Communities shape our learning

Community is all around us. Some communities we join intentionally. From book clubs to soccer teams, kids and adults regularly choose communities to participate in. 

Other communities are just part of the everyday life of work or school. Students do not get to choose their classmates, but they are each part of a connected community. Adults are part of their workplace communities.

Whether we choose the community or not, it drastically impacts what and how we learn.  In the book, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, (1998) Etienne Wenger states that "engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which we learn and so become who we are." As people interact and participate in community they are shaped by the people and processes that are part of that social group. 

We may not often think about our day-to-day interactions as learning. However, learning is something we never stop doing. Our experiences and interactions with others shape our learning.