Social Interaction

The third learning method, ‘social interaction’, expands Freire’s notion of the wider value of collaborative learning in social and cultural contexts in order to take charge of the agenda (1968). In fact this was the approach of the mediaeval Trade Guilds which brought specialist craftsmen together to pursue a common agenda, but digital communication now made sharing ideas between members so much more possible without meeting face to face.

One of the approaches to using edtech to support CPD for teachers recommended by the Landscape Review [1]is a greater concentration on the role of groups of professionals who meet informally to exchange the theories and practices (Daly, Pachler and Pelletier 2009a). A key term for this kind of collaborative exchange is ‘community of practice’ (CoP) first coined by Etienne and Bev Wenger-Trayner to denote professional groups of people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour. For example: 

  • a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression

  • a group of engineers working on similar problems

  • a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school

  • a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques

  • a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope. 

In a nutshell: 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. They share their publications and their overview on their website (Wenger-Trayner E. and B. 2015)  

Scardamalia and Bereiter (1996) developed the idea further by bringing into the learning community a knowledge creation tool. They developed a learning platform, called the Knowledge Forum, designed to assist CoPs of young people to think collaboratively about key questions in the curriculum. Their combined contributions led to identification of gaps in their group knowledge that they fill as a team. The knowledge base is left for the next group. Instead of learning the same information, the new class absorbs the knowledge that is there and digs deeper. This way the school owns a knowledge base in which a pupil has ownership.

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