Etienne Wenger

Communities of Practice in Health and Social Care highlights how communities of practice (CoPs) can make service development and quality improvement in health and social care easier to initiate and more sustainable. Using a series of case studies from the UK and Canada the book demonstrates how the theory of CoPs is implemented in the delivery of health and social care and highlights the associated potential, complexities, advantages and disadvantages. Communities of Practice in Health and Social Care equips practitioners, managers, educators and practice mentors with the knowledge and skills to facilitate the development and maintenance of Communities of Practice and highlights how the effects of Communities of Practice might be made explicit.

Etienne Wenger er i Danmark nok mest kendt for sit samarbejde med Jean Lave, bl.a. omkring bogen []Situeret læring[], der udkom på Hans Reitzels Forlag i 2003. I []Praksisfællesskaber[] går Etienne Wenger et skridt videre og giver sit bud på en egentlig, systematisk læringsteori. Hans hovedsynspunkt er, at læring ikke blot er en kognitiv, individuel proces, men nok så meget sker i samspil med andre i konkrete praksissituationer. Bogen beskæftiger sig primært med det praksisfællesskab, der udspiller sig på arbejdspladsen; men også de mange andre livssammenhænge, den enkelte indgår i, f.eks. familie- og fritidsliv, spiller en rolle for den erfaringsbearbejdning, der medvirker til den enkeltes meningsproduktion og identitetsdannelse. Individuel identitet og arbejdsfællesskabet med andre indgår således i et komplekst samspil med hinanden. Etienne Wenger påpeger i []Praksisfællesskaber[], at det i høj grad er menneskelige ressourcer og kompetencer, der via medarbejdernes motivation, kreativitet og problemløsning skaber værdi på en arbejdsplads. Bogens teoretiske pointer anskueliggøres og uddybes ved hjælp af en gennemgående case om en gruppe skadebehandlere i et forsikringsselskab. De akademiske diskussioner er samlet i et omfattende noteapparat bagest i bogen. Denne opbygning gør fremstillingen levende og anskuelig og gør, at bogen med udbytte kan læses af både teoretikere og praktikere. Bogen henvender sig til alle, der interesserer sig for læringsteori, såvel i erhvervslivet som inden for pædagogisk forskning. Etienne Wenger er forfatter, selvstændig forsker og konsulent. []Praksisfællesskaber[] blev skrevet, mens han forskede ved Institute for Research on Learning i Palo Alto. Oversat fra engelsk efter []Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning, and Identity[] af Bjørn Nake.

Situeret læring, Jean Lave og Etienne Wengers klassiker fra 1991, foreligger nu omsider på dansk. Bogen har i mange år været flittigt brugt i det pædagogiske miljø i Danmark i forbindelse med forskning i og diskussioner om læring og læreprocesser. De to forfattere redegør i bogen for deres forskning, der har bidraget til at flytte fokus fra den traditionelle opfattelse af læring som en individuel, intellektuel proces, der bygger på undervisning, til det sociale aspekt af læring – læring som en proces, der foregår i samspil med andre mennesker i et praksisfællesskab. ¨ I bogen refereres der til forskningsresultater fra så forskellige miljøer som skræddermestre i Liberia og disses videregiven af håndværksmæssige færdigheder til deres lærlinge, oplæring af kvartermestre i den amerikanske marine, slagterlærlinge i praktik i supermarkeder, Anonyme Alkoholikeres modtagelse af nyankomne og servitricers læreprocesser i praksis. Bogen rummer de to forfatteres teoretiske overvejelser over sammenhænge mellem mesterlære, individuel læring og udvikling af identitet. Den danske udgave af Situeret læring er i forhold til originaludgaven udvidet med følgende tekster: Introducerende forord af Steinar Kvale, professor ved Psykologisk Institut i Aarhus Artikel om mesterlære af Jean Lave. To kapitler om læring fra Etienne Wengers bog Communities of Practice Artikel om Kalundborgegnens Produktionsskole af Jean Lave Interview med Jean Lave om antropologisk forskning af Steinar Kvale. Jean Lave er professor i pædagogik ved University of California i Berkeley. Etienne Wenger arbejder som selvstændig forsker, konsulent, forfatter og foredragsholder. De har begge besøgt Danmark flere gange. Bogen er oversat fra amerikansk efter Situated Learning af Bjørn Nake.

Today's economy is fueled by knowledge. Every leader knows this to be true, yet few have systematic methods for converting organizational knowledge into economic value. This book argues that communities of practice--groups of individuals formed around common interests and expertise--provide the ideal vehicle for driving knowledge-management strategies and building lasting competitive advantage. Written by leading experts in the field, Cultivating Communities of Practice is the first book to outline models and methods for systematically developing these essential groups. Through compelling research and company examples, including DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, authors Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder show how world-class organizations have leveraged communities of practice to drive strategy, generate new business opportunities, solve problems, transfer best practices, develop employees' professional skills, and recruit and retain top talent. Underscoring the new central role communities of practice are playing in today's knowledge economy, Cultivating Communities of Practice is the definitive guide to fostering, designing, and developing these powerful groups within and across organizations.

This book presents a theory of learning that starts with the assumption that engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which we get to know what we know and by which we become who we are. The primary unit of analysis of this process is neither the individual nor social institutions, but the informal ‘communities of practice’ that people form as they pursue shared enterprises over time. To give a social account of learning, the theory explores in a systematic way the intersection of issues of community, social practice, meaning, and identity. The result is a broad framework for thinking about learning as a process of social participation. This ambitious but thoroughly accessible framework has relevance for the practitioner as well as the theoretician, presented with all the breadth, depth, and rigor necessary to address such a complex and yet profoundly human topic.

In this important theoretical treatist, Jean Lave, anthropologist, and Etienne Wenger, computer scientist, push forward the notion of situated learning - that learning is fundamentally a social process. The authors maintain that learning viewed as situated activity has as its central defining characteristic a process they call legitimate peripheral participation (LPP). Learners participate in communities of practitioners, moving toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a community. LPP provides a way to speak about crucial relations between newcomers and oldtimers and about their activities, identities, artifacts, knowledge and practice. The communities discussed in the book are midwives, tailors, quartermasters, butchers, and recovering alcoholics, however, the process by which participants in those communities learn can be generalised to other social groups.

In this important theoretical treatist, Jean Lave, anthropologist, and Etienne Wenger, computer scientist, push forward the notion of situated learning - that learning is fundamentally a social process. The authors maintain that learning viewed as situated activity has as its central defining characteristic a process they call legitimate peripheral participation (LPP). Learners participate in communities of practitioners, moving toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a community. LPP provides a way to speak about crucial relations between newcomers and old-timers and about their activities, identities, artefacts, knowledge and practice. The communities discussed in the book are midwives, tailors, quartermasters, butchers, and recovering alcoholics, however, the process by which participants in those communities learn can be generalised to other social groups.