The Open University

This paper reports on a recent research project into representations of practice, their potential uses in the learning technology community, and other factors influencing the degree to which such representations can be used to support changes in practice. The research was carried out by the author on behalf of the SoURCE and RESULTs projects in the period April-July 2001. The aim was to decide on the feasibility of a national resource of case studies, staff development materials and other documents relating to learning technology practice. Theoretical background Lave and Wenger are the authors most closely identified with the idea of community of practice, which they describe as `a set of relationships among persons, activity and world, over time, and in relation with other tangential and overlapping CoPs'. This term has become so widely used, however, that it has little analytical power as it stands. A useful distinction is made by Seely Brown and Duguid (2000):between communities of practice and networks of practice, where CoPs are `people working together on the same or similar tasks'; `usually face to face communities that continually negotiate with, communicate with, and coordinate with each other directly in the course of work'. In contrast, networks of practice are more loosely coupled groupings of people who `have practice and knowledge in common' but nay never communicate with one another directly or work on common projects. Hildreth (1999) distinguishes between networks of individuals who are `motivated to a particular pattern of work' as against teams of people who are `directed' to a particular task of work. Networks are valuable for their reach, which is greatly extended by information technology, while communities are valuable for their reciprocity. Netwo..