University Training on Communities of Practice

Abstract

The term communities of practice (CoPs) has been coined by Lave and Wenger (1991) during their quests on apprenticeship from 1988. They considered some studies carried on in very different backgrounds and kinds of culture such as those of Maya midwives in Yucatan, Vai, and Gola tailors in Liberia, U.S. Navy boatswains’ drill-grounds, butchers of some American supermarkets, and among the members of Alcoholics Anonymous Association. The common denominator of these studies that has appeared relevant to Lave and Wenger is the presence of learning mechanisms not surveyed before by others scholars and not connected with the direct interaction between apprentice and master, but with the participation to a practice shared with other actors such as other apprentices, masters and journeyfolks.