How might Wegners notions of practice communities relate to Prensky's on Education?
Wegner’s Communities of practice involves individuals developing their knowledge by working together, these individuals learn from each others experiences. This is similar to Prensky's views on education, the reason being is that it links to the idea that teachers should “pay attention” and “value” (Prensky, 2006) what their students already know. This is because they are “digital natives,” who are "fluent" in the language of technology, not only should a teachers teach but listen to their students and learn from them. Another instance of similarity involves Wegner’s notion of “Joint Enterprise,” in which the Communities of Practice are negotiated by it's members, this allows for each individuals input. This Links to Prensky and his belief that teachers should listen to the “input from students about how they would teach” (Prensky, 2006) because like Cofp it is the idea of working together, this process according to Prensky means that education will appeal more to the “digital immigrant” through the equal involvement by both teacher and student.
It appears that you waited till the last minute to post the whole of the last three weeks? This obviously makes it impossible for you or your colleagues to be seen to enter into a 'virtual learning community' doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteSo, from an assessor's point of view, your contribution to a collective learning experience is necessarily close to zero? Similarly, your opportunity to read other's work and rehash it -rather than doing your own research has been maximised.
I'm sure that wasn't the case here, but you would have been wise to think about the downside of your approach before embarking upon it.
I think Prensky is about individualising learning, not collecivising it. However, the technology that he and his colleagus promote is about networking and thus Wenger's notions come into play. Look at the note alongside the questions for more hints about the import of the question.