User talk:Dr. Santhosh

LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Learning can occur in a variety of contexts through individual reflection or social negotiation of meaning. In a community, knowledge is often developed through experience and narratives based on the perceptions of individual participants and communication between them. Thus, learning in a community means to advance the knowledge and performance of the whole while supporting growth of the individual. Individuals belong to a variety of communities, such as religious affiliations, neighbourhoods, work environments, classrooms and families to name but a few. In essence, a community is a group of people who regularly share or participate in a common interest or activity. In each of these settings, learning and knowledge can take on different meaning depending on the values, beliefs, and goals of the community and its participating members. In a knowledge society, people need to learn how to learn. “In a learning community, learning focuses on the processes as well as the content and product. Learning how individuals, teams, and organizations learn, and critically reflecting on the processes or organizational improvement, become essential components of daily work practice” (New South Wales Department of Education and Training, 1995). Learning in a community can be structured in different ways through informal, purposeful or structured interactions. For example, in a corporate setting, a technician often learns how to repair a machine through a combination of training and sharing experiences with colleagues. While learning occurs in most communities, it takes on a different emphasis depending on the context and goals of the community. For example, a learning community such as a classroom values learning over performance, while a community of practice views learning through the interplay of participation and performance. Because learning environments take a variety of forms, one community's perspective can have a greater meaning than another, depending on the instructional model employed. Learning is dependent on reflection that comes from the power of “intellectual camaraderie” stemming from discussion, collaboration, sharing and building knowledge with peers, as well as those who are more experienced or advanced in the topic or area of inquiry (Fulton, 2003). Through collaboration, each member of the community brings unique abilities that can be utilized and acknowledged by the learning group. There are opportunities for a learning community to utilize the unique abilities of individuals.