CHAPTER 19: Birds of a Feather?: Communities of Practice and Knowledge Communities

Seventeenth century poet John Donne (1967) wrote that “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” (pp. 100-101). The notion that man, as a social creature, needs others to live and learn is certainly not new to our culture’s way of thinking. When one shares commonalities with others, communities are formed. As dynamic organizations, different communities explore different commonalities and work in different ways. While no two communities are alike, some tend to take on similar characteristics in regard to their structure, operation, and goals. Quite often, the goal of a community is improvement: neighborhood development, public community service, or improvement of practice. In recent years, two distinct theories concerning communities have emerged in regard to group efforts to improve practice: communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998a) and knowledge communities (Craig, 1992, 1995). On the surface, it would certainly be easy to believe that these two theories are basically the same—two new terms describing the same age-old ideas. However, the two concepts share more differences than similarities. The purpose of this work is to explore the two theories, their common traits, and their distinct characteristics so that others may better understand the two concepts should they choose to utilize such communities in their research and/or practice. The delineation between the two models is signifanct to those studying communities, their role in the educational process, and their impact on professional practice.