Communities of practice

Communities of Practice are social spaces where learning takes place. Jean Lave writes about learning as a situated process, where learning stems from participating within the network of practitioners in a given community (Lave, 1991). Part of my research is learning about learning practices, and I will participate in learning with peers, young people, and members of the community in the process.

In workshops and events I will participate as: a facilitator, a teacher, a learner, a practitioner, a researcher, a designer, a peer, a member of the community.

Ricarose Roque has been making research into ways of engaging families in learning to program, in a research project called Family Creative Learning. In the research, part of the process of setting up creative spaces for families to learn is to provide food -sharing a meal is a way of establishing community.

What kind of communities?
For example, these could be hackerspace, makerspace, schools, scheduled events or workshops.

Recording research
In the past I have used photography, blogs, twitter, and sketches to document events. I could log the event through drawing, audio, film, animation.

Who is taking part?
Getting permission for recording or participation could be challenging, depending on the nature of the community event. Alexandra Antonopoulou, makes research into storytelling and design in schools, and records interviews with finger puppetry in order to maintain anonymity, and encourage playful storytelling.