**2. A community of practice**

The expression "community of practice" has been used to describe a group of people that interact around a topic. More specifically and quoting Etienne Wenger, the educational theorist who invented the concept (together with McDermott and Snyder) [17]:

*"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."*

A more elaborate definition, but essentially equivalent, is the following<sup>2</sup> :

*"(Communities of practice are) Groups of people who come together to share and learn from one another – either face-to-face or virtually are held together by a common interest in a body of knowledge and are driven by a desire and need to share problems, experiences, insights, templates, tools, and best practices."*

Another interesting definition by John Sharp in 1997 is quoted in [18]:

*"A Community of Practice (CoP) is a special type of informal network that emerges from a desire to work more effectively or to understand work more deeply among members of a particular specialty or work group."(p. 140)*

Hence, the community of practice concept is focused on enhancing people's skills through interaction around problems, solutions, and insights and building a common store of knowledge [19, 20]. The concept has a number of practical applications in business, organizational design, education, and civic life [19].

On the other hand, Wenger himself has a broader, more philosophical view [21]:

*"In our communities of practice, we come together not only to engage in pursuing some enterprise but also to figure out how our engagement fits in the broader scheme of things" (p. 162).*

In general, a community of practice is described along three important dimensions [22]: domain, community, and practice. See **Figure 1**.


<sup>2</sup> http://www.csuchico.edu/swrk/mh/communityofpractice.shtml

**3.** *Practice*: It is sharing the common resources (i.e. documents, cases, and tools) that can build the capability of the community.

Based on Refs. [23, 24], a topology of 21 structuring characteristics has been identified on which a community of practice may be compared. One of them is the geographic dispersion of the participants. Clearly, a community of practice has more chances to succeed if all members are nearby. On the other hand, use of modern technology may greatly diminish the overhead caused by distance.

In fact, the major factor to the success of a community of practice is the use of information and communication technologies or, more broadly, of the Internet. The Internet enables us to create online communities that are characterized by strong social relationships among participants, even if the members are physically far apart. It can even foster stronger commitment to the community goals in spite of the distance [25]. Several conversational technologies, such as discussion forums, weblogs, and wikis, can be used to support communities as well [26]. These are the characteristics and the ingredients of instructional technologies. Hence, instructional technologies are certainly a topic around which successful communities of practice can be created. When doing so, the first task should be deciding the kinds of activities that can be important for such a community.

Our ultimate goal is to create a community of practice around online labs in the MENA region. A precondition for this is the existence of a regional network capable of providing the necessary resources to teachers and students and capable of supporting collaborative work.

Building a community of practice can contribute significantly to the success of any educational system and emphasize social and economic aspects as well. Some software in the Internet might be the first step for supporting a community of practice (i.e., chatting). Several new instructional technologies have been at the inception of several communities of practices, like those around online labs [25].

**Figure 1.** Dimensions of a community of practice.

analyzes data that is collected from the techniques. Section 5 details the results. Section 6 presents some additional remarks. Finally, Section 7 reflects on the conclusions and discusses

The expression "community of practice" has been used to describe a group of people that interact around a topic. More specifically and quoting Etienne Wenger, the educational theo-

*"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for some-*

*"(Communities of practice are) Groups of people who come together to share and learn from one another – either face-to-face or virtually are held together by a common interest in a body of knowledge and are driven by a desire and need to share problems, experiences, insights, templates, tools, and best* 

*"A Community of Practice (CoP) is a special type of informal network that emerges from a desire to work more effectively or to understand work more deeply among members of a particular specialty or* 

Hence, the community of practice concept is focused on enhancing people's skills through interaction around problems, solutions, and insights and building a common store of knowledge [19, 20]. The concept has a number of practical applications in business, organizational

*"In our communities of practice, we come together not only to engage in pursuing some enterprise but* 

In general, a community of practice is described along three important dimensions [22]:

**1.** *Domain*: It is the definition of the area of enquiry. It aims to organize the members so that they can use and share the knowledge that gives them a sense of joint enterprise, brings

**2.** *Community:* It is a group of people who interact and learn together for building relationships. The relationships among members are a sense of belonging, interact regularly, and

On the other hand, Wenger himself has a broader, more philosophical view [21]:

*also to figure out how our engagement fits in the broader scheme of things" (p. 162).*

:

rist who invented the concept (together with McDermott and Snyder) [17]:

*thing they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."* A more elaborate definition, but essentially equivalent, is the following<sup>2</sup>

Another interesting definition by John Sharp in 1997 is quoted in [18]:

future work on this subject.

84 Global Voices in Higher Education

*practices."*

*work group."(p. 140)*

design, education, and civic life [19].

engage in joint activities.

2

domain, community, and practice. See **Figure 1**.

them together, and follows a common interest.

http://www.csuchico.edu/swrk/mh/communityofpractice.shtml

**2. A community of practice**

Creating a network can bring benefits, especially in higher educational sectors; this is what has been proved in the past and today. Furthermore, Internet technology has been expanding the range of networks widely, as mentioned in [16]:

To create a community of practice around online labs in the MENA region, a regional and national community network must be built for providing the resources to teachers and students. Moreover, this community network can increase the collaborative work among researchers.
