Communities of Practice

Note that the reader might best be served to first read the topic Group Dynamics to understand the basic nature of most groups and their typical stages of development. (It's not clear at this time if online groups have similar nature and stages.)

Simply put, Communities of Practice are voluntary groups where members share a common priority (a problem, topic, etc.) and enhance their learning by interacting on an ongoing basis. Groups usually are informal and not part of an overall organization.

Basics and Overviews
Starting CoPs
Some Applications
General Resources

Basics and Overviews

Communities of Practice -- a Brief Introduction
Communities of Practice -- Definition and Elements
Communities of Practice (Wikipedia)

Starting CoPs

A Startup Kit Starting a Community of Practice (fostering relationships)
Community of Practice: Start Up Kit

Some Applications

A Social Aspect to Virtual Worlds
Communities of Practice -- Learning as a Social System
Communities of Practice and Organizational Performance (download the .pdf)

General Resources

Fred Nickols' list of resources
Facilitation Library
CoP Resources

For the Category of Facilitation and Teams:

Recommended Books

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Includes step-by-step guidelines, tips and tools to effectively lead:
1. Yourself
2. Other individuals in the business
3. Groups and teams in the business
4. Business organizations
5. As well as all functions within the business organization.

Many of the Library's materials about business, leadership and management are adapted from this book. Just click on the title of the book above to see the Index and Table of Contents.

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision With Nonprofit Staff: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Includes step-by-step guidelines, tips and tools customized for personnel in nonprofits to effectively lead:
1. Yourself
2. Other individuals in the nonprofit
3. Groups and teams in the nonprofit
4. Nonprofit organizations
5. As well as all functions within the nonprofit organization.

Many of the Library's materials about nonprofit leadership and management are adapted from this book. Just click on the title of the book above to see the Index and Table of Contents.

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.