Learning Together

Wenger's introduction to her book, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and identity, raises some very interesting points about our concepts of teaching and learning.  Her basic belief stems from the idea that we are social beings and learn more efficiently in a social environment.  She states the following four principals:
 


We are social beings.

Knowledge is a matter of competence with respect to valued enterprises (In other words, knowledge happens when we achieve a goal.)

Knowing is a matter of participating in the pursuit of such enterprises, that is of active engagement in the world.

Meaning - our ability to experience the world and our engagement with it as meaningful - is ultimately what learning is to produce.
When I think about these principals it makes sense that performing artists excel in school.  The performing arts are all community based activities that lead to a specific goal, such as a performance.  Students must be actively engaged and are expected to produce an outcome.  Each student has an individual job, but learns the value of that job in relation to the overall outcome. From this, they develop a sense of self worth and responsibility.  
 
In contrast, I realize how our traditional schooling obliterates these principals with desks in rows, individualized standardized tests, and many hours of independent work.   If we learn better in social situations, why do we hold on to these traditional educational practices?
 
The internet and social networks create an ultimate forum for the birth of a community of learners.  We can write an article, comment on it, and adding our own knowledge effectively developing a group of people with common interests.