(Image taken from seasaltwithfood.com)
Identity
The groups we identify with negotiate common language, values, and ways of interpreting meaning (Gee 1999). Our identity groups spring from our social and cultural contexts and influence the ways we engage socially (boyd 2009) Identity is the sense of belonging that develops from the collection of meaning making experiences we have while participating in a community of practice. Identities allow us to negotiate how we see ourselves in relation to our communities of practice and to the world (Wenger 1998).
Community
Communities of practice are multiple in our lives; we are simultaneously a part of different communities of practice with each separate group sharing mutual engagement and joint pursuit of negotiated goals and social processes (Wenger 1998). Communities of practice should be free to assess the ways that they may utilize distributed social and digital intelligences to participate in those communities in a manner that helps them to fulfill mutual goals (Pea 1992). However, there may be struggles depending on the makeup of particular communities and the ways that they define and respond to innovation (Rogers 2008). This is to be expected according to Wenger who asserted that discord or opposition is a part of communities of practice.
Design
Educators and designers need to move beyond thinking in terms of binaries when it comes to deciding on whether or not to implement social technologies. It's far too reductionist and simplistic to think in terms of a technology being "all good" or "all bad." Effective integration of these technologies necessitates careful consideration of how particular communities of practice interpret and design meaning for particular audiences and purposes. Similarly, advocates of social technologies need to remember that diffusing innovations is an incremental, gradual process and that in order to encourage success should be analyzed in light of specific criteria such as:
· relative advantage
· compatibility with the existing context
· the complexities associated with the implementation trialability (think "beta" iteratively)
· observability
The community determines the parameters or boundaries of these criteria. Based on a CoP's intimate familiarity with their own context, they determine how those four criteria are defined and applied (Rogers 2008).
As educators, we should be considering and defining the practices that define communities of practice. We must design learning spaces to allow students to participate in these practices. Learning spaces should allow students to develop identities in relationship to how they see themselves in relation to participating in communities and the world. Our mission is to honor individual and community identities and the ways that individuals and communities interact to accomplish social goals and negotiate membership.
As educators I agree that we need to be spending more time thinking about the interplay of these important elements of community, identity and design and paying attention to how they play out in real time classrooms. As Landshear and Knobel note, learning spaces need to be "less fixed, more fluid, and less policed, controlled and defined by 'centralized' authorities and experts (p.14). The more I read (in all my classes) I realize that imposing too many constraints on the design of learning environments, prevents communities from evolving in a way that is most beneficial for individuals to establish a clear working identity with that community. The question is, how are decision makers made aware of how crucial these ideas are when planning new learning spaces for students of all ages. Note: I'm anxious to hear more about the delicious photo selection. :-)
What scares me the most as a future teacher is what Wenger has to say about requirements for creating a learning space that promotes a community of practice. "This principle suggests that being an active practitioner with an authentic form of participation might be one of the most deeply essential requirements for teaching (277)." I am very hopeful that there will be a university that I can look to in order to continue my work in science. I do not feel that my undergraduate degree negotiated membership for me in the community of science. Wenger talks about traditional classrooms not being connected to the world, and that was definitely the experience that I had. Now my challenge is to bring a world that I haven't fully participated or contributed to into the classroom. Very scary.
To be honest, I really wish my program spent more time discussing the origins of our current educational system (and its inherent prejudices/oppression)in order to understand why we need to change our learning environments now. Free public education in America was created to keep poor urchins off the streets and stop them from committing crimes (while at the same time, teaching them to be complacent factory workers). We need to figure out what our current culture values (like honoring individual and community identities) and create learning environments that encourage this behavior.
MJ & Dan: It's compelling how these ideas have given you both a chance to reflect on instructional practice both in your future (Dan) and in your present/past (MJ). I'm particularly struck by the statement: "Identity is the sense of belonging that develops from the collection of meaning making experiences we have while participating in a community of practice. Identities allow us to negotiate how we see ourselves in relation to our communities of practice and to the world (Wenger). It really illustrates how identity and community mutually construct one another and during simultaneous times. Dan, you seem to be struggling to identify yourself as part of the science community here, and that has affected your identity in seeing yourself as a teacher. MJ, you seem to identify as a teacher within a community, but the community of practice we've built in this class (and others) has helped influence this identity.
This is really interesting. Dan & MJ, do you think the institution as a community of practice has a responsibility to prepare you to enter a community? I think it does. Could this be a part of what Gee discusses as preparation for a secondary Discourse? Who is responsible the established community or the individual wishing to adopt that identity and entrance into that community? If we say it's the individual, isn't there some responsibility for mentorship for membership? If as educators, we consider ourselves as mentors rather than teachers, does that imply a shift or redesign of social roles? I'm wondering if we need to consider if the social systems we design for learning are constructed to facilitate entry into new Discourses or limit them.
Roi,
I think you hit it on the nose. I feel like I haven't established identity within the community of science and teaching. I think in the secondary education system, teachers are often not a genuine contributor to the science community. In the undergraduate system, often you run into professors that are a part of the science community but maybe not the teaching community. Any solutions?