Fostering Learning Communities

foster learning com.pdf 199.66 KB

"One of the hottest organizational topics today is communities and how they can add high value to the organization at relatively low cost and effort. And the greatest interest in communities is focused on learning communities - communities that learn from and with each other through knowledge sharing. These learning communities are given a wide variety of names depending on the personal preference of whoever chooses the name and the context in which it is being used. Some of the names I have seen used by different organizations and community practitioners, include: community of practice (CoP); knowledge (or learning) community; knowledge (or learning) network; knowledge (or learning) council; neighborhood; cadre; peer assist network; and others. I am using the term "learning community" here because I believe its two root words best describe and encompass the concepts and examples I will be talking about in this article.

Author(s): Arian Ward