Community of Practice Model launched Social Media

 

When we think about how comfortable we have become with the use of social media on our smart devices and computers, we might wonder how we there. It can partially be attributed to the Community of Practice Model, proposed by Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave, which is a group of people who have a shared common interest collaborating for the sake of furthering their education. Yet, these men simply classified and defined a practice that has been around for centuries. It could easily describe the learning process in general such as someone interested in learning how to build a house learns from someone else that is experienced in doing so. It is an observation of how we commune and share knowledge and thereby thrive. 

Social media has only enhanced this practice because it eliminates the boundaries of time and distance. It can be a casual grouping or made to be a professional setting depending on the shared interest. The applications designed to connect people from all over the world - Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram etc. - are easy to navigate finding the right group that fits your purpose. It saves time and energy to get access to others knowledge by the use of filters written into the code of the program. Doctors can be found sharing successes and failures with medicine cross culturally helping to progress that field thus saving lives! In the times before the internet, knowledge was much more localized except for the circulated published journals and library resources. It took longer for news to travel than it does now almost instantaneously. 

The application that I found the most helpful was Reddit, because of how you can find your specific professional forum. There you can post what thoughts or questions you might have for your peers in that field. The community is strong on Reddit, with many people being happy to respond and lend their advice or support. The Community of Practice illustrates how resilient humans are, as we strive to know more than we did before often for the sake of the greater good. This means it will continue to evolve as we grow more intelligent, and technology enhances. I cannot wait to see what more will happen in my lifetime!