discovered that technology is not enough, and that cultivating communities of practice is the keystone of an effective knowledge strategy.
Communities of practice come together around common interests and expertise- whether they consist of first-line managers or customer service representatives, neurosurgeons or software programmers, city managers or home-improvement amateurs. They create, share, and apply knowledge within and across the boundaries of teams, business units, and even entire companies-providing a concrete path toward creating a true knowledge organization.
In Cultivating Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder argue that while communities form naturally, organizations need to become more proactive and systematic about developing and integrating them into their strategy. This book provides practical models and methods for stewarding these communities to reach their full potential-without squelching the inner drive that makes them so valuable.
Through in-depth cases from firms such as DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, the authors demonstrate how communities of practice can be leveraged to drive overall company strategy, generate new business opportunities, tie personal development to corporate goals, transfer best practices, and recruit and retain top talent. They define the unique features of these communities and outline principles for nurturing their essential elements. They provide guidelines to support communities of practice through their major stages of development, address the potential downsides of communities, and discuss the specific challenges of distributed communities. And they show how to recognize the value created by communities of practice and how to build a corporate knowledge strategy around them.
Essential reading for any leader in today's knowledge economy, this is the definitive guide to developing communities of practice for the benefit-and long-term success-of organizations and the individuals who work in them.
Etienne Wenger is a renowned expert and consultant on knowledge management and communities of practice in San Juan, California.
Richard McDermott is a leading expert of organization and community development in Boulder, Colorado.
William M. Snyder is a founding partner of Social Capital Group, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Customer Reviews:
Excelent Book.......2007-10-01
I have a project focused on communities, and this book seems right on what I needed. I haven't read it completely, so this is only a first sight review.
How to Thoughtfully Steward Knowledge for the Common Good.......2007-01-02
Cultivating Communities of Practice is a manual and guide created by a community of authors in order to help businesses and organizations more thoughtfully and intentionally steward the knowledge of the community for the benefit of the whole. They understand that energy and "aliveness" about any topic is not created or manufactured, but simply cultivated. Just like a farmer must cultivate the soil, plant the seeds, nurture the crop, and identify and deal with the weeds; the authors help us learn the in and outs of how to cultivate communities that learn to manage knowledge for the common good. In this guide they provide us with the three basic elements for communities of practice; the seven principles for cultivating these communities; the five developmental stages of these communities; the common disorders and treatments; and finally how to start communities of practice in such as way that these communities work for the benefit of the whole. This guide enables people to move from theory to practice.
The three fundamental elements of communities of practice.
While communities of practice have many forms - large and small, local and global, within or across organizational boundaries - they all have three common elements, each of which plays a vital role in the health and success of these communities. When one understands the three fundamentals of communities of practice - domain, community and practice - they are able to better help these groups evolve to their full potential.
* The domain is the specific sphere of knowledge or particular issues that identifies the heartfelt concern of this community. A well-defined domain gives focus and depth to the community and allows the community to be on the leading edge in a particular area of knowledge.
* The community is the people who embody and steward the knowledge in this particular domain. It is "a group of people who interact, learn together, build relationships, and in the process develop a sense of belonging and mutual commitment." (Pg. 34) While each community develops a unique ethos; trust and respect are key elements for any community.
* The Practice entails a shared set of practical resources, protocols, tools, frameworks and ideas that enable the community to perfect and develop their particular craft. "Whereas the domain denotes the topic the community focuses on, the practice is the specific knowledge the community develops, shares and maintains." (Pg. 29)
Because knowledge with human beings is a complex matter, the head (domain), the heart (community) and the hands (practice) each play a vital role in communities of practice.
This is a great book on how to thoughtfully steward knowledge for the common good.
Excellent seminal material.......2006-08-05
It is an esential book for organization leaders, since it points out the main issues that impact on performace, based on the true social knitting of communities.
It establishes clearly the structure of communities and discusses their stages of development, which by themselves are an excellent tip to develop communities within a company. The doughnut metaphor for the dynamics of performance and strategy is an excellent way of explaining the double fabric of relations in a company.
Making it happen.......2006-05-30
I have a great interest in how organizations, particularly those with Christian leadership, work and how they respond to change. This book is rich with the stuff that will help organizations develop in a globalized society. I asked many questions as I read the book. For example, "How does YWAM's Student Mobilization Centre, as a growing network of ministries internationally, develop community and create truly life changing learning spaces for students and leaders who participate in our ministries?"
How can I contextualize a Community of Practice within the framework of YWAM's ministries?
In recent years, our leadership has begun to weave our international conferences around points of passion, like water, women's issues, justice, and children at risk. Our mission has also begun to look at a new paradigm for global strategy called Project 4K wherein the map is divided into about 4000 geographic units highlighting those areas still requiring engagement. What is needed in YWAM is a new cross-platform, multi-disciplinary team focus to properly engage each of those geographic regions.
Our Student Mobilization Centre, a centre of the University of the Nation, needs to develop field leaders who can coordinate multi-disciplinary field project teams and who harmonize outreach teams to serve the long-term community development project goals with special emphasis on field based learning. The UofN operates with the same conclusion that Wenger, et al present in Communities of Practice; that is, useful knowledge is not a downloadable commodity. It requires participation. The best learning experiences are in the context of relationships, especially those experiences and relationships that at the same time unfamiliar and familiar. In my experience, students learn best when taken out of the familiar culture to serve and learn in a context that challenges their expectations and status quo learning experiences. They also learn best if put in a situation where they are challenged to work together with those who either share their skill set and academic training, or they share the same missionary goals.
The advantage to us if we follow this integrative field project model of ministry in the University of the Nations is that we will begin to share knowledge gained in the field. Wenger argues that we can "establish a common baseline" of curriculum for the training school outreaches of the UofN. We will also increase our ability and speed generating and implementing creative ideas for community development, evangelization, and training. These project teams will help us steward and share the knowledge gained. These long-term community development field projects could serve as "laboratories" for curriculum development as well as cross-disciplinary field project leadership development.
To accomplish this, we will need to form cross-platform, multi-disciplinary, communities of practice at field sites where school outreaches may be hosted and outreach staff leadership may be trained. The most essential element of this field-based learning community is the authentic cross-cultural ministry that must be the foundational intent and the fruit of the project. When these missionary communities of practice exist, the witness of the Kingdom of God will be evident in a much greater way, at that field site. These communities of learning and leadership equipping may in turn affect a change in the whole of our mission through an integrated development model of field ministry and leadership equipping.
How might I develop a Community of Practice in Madison, WI?
YWAM's campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin is going through a re-birth and re-generation since our recent inaugural School of University Ministries wherein key leaders in Madison have been given new insight, developed new international cooperation, and shared vision. I see now how the formation of a multi-faceted community of practice in Madison with strong links to field-based learning communities provides a context for a new model of Church engagement with the university community. This community of practice will be a new international study center at the University of Wisconsin.
This new community will not replace existing structures. It will build connections between these different structures including churches, families, professionals/professors, and student organizations. It will connect students, faculty, families, business and church leaders in the university community from many cultures and nations. For example, families have a reason for engaging the university students, because "God sets the lonely in families" and students need role models for marriage and family. However, families do not have much context or place from which to engage students. Therefore there is a need for this kind of community.
The key knowledge that may be shared in this context will come from the field-based learning communities; these communities will link problems and needs with solutions. The problems will always be relevant to today's global community. However, the solutions will not be presented from the ivory tower of the academy or from the expert in the field. Solutions will be discovered together in a multi-cultural, multi-discipline, cross-platform, international community of practice engaged in serving and learning at home and abroad. The challenge for us in YWAM is to "cultivate" this kind of community by removing barriers and encouraging participation. Wenger et al says, "You cannot cultivate this new community model in the same way you develop traditional organizational structures." Our aim will be to connect these pockets of people who have some interest in engaging students and issues relevant to today, especially in the cause of Christ. Our challenge is to create a space and coordinate these unconnected people at key events that will foster the development of a new community; we must cultivate a community of practice.
What can I do to develop our international network with the Communities of Practice paradigm?
The cross-platform project teams and field-based learning sites I have been referring to are the key to our international development in the Student Mobilization Centre. Internationally, we are equipping and releasing leaders to create network teams within their own context. A "common baseline" of terms and methods is forming as our new course, the School of University Ministries, begins to multiply internationally to equip this generation of YWAM campus ministry workers. What is missing is a field-based outreach practices training experience or a field assignment for the School of University Ministries. What must be done is the formation of field project teams at field sites to host, equip, and train outreach team leaders as they carryout the function of leading a student outreach team on an integrated development project.
I desire to see the practical outworking of this vision within the context of my own life and ministry. The challenge to me is to deliberately form communities of practice in my ministry context. This book give me the tools and the principles to make it happen.
A good book but not for everyone.......2006-04-04
The authors have done an impressive work collecting best practices from industries. The book is a good textbook for all KM and OD practitioners to consider in learning about CoP. However, as one of the reviewers have noted, it does not tell you the steps in nurturing a CoP since human behaviours differ among (as well as WITHIN) organisations. The book does however provide a clear definition of how a working CoP would look like.
Readers who are keen on KM should read other works on social network to complement the learning. At the heart of any CoP is social dynamics. Understanding that will help to create CoP that is sustainable and useful to the organisation.
Book Description
How can you build a successful community of practice that is integrally linked to your company's strategic vision? Learn from the first-hand experience of Hubert Saint-Onge, recognized by Fortune magazine as a leader in the field of knowledge capital, and co-author Debra Wallace, the people responsible for a recent project to establish a community of practice for independent agents at Clarica Life Insurance Company voted one of the most admired knowledge enterprises in the world by practitioners and researchers.
'Leveraging Communities of Practice for Strategic Advantage' combines theory and practice to outline a model for developing successful communities of practice and proposes a direction for establishing communities of practice as an integral part of the organizational structure. Saint-Onge and Wallace relate what worked, what didn't, and why as they tell the story from inception through implementation to assessment. Whether you're developing communities of practice or want to learn how to leverage existing communities for strategic gain, this book provides you with everything you need to launch successful communities of practice in your organization.
* Hubert Saint-Onge has been recognized by Fortune magazine as a leader in the area of leveraging knowledge capital
* Clarica has been voted one of the most admired knowledge enterprises in the world by practitioners and researchers
* Combines theory and practice to outline a model for developing successful communities of practice
Customer Reviews:
Excellent practical guidebook.......2005-12-31
While there are a number of books with marvellous content about the theory of communities of practice, this is the one that I go back to over and over again for practical, step-by-step guidance.
I have used and recommended this book often. It is the manual I employed when I created my first formal community of practice in early 2004 - and that community is still going strong and growing, even though I am no longer working with that organization!
thick clotted prose.......2005-03-27
This book is comprised of the kind of writing Sockel calls "thick clotted prose". After decades of reading the clear, unadorned, precise and excellent English of The Economist, I have become intolerant of pretentious layered jargon. What, for example, does this sentence say, which could not be said in simple words: "The organization's objectives, responses, and business models should be calibrated on the basis of its capabilities." Perhaps it could have been: "Organizations should do things they are good at." If this thick clotted prose had coagulated into high scholarship, I might have bothered to read on. Alas, that was not the case. The authors write, in a gesture alluding to scholarship: "Evidence shows that customers are demanding clearer information from their solution providers..." What evidence? It was not given, nor references to studies showing it. Read this book to find out how not to write.
Better still, get yourself a good book on this topic. See "Cultivating Communities of Practice" by Wenger at al., from Harvard Business School Press. Here you shall find lucid expression, good English, thorough endnoting and source documentation, and a comprehensive treatement of the topic.
Very practical indeed.......2003-09-26
This book has proved very practical indeed with the developing of CoPs in our environment.
A useful practical model.......2003-02-19
The book describes the introduction of a virtual community of practice, the Agents Network, at Clarica Life Insurance, Canada's first and oldest mutual insurance company. The book offers a practical and detailed example of the establishment, implementation and evaluation of the virtual community, with examples of the tools used by the project team at Clarica.
The authors introduce the notion of communities of practice as a new strategy to leverage knowledge capital to create sustainable competitive advantage. By valuing communities of practice, by recognising the contribution of community members, and giving support for time and commitment) and providing an infrastructure (e.g. giving them a communication platform, active facilitation and information resources), the authors suggest that organizations can increase the speed of innovation and knowledge sharing.
The Community Development Process Model (p.137) provides an excellent 'roadmap' to the approach they undertook that is readily understood. Practical suggestions and tools about evaluating the value of the community are also provided. There is a good combination of theory and practice and, therefore, something for anyone interested in this topic. It has a balance between high-level strategic models, and detailed and practical examples.
The approach taken at Clarica was systematic and project-managed, with the organization playing a very active role in facilitating the conceptualisation, establishment, growth and expansion of the community. The organization obviously provided significant resources to undertake the project. Virtual communities of practice, like the one described in the book, clearly require strong organisational support and resources due to the technological infrastructure they require to be effective.
The authors do not purport to provide a recipe - rather, they tell a story about the introduction of a virtual community of practice in one organization - as such, the book offers an in-depth view of the process. The questions asked at the end of each chapter are intended to challenge readers to assess whether the approach described would work in their own organization.
Practitioners may be tempted to read more widely to find alternative approaches to developing communities of practice, and to select 'the best of the best'. The Clarica approach is only one way, but it does provide sound conceptual models that set the strategic context, as well as diving directly into the detail. There is a useful associated website.
The Future is Here!.......2003-01-25
Hubert and Debra, thanks, you two have written a monumental work, but in such a humble and mater-of-fact manner. The more I read, the more I became frustrated with the title, because although the book is about the strategic nature of "Communities of Practice," it offers so much more. For the last thirty years, people have been trumpeting the `end of the hierarchy,' but without anything to put in its place. Know we know the future, and it is here!
In Nonaka and Takeuchi's "The Knowledge Creating Company," there was the suggestive diagram of the "hypertext organization." It showed three layers, the hierarchy, the project team community and a third space, the knowledge community. A few years later Nonaka understood that this third space was what the Japanese call "Ba," a shared mental space. Is this not what you two are talking about in your "Reflective and Strategic - Communities of Practice?"
Please write your next book as quickly as possible and reveal the key to the "culture of leadership," a phrase that got short-shrift. Revisit the earlier work you did at The Mutual Group around "values." I am convinced this, more than any number of memos, meetings and check lists, was what made it possible to accomplish what you did at Clarica.
Book Description
Knowledge Networks: Innovations Through Communities of Practice draws on the experience of people who have worked with CoPs in the real world and to present their combined wisdom in a form that is accessible to a wide audience. CoPs are examined from a practical, rather than a purely academic point of view. The book also examines the benefits that CoPs can bring to an organization, provides a number of case studies, lessons learned and sets of guidelines. It also looks at virtual CoPs and to the future by asking 'what next?' This book is a resource for all people who work with CoPs - both in academia and in the real world.
Customer Reviews:
A Rich crop...Well harvested..........2004-04-06
The management of knowledge is a diverse field of study and within the field new crops of ideas are constantly emerging. One of the most resource-rich crops is that of community of practice. Sometimes generic, often hybrid and capable of being genetically-modified they have vast potential in supporting knowledge ecologies.
The agricultural metaphor lends itself well to the nurturing of knowledge. Of course, this is not the first time it has been used nor will it be the last. My own particular interest in the metaphor is how it not only lends itself to communities of practice but also to the process of learning.
For the last three years, I have been involved in teaching a module entitled "Knowledge Management" to students Mastering in Information and Library Management at a University in the North East of England. During those three years, communities of practice have emerged as a significant tool in understanding the creation, capture and transfer of knowledge within and between organizations.
The method of teaching involves lectures (theory-based) and seminars (case study-based) with the use of specific tasks to link the two areas.
This collection of papers is, perhaps, the single most useful text to emerge for teaching the concept of communities of practice, how they relate to managing knowledge within organizations and how they are cultivated and developed. It is abundant in well-researched and relevant commentary, which avoids the jargon of other works. The case studies are particularly useful to information management students trying to understand the relationship between information and knowledge management.
Congratulations to the editors for their conceptualization of the structure and identification of appropriate areas of content and to the individual authors for the quality of their contributions.
Product Description
Two fundamentally different business models of capitalism are operating in the business world today. One is self-destructive and increasingly corrupt. The other is emergent, flourishing, and inspirational. The author explains the differences between the two and reveals the extraordinary results of the more successful model. Profit for Life draws on nearly forty years of research on the empirical connections between stewardship and profitability.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels by Joseph H. Bragdon.......2007-04-08
Profit for Life shatters the old paradigm that success in business means sucking the life from people and natural resources by viewing both as dispensable commodities. By showing us how success in business--including big business--goes hand-in-hand with respect for human and natural communities, Bragdon frees us from the wrenching misconception that profit and citizenship represent a kind of zero-sum game.
Bragdon unites head and heart in one of the most uplifting books I have ever read. Profit for Life offers hope with a firm footing. I recommend Profit for Life to anyone with an interest in business management, strategic investment, or corporate citizenship.
Daniel D. Dutcher, J.D., Ph.D.
Project Director
The Clean Energy Group
Montpelier, Vermont
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels.......2007-01-31
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels
by Ann McGee-Cooper
How do you measure the value of servant leadership in business? How can we know it works? These have been two of the most frequently asked questions in our consulting practice over the past 30 years.
In Profit for Life, Jay Bragdon provides us with some compelling answers. He does this by setting aside much of the linear cause-and-effect thinking that drives business these days, and adopts a more rounded, holistic approach that gives us deeper insight into the firm.
The book is based on the experiences of 60 companies - Bragdon's "learning lab" - that broadly represent the industry/sector diversity of the world economy. Throughout the text he describes 16 of these pioneering companies, called the Focus Group. The distinguishing feature of all these firms is their effort to mimic living systems - in the ways they organize, manage and add value. This mental model is radically different from the traditional one that views the firm as a money making machine.
Although it may seem counter intuitive, the living system approach yields vastly superior results than the traditional one. For example, the average equity return of learning lab companies was nearly double the S&P 500 over the past decade; and their excess performance continues as this review is written. Bragdon expects such premium returns will diminish over time as the more effective methods of the living system model become copied and enter the mainstream. Nevertheless, these results are a strong affirmation of the milieu in which servant leadership normally operates.
Servant leadership, to Bragdon, is all about relationships. He says "relational equity" is the foundation on which companies build financial equity. When companies care about people and the things people care about, Employees become inspired and their inspiration cascades into everything they do, including their relationships with customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders.
The raison d'etre of these servant-led firms is value creation - value that permeates all relationships. Companies that excel at such value creation pursue a strategy Bragdon calls "living asset stewardship" (LAS). The fundamental premise of LAS is: Profit arises from life, and must therefore serve life if it is to be sustainable.
To understand the strategic value of living asset stewardship, Bragdon makes a critical distinction between living assets (people and Nature) and non-living capital assets (buildings, equipment and financial reserves). We see this in three contexts. First, people are closely bonded to Nature - genetically, physically and spiritually - in ways that capital assets are not. Second, living assets are the source of non-living capital assets. And third, because living assets are inherently creative and emergent, their value grows over time rather than depreciating as capital assets do.
The operating leverage in the learning lab and the 16 Focus Group companies resides in the human heart rather than in mechanistic financial gearing. This is supported by the fact that they generate consistently higher returns on equity while carrying substantially lower debt ratios.
Although traditionally managed companies have been adopting some stewardship practices in the past decade, Bragdon finds their approach differs fundamentally from those in his study. In the mechanistic view of these firms, stewardship is an add-on that is subservient to their drive for profit. By contrast, in companies that have adopted the living system model, LAS is deeply woven into the value creation process - reflecting the fact that they see themselves as "living" and therefore integral to, rather than separate from, Nature and society.
Profit for Life builds on the brilliant work of Arie deGeus, former coordinator of Group Planning at Royal Dutch/Shell, and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson. DeGeus' classic, The Living Company, noted that long-lived companies had a collective consciousness, were sensitive to their environments, tried to work in harmony with the world around them, and strove to leave a legacy to future generations. Wilson tells us this collective consciousness is an expression of humanity's deep affinity for life, which he calls "biophilia," and that our biophilic instincts have evolved over thousands of generations of natural selection.
In my work as a teacher of servant leadership, I would highlight the paradigm shift Bragdon describes. The mission of leaders in LAS organizations is to serve and grow their people because that is the source of the firm's liveliness and capacity for growth. As Robert K. Greenleaf said: "The first order of business is to build a group of people who, under the influence of the institution, grow taller and become healthier, stronger and more autonomous." That seminal quote is used twice in the book to describe the power and generative capacity of LAS.
I highly recommend this book and will be using it regularly in our practice.
Ann McGee-Cooper, Ed.D., Business Consultant & Executive coach
in the field of Servant Leadership & growing Learning Organization.
Ann McGee-Cooper & Associates, Inc.
An Extraordinary Book: A Must Read.......2006-11-26
I intend to recommend Profit for Life to all my current MBA students. Next fall I am team teaching an MBA core course that combines Operations Management and Managerial Accounting. I intend to make the case that your book should be required reading and part of the course.
I became familiar with the work of W. Edwards Deming in 1990 and attended one of his four day seminars a year later. I also began to follow Peter Senge's work and later read Margaret Wheatley's book, Leadership and the New Science. Tom Johnson's book, Profit Beyond Measure, has been required reading in my Advanced Managerial Accounting elective at the MBA level.
Bragdon's book has brought the ideas, theories, and concepts discussed by these individuals together for me in a way that I could not have imagined. More importantly, he has not only taken their ideas to the next level, but done it in a way that provides a tangible blue print for how to change our current style of command and control management with its focus on profit maximization to a LAS Theory of Management.
The use of the sixteen focus companies from the LAMP INDEX and the author's ability ability to clearly show the distinctions in their style of management from the traditional management models that continue to be taught in almost all business schools, and the success these companies have achieved not just financially, gives those of us hoping to change management education and core business curriculums a new hope.
Thank you for such an outstanding book.
Joseph F. Castellano
Professor, Department of Accounting
University of Dayton Business School
Excellent, highly readable information.......2006-11-18
This is not one of those lightweight business books that repeats its Chapter 1 message over and over. It's chock full of research-based information that anyone involved in the sustainability movement should have. The publisher is Peter Senge's non-profit, so if you're familiar with his excellent work over the years, this would make a great addition to your library. The author's passion for his subject is obvious from page one.
Book Description
"
Schools as Professional Learning Communities is an extraordinary achievement. It brings together what a long-time practitioner can see and sense. It is an illumination of an exciting path to a constantly improving instructional community."
S. David Adler, Superintendent (retired)
Bergen County Schools, Newton, NJ
"This book is a must for those seeking to prepare school leaders as well as those seeking to improve school performance. Roberts and Pruitt have presented us with a scholarly work that provides the nuts and bolts for those seeking to understand school leadership."
Leslie Agard-Jones, Dean, College of Education
William Paterson University
Transform your school into a learning community with this practical, research-based guide!
Well-documented research shows that teaching, learning, and educational outcomes for students greatly improve when a school becomes a community--that is, when everyone works together to collaboratively search for and resolve problems in their schools. So if your ultimate goal is to help all members of the school community assume a leadership role, this one-stop sourcebook is exactly what you need to get started.
Authors Roberts and Pruitt provide the knowledge and skills necessary to work effectively with teachers, parents, administrators, and students to build a learning community.
Schools as Professional Learning Communities is full of practical strategies, tips, and activities, and addresses the immediate issues faced by teachers in their classrooms and the work teachers, supervisors, and principals perform daily.
Highlights of this nuts-and-bolts guide include:
- Leading in the role of principal
- Working in groups and effectively using team processes
- Initiating study groups for building a learning community
- Providing learning opportunities for teachers through classroom observation
- Mentoring, providing collaborative assessment of student work, and other cooperative approaches
- Developing professional portfolios
- Sustaining the learning community
For school administrators and teachers focused on student achievement, equity, and teacher leadership, this is a must-have resource.
Customer Reviews:
Spectacular!!!!.......2007-07-05
This is the best book EVER written to assist with understanding the nuts and bolts of school leadership. I have recommended this book to all my colleagues and it is now used as a guide to 85 school principles that I know.
Book Description
Reasons for Success draws from lessons presented in the earlier work, Reasons for Hope. It is enriched by the knowledge and insights the authors have gained from decades of participation, observation, and scholarship on Third World development. Concerned that rural development is increasingly neglected in economic development circles, the authors demonstrate that improving rural living standards depends more on ideas, leadership, and appropriate methods and less on money alone.
Book Description
"Outcome Mapping provides not only a guide to essential evaluation map-making, but also a guide to learning and increased effectiveness, and affirmation that being attentive along the journey is as important as, and critical to, arriving at a destination." - Michael Quinn Patton
More and more, development organizations are under pressure to demonstrate that their programs result in significant and lasting changes in the well-being of their intended beneficiaries. However, such "impacts" are often the product of a confluence of events for which no single agency or group of agencies can realistically claim full credit. As a result, assessing development impacts is problematic, yet many organizations continue to struggle to measure results far beyond the reach of their programs. "Outcome Mapping" recognizes that development is essentially about people relating to each other and their environment. The originality of this approach lies in its shift away from assessing the products of a program to focus on changes in behaviour, relationships, actions, and activities in the people, groups, and organizations it works with directly. In doing so, "Outcome Mapping" debunks many of the myths about measuring impact. It will help a program be specific about the actors it targets, the changes it expects to see, and the strategies it employs and, as a result, be more effective in terms of the results it achieves. This publication explains the various steps in the outcome mapping approach and provides detailed information on workshop design and facilitation. It includes numerous worksheets and examples.
Average customer rating:
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Communities of Networked Expertise: Professional and Educational Perspectives (Advances in Learning and Instruction)
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Book Description
Relying on a series of empirical workplace studies as well as an extensive review of psychological, sociological and educational literature, the authors develop a framework for examining human competence as a process of networked expertise.
Networked expertise refers to competencies that arise from social interaction, knowledge sharing, and collective problem solving. These are embedded in communities and organized groups of experts and professionals. Cognition and intelligent activity are not only individual and mental processes but ones which rely on socio-culturally developed cognitive tools. These include physical and conceptual artifacts as well as socially distributed and shared processes of intelligent activity embedded in complex social and cultural environments. Networked expertise is relational in nature. It is constituted in interaction between individuals, communities, and larger networks supported by cognitive artifacts, and it coevolves with continuously transforming innovative knowledge communities.
The focus of the book is on analyzing the socio-cognitive foundations of human intelligent activity. The authors examine theories and models that help to understand individual and social aspects of processes of learning, development of expertise, knowledge creation, and innovation. These processes are studied both in the contexts of education and work, and are illuminated with numerous examples, and interview data. The main topics covered are the development of expertise, distributed cognition and shared expertise, collaborative and cultural learning, and inquiry-based and computer-supported learning processes. The basic tenet of the book is that knowledge sharing should be a core value in all organizations. This is the first step of answering to the challenges of emerging knowledge society.
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Going Virtual: Distributed Communities of Practice (Advanced Topics in End User Computing)
Paul M. Hildreth
Manufacturer: IGI Global
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity
ASIN: 159140164X |
Book Description
Going Virtual: Distributed Communities of Practice contributes to the understanding of how more subtle kinds of knowledge can be managed in a distributed international environment. It describes academic work in the field of Knowledge Management, with a specific focus on the management of knowledge which cannot be managed by the normal capture-codify-store approach and hopes to answer the question, "what is the nature of the more `subtle' kind of knowledge and how can it be managed in the distributed environment?"
Book Description
With a view to deepening our understanding of sources of hatred and prejudice, this book uses a developmental and evolutionary perspective to explore and explain the process by which our beliefs are conveyed to the youngest members of society. Discussing the psychological obstacles to peaceful relations between groups, the authors focus on the developmental processes by which we can work to diminish ethnocentrism, prejudice, and hatred, which children learn from a very early age. Until now, scholarship and practice in international relations have gravely neglected crucial psychological aspects of these terrible problems and have not yet explored the educational opportunities related to them. Addressing these promising lines of inquiry and innovation, this book fosters a more humane and less violent development in childhood and adolescence. Educators, religious leaders, developmental and social psychologists, will find this a valuable resource, as will a socially concerned segment of the public who are looking for practical ways to work for peace.
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