“Learning is the engine of practice, and practice is the history of learning.”

 

—Etienne Wenger (1998, p.96)

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Overview
How can Communities of Practice (CoP) (Lave & Wenger, 1991) be applied by designers and researchers through the D4L Unlock Framework (Lee, 2025) to address the opportunities and challenges of a longevity society? This week, we will explore, understand, and apply the three foundational elements of CoP—domain, community, and practice—to the development and evaluation of D4L projects. 

 

We will also examine the concept of Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) to identify different levels of engagement within a community, including core, active, occasional, peripheral, and transactional participants. By integrating CoP and LPP with the D4L Unlock Framework, students will develop strategies for designing collaborative ecosystems that support knowledge sharing, community engagement, and sustainable innovation across individual, community, and urban scales.

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Reading Material

• Wenger-Trayner, E., Wenger-Trayner, B., Reid, P., & Bruderlein, C. (2023). Communities of practice within and across organizations: A guidebook (2nd ed.). Social Learning Lab. https://www.wenger-trayner.com/cop-guidebook/

• Wenger, E. (2013). Learning in landscapes of practice [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn3joQSQm4o

• Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning as a social system. The Systems Thinker, 9(5), 2–3. https://thesystemsthinker.com/communities-of-practice-learning-as-a-social-system/