Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Kassel, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [121]-144).

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This thesis explores the notion of communities of practice, and in particular how they make sense of their environment in order to create knowledge and enable learning. Traditionally communities of practice are viewed as stewards of expert knowledge, but this thesis argues that they are better understood as sensemaking phenomena. Chapter one introduces the theory of sensemaking as developed by Karl Weick. This chapter introduces the seven properties of sensemaking. It also explores organisational sensemaking by taking the intersubjective and generic subjective levels of sensemaking into account. Chapter two focuses on the literature on communities of practice as self-organising knowledge structures. Three structural aspects of communities of this kind are introduced, namely domain, community and practice. Following Etienne Wenger two additional aspects of communities of practice—namely meaning and identity—are analyzed as these provide the basis for a link to sensemaking theory. In the final part of this chapter the downside of communities of practice is reviewed as they do not only present opportunities but also unique challenges for organisations. Chapter three combines the conclusions from the previous two chapters by interpreting communities of practice from a sensemaking perspective. The seven properties of sensemaking are applied to communities of practice and the role of meaning in communities of practice is viewed through the lens of sensemaking. Furthermore the role communities of practice might play in enhancing the phases of organisational sensemaking is indicated. Chapter four concludes that communities of practice indeed function as sensemaking phenomena in their environments. It is argued that nurturing communities of practice as centres of sensemaking could be advantageous to organisations and recommendations are made on how to best achieve this.

Submitted by Olenêva Sousa (oleneva.sanches@gmail.com) on 2014-01-06T20:18:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Olenêva Sanches Sousa_dissertação.pdf: 2269813 bytes, checksum: f99303e651391cfe30f782217f63e9df (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2014-01-22T19:12:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Olenêva Sanches Sousa_dissertação.pdf: 2269813 bytes, checksum: f99303e651391cfe30f782217f63e9df (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-01-22T19:12:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Olenêva Sanches Sousa_dissertação.pdf: 2269813 bytes, checksum: f99303e651391cfe30f782217f63e9df (MD5) / Esta pesquisa preocupou-se com os cursos de formação para a docência em Matemática e teve foco nos currículos da Licenciatura em Matemática, questionando seus propósitos e responsabilidades para com a construção de uma concepção de Educação Matemática. Partiu da hipótese de que uma estratégia curricular de participação em uma comunidade cognitiva pode ser contributiva à construção desta concepção e utilizou como objeto empírico o blog Matemáticos Educadores, objetivando evidenciar o seu potencial acadêmico como estratégia curricular à formação do Educador Matemático. Operacionalizou-se com um estudo de caso que se debruçou sobre o aspecto comunicativo das suas participações – edições e comentários – e sobre as avaliações dos seus coautores, tendo como base teórica a Etnomatemática, de D’Ambrosio, e as Comunidades de Prática, de Wenger. / ABSTRACT This study has the intent of reflecting on the training courses for teaching in Mathematics and had its focus on the curriculum of the degree in Mathematics, questioning its purpose and responsibilities to the construction of a concep tion of Mathematics Education. The research started from the thesis that a curriculum strategy for participation in a cognitive community can be contributory to construction of this conception and used the Matemáticos Educadores blog as an empirical object , aiming to highlight its academic potential as a curriculum strategy for Math Educator’s training. It was carried out with a case study that looked into the communicative aspect of their participations - edition and comments - and into the evaluations of his coauthors. It was theoretically based on the Ethnomathematics of D'Ambrosio and the Communities of Practice of Wenge

Though a popular and somewhat controversial topic in discussions on language in IB, the notion of English as a (business) lingua franca/(B)ELF still lacks clear conceptualisation. This paper argues that research in IB and linguistics can be mutually complementary and supportive in conceptualising BELF, and that it is important to separate the concept of BELF from that of a common corporate language. The paper synthesises key works from both disciplines to conceptualise BELF as an emergent, multilingual use of English that adapts to the demands and resources of the specific context. It further argues that Wenger's concept of Communities of Practice offers a useful bridge between the disciplines, and that there is a need for more empirical research.

La recherche porte sur la reconnaissance de l’éthos professionnel de coordinateurs associatifs placés en situation d'accompagnement de bénévoles. Elle mobilise un cadre théorique qui articule les travaux sur la professionnalité émergente (Jorro, 2011) et l'éthos professionnel (Jorro, 2009 ; 2010) avec la théorie des communautés de pratique (Wenger, 2005). La méthodologie de recherche repose sur des entretiens d'explicitation (Vermersch, 1994) et de décryptage du sens (Faingold, 1998) pour accéder aux valeurs agies qui spécifient l’engagement dans une pratique culturelle (Billett, 2008). Les résultats révèlent l'émergence d'une communauté d'apprentissage salarié/bénévoles qui accompagne la construction de l’éthos professionnel des coordinateurs tout en interrogeant la formalisation de sa reconnaissance (Belair, 2009). Ces résultats de recherche ouvrent des pistes de réflexion susceptibles de contribuer au développement professionnel des acteurs associatifs. / The research focuses on professional ethos recognition of associative coordinators placed in a position of volunteers’ accompaniment. It mobilizes a theoretical framework that articulates work on emergent professionalism (Jorro, 2011) and professional ethos (Jorro, 2009; 2010) with communities of practice theory (Wenger, 2005). The research methodology is based on elicitation interviews (Vermersch 1994) and ‘decryption of meaning interviews’ (Faingold, 1998) to access to ‘acted out values’ ​​that specify commitment in a cultural practice (Billett, 2008). The results reveal an emergent employee/volunteers learning community accompanying professional ethos construction while questioning the formalization of its recognition (Belair, 2009). These research results provide lines of thought that can contribute to the professional development of associative actors.

Este trabalho buscou estabelecer relações entre a construção de identidades em uma comunidade de prática (WENGER, 1998) e a variação na Concordância Nominal de Número como uma prática social na fala de seus participantes. Para isto, se apoiou no conceito de comunidades de prática e de participação periférica legitimada (LAVE e WENGER, 1991), com vistas a observar, delimitar e analisar uma comunidade de prática emergente na sala de aula de Língua Portuguesa na EJA, por meio da interpretação das relações sociais estabelecidas por e entre seus membros no processo de construção de suas identidades de participação nesta comunidade. A investigação aconteceu por meio de observação participante em uma T4 (totalidade 4) da escola aqui denominada Centro do Trabalhador, localizada no centro de Porto Alegre, e historicamente constituída como uma escola para Adultos trabalhadores. A análise dos dados mostrou a emergência das categorias sociais de Jovens e Adultos reificadas no discurso dos participantes e na constituição social e histórica da escola. Além disso, foram encontradas categorias emergentes de participação na comunidade de prática analisada, mostrando que a negociação do status de participante pleno, periférico e marginalizado na comunidade de prática em questão é dinâmica e constante. A partir destas categorias locais, realizou-se uma análise qualitativa/interpretativa da variação na Concordância Nominal de Número na fala dos participantes na prática da comunidade, que acontece na sala de aula de Língua Portuguesa, e uma análise interpretativa, mas também quantitativa de suas taxas de aplicação de Concordância Padrão nas entrevistas individuais realizadas. A análise conjunta dos dados de variação linguística e interação na comunidade de prática em questão mostrou que esta variável linguística é utilizada localmente pelos participantes como recurso simbólico, ao fazerem movimentos estilísticos, no sentido de construir suas identidades de participação na comunidade de prática analisada, bem como a relação deste uso local com resultados macrossociais encontrados por pesquisas anteriores de larga escala. Este resultado evidencia a importância da associação entre pesquisas interpretativas locais e pesquisas quantitativas macrossociais para um entendimento mais aprofundado dos significados sociais da variação linguística, bem como para compreender as relações destes significados com a constituição de espaços e relações sociais diversas, como as que se estabelecem na escola e na sala de aula de Língua Materna mais especificamente. / This paper aimed to establish relations between identity construction in a community of practice (WENGER, 1998) and linguistic variation on number nominal agreement as a social practice in the speech of its participants. The work has been based in the concepts of communities of practice and legitimate peripheral participation (LAVE and WENGER, 1991), in order to observe, delimitate and analyze an emergent community of practice in an Adult’s education Portuguese classroom, through the interpretation of social relations established by and among its members in the construction process of their participation identities in this community. The investigation took place through participant observation in a T4 (fourth totality) of a school denominated Centro do Trabalhador, situated in Porto Alegre, and historically constituted as a school for working adults. Data analysis has shown the emergence of Young and Adult social categories reified in participants’ discourse and in the school social and historical constitution. Moreover, emergent categories of participation in the observed community of practice have also been found, showing that the negotiation of full, peripheral and marginalized participant status in this community of practice is dynamic and constant. From these local categories, a qualitative/interpretative analysis of number nominal agreement variation in the speech of the participants in the community of practice was performed, as well as an interpretative, but also quantitative, analysis of their application rate for the standard variant in individual interviews. The combined analysis of linguistic variation data and data from interaction in the community of practice has shown that this linguistic variable is locally used as a symbolic resource by the community members, as they perform stylistic moves to construct their participation identities in the community of practice here analyzed, and also has pointed in the direction of a correlation between these local uses and macrosocial results found by large scale survey studies. These results bring up the importance of articulating local interpretative researches and large scale quantitative researches in order to achieve a deeper comprehension of linguistic variation social meanings, as well as to understand better the correlations between these meanings and the constitution of different social relations and spaces, such as those that emerge in the school and, more specifically, in first language classrooms.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:48:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 Tese completa2601_versaoFINAL.pdf.jpg: 12066 bytes, checksum: ed0cb97d14763a558ac5f032fa220913 (MD5) Tese completa2601_versaoFINAL.pdf: 3557622 bytes, checksum: b9591e3a0d33441308ec6c15d5b53bd2 (MD5) Tese completa2601_versaoFINAL.pdf.txt: 590074 bytes, checksum: dab521b5ea46dfc5e5bb39080d90b1fc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-03T00:00:00Z / Communities of practice (CoPs) are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis. In order that a CoP evolves and reach its objectives it must contain characteristics proper of Learning Communities, which means that there are facilities like maps, models or discourses to motivate the interaction between the group competence and individual experiences. The technology is another facility and it may contribute to disseminate the knowledge and the practice because it improves cooperation. Once technology is introduced, the Learning CoPs may become Virtual Communities of Practice, whose sustainability is important in order that the organizations improve internal knowledge, by means of learning in practice, contributing to innovation and productivity. Many of these CoPs don’t sustain themselves during their first years. The reasons may be that interactions of the members of the Virtual Communities of Practice result – much of the time - into controversies. Many controversies may appear from different power relationships created by the new strategies adopted to deal with new realities or from the absence of an adequate stimuli policy from the organization where the Virtual Communities or Practice are embedded. New strategies interfere in identity formation processes that, as a consequence, interfere in the life-cycle of the Virtual Communities of Practice. This thesis analyses the main aspects which contribute to the sustainability of virtual CoPs. The case study of two Virtual Communities of Practice that were created by Fundap (Fundação do Desenvolvimento Administrativo) are explored, based on the Communities of Practice Theory and on the Actor Network Theory, composed with Simbolic Interacionism elements. The main contribution of this thesis is a description, which presents the strategies adopted by one organization to lead with the power relations and controversies in virtual communities of practice that it creates and manage, with implications to apprenticeship. / Comunidades de Prática (CoPs) são definidas como grupos de pessoas que compartilham um conjunto de problemas, uma preocupação ou paixão sobre um tópico específico e que aprofundam o conhecimento sobre esse tópico, interagindo com freqüência e regularidade (WENGER; MCDERMOTT; SNYDER, 2002). Um requisito essencial para que a Comunidade de Prática evolua em seus objetivos é que contenha características próprias de uma Comunidade de Aprendizagem, ou seja, que existam facilidades que motivem a troca entre a competência do grupo e a experiência individual. Uma vez presentes esses elementos, as Comunidades de Prática podem se transformar em Comunidades de Aprendizagem e de Prática . Entre as facilidades para a troca entre competência do grupo e experiência individual encontram-se elementos como modelos, mapas, discursos, mas principalmente a tecnologia, que facilita a disseminação do conhecimento e da prática, por meio da cooperação. Incorporadas as facilidades de tecnologia pela Comunidade de Aprendizagem e de Prática, esta se transforma em uma Comunidade Virtual de Aprendizagem e de Prática, cuja sustentação é importante para que as organizações elevem o conhecimento, por meio do aprendizado na prática, gerando inovações e elevando a produtividade. Muitas dessas comunidades não se sustentam nos seus estágios iniciais porque presenciam muitas controvérsias, provenientes de relações de poder criadas pelas diversas estratégias adotadas pelas organizações nas quais se inserem ou porque essas organizações não lhes provêem uma política adequada de estímulos. Para lidar com essas controvérsias, as organizações adotam novas estratégias, que podem trazer mudanças na rede, nas identidades dos membros, e, conseqüentemente interferências no ciclo de vida das Comunidades de Prática. A fim de colaborar para a análise dos principais aspectos que contribuem para a sustentação das Comunidades Virtuais de Aprendizagem e de Prática, será analisado, em profundidade, o caso de Comunidades Virtuais de Aprendizagem e de Prática – criadas pela Fundap (Fundação do Desenvolvimento Administrativo) –, com base na Teoria das Comunidades de Prática e na Teoria Ator-Rede, sendo esta última composta com elementos do Interacionismo Simbólico. A principal contribuição desta tese é uma descrição, que apresenta as estratégias adotadas por uma organização para lidar com as relações de poder nas comunidades que cria e organiza, as controvérsias desenvolvidas em Comunidades Virtuais de Aprendizagem e de Prática e seus efeitos para a aprendizagem.

This dissertation study explored the practices that foster teacher development in a community of practice (Wenger, 1998, 2010) of teachers of English as an Additional Language in a large federal university in the south of Brazil. The community is part of a big internationalization effort in Brazilian universities, named Languages without Borders (LwB). In summary, the goal of the program is to teach additional languages for university students, faculty and staff. For that, the local LwB center has fifteen student teachers, from sophomore to senior year, who are pursuing a teaching certification in English as an Additional Language. Although the community has teaching as its end goal, and not teacher development, teacher development has emerged as an epiphenomenon, for student teachers need to learn how to teach in order for the community’s goals to be attained. The objective of this study was to observe, describe and analyze the practices that foster professional development for these student teachers in order to understand in what ways (and if) the experiences in their everyday life of the community become professional learning. While previous research has shown that communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) can be sites of learning, and has explored communities among teachers and students in a variety of contexts, there is a scarcity of studies about community among these additional language teachers (Costa, 2013; Merril, 2016) With the theoretical framework of Practice Theory (Wenger, 1998; Young, 2009; Ortner, 1983), this interpretative study (Erickson, 1990) examined history-in-person interviews with focal participants as well as intensive participant observation – recorded in the form of field notes, audio recordings and photographs – and collection of artifacts. The research participants consist of fifteen student teachers, two former student teachers, three Fulbright English Teaching Assistants, and two of the three coordinators of the program at this university. Out of these, five student teachers were chosen for the interviews. Results revealed that this community has both formal and informal practices that cultivate teacher development. The formal practices are planned by the coordinator and enacted in weekly pedagogical meetings, and include practices such as microteaching, workshops and lectures. The informal practices emerge from teachers’ everyday interactions in the teachers’ room, and include practices such as sharing materials, requesting help, sharing classroom stories, sharing specialized concepts and literature in the field of AL teaching, and planning classes together. In conclusion, the landscape of practices that student teachers experience throughout their trajectory in the program helps them develop as teachers through the profession (Nóvoa, 1992) and integrate both technical and practical aspects of the job.

Com base no conceito de identidades de participação em comunidades de prática (LAVE e WENGER, 1991; WENGER, 1998) e dos pressupostos teóricometodológicos da terceira onda nos estudos de variação, foi realizada nesta tese uma análise que conjugou métodos quantitativos e qualitativos de pesquisa para compreender como o uso variável da concordância nominal de número se relaciona com as identidades locais de Jovens e Adultos no Centro do Trabalhador em Porto Alegre. A pesquisa relatada nesta tese teve como objetivo aprofundar em dois sentidos os resultados encontrados na pesquisa de mestrado apresentada em Mangabeira (2012). Nesse trabalho, as categorias sociais de Jovens e Adultos (baseadas, mas não determinadas pela idade dos participantes) emergiram como modos de afiliação a comunidades de prática locais no Centro do Trabalhador (escola municipal de Educação de Jovens e Adultos em Porto Alegre - RS), por meio da análise de dados de cunho etnográfico; além disso, as frequências brutas de aplicação da concordância nominal na fala dos participantes apontaram para uma possível correlação dessas categorias locais com a concordância como recurso simbólico, e com identidades de gênero. Partindo dessas categorias (tomadas aqui como comunidades de práticas escolares), esta pesquisa analisou entrevistas com 16 participantes, para compreender melhor como os participantes da pesquisa constituem suas identidades discursivas (BAMBERG, DE FINA e SCHIFFRIN, 2011) em narrativas ocasionadas por entrevistas sociolinguísticas, especialmente em relação a suas identidades de gênero, associadas às categorias locais de Jovens e Adultos. Além disso, foi feita uma análise multivariada (atomística e não-atomística) da fala desses participantes, utilizando-se os softwares GOLDVARB e RBRUL, com vistas a estabelecer correlações estatísticas entre os resultados qualitativos da pesquisa e o uso variável da concordância nominal, bem como compreender melhor os contextos linguísticos que favorecem ou desfavorecem a aplicação da marca de plural. O resultado da análise qualitativa do conteúdo das narrativas mostrou que as identidades de gênero dos participantes são relevantes para a construção de suas identidades de Jovens e Adultos. Esse resultado também se confirmou do ponto de vista linguístico, uma vez que o uso variável da concordância nominal correlaciona-se estatisticamente, neste lugar, com essas categorias e com categorias de gênero: a aplicação da marca de plural é favorecida por mulheres e Adultos no Centro do Trabalhador. Os resultados mostraram também que, em relação aos contextos linguísticos, a aplicação da marca é favorecida pela saliência fônica, pela presença de marcas precedentes e pelas posições pré-nucleares do sintagma nominal, como apontaram estudos anteriores sobre essa variável no português brasileiro, como Scherre (1988). Por fim, a análise global dos resultados mostrou que o uso variável da concordância nominal é uma prática social (ECKERT, 2000a) no Centro do Trabalhador. / Based on the concept of participation identities in communities of practice (LAVE and WENGER, 1991; WENGER, 1998) and the theoretical and methodological postulates of the third wave in variation studies, an analysis was undertaken on this thesis, which conjugated quantitative and qualitative methods of research to understand how the variable use of number nominal agreement in the noun phrase correlates to the local identities of young and adults at Centro do Trabalhador in Porto Alegre. The research reported on this thesis aimed at deepening the results found on the master's research presented in Mangabeira (2012) in two directions. In this work, the social categories of young and adults (based on, but not determined by the age of the participants) have emerged as modes of affiliation to local communities of practice at Centro do Trabalhador (public school for young and adults, in Porto Alegre – RS), through ethnographic data analysis; furthermore, the high frequencies of application of nominal agreement in the participants' speech have pointed to a possible correlation of those local categories with nominal agreement as a symbolic resource, and to gender identities. Grounded on those categories (considered here as school communities of practice), this research has analyzed interviews with 16 participants, to better understand how the research participants constitute their discursive identities (BAMBERG, DE FINA and SCHIFFRIN, 2011) in narratives occasioned by sociolinguistic interviews, especially in relation to their gender identities, related to the local categories of young and adults. Besides, a multivariate analysis (atomistic and non-atomistic) of these participants’ speech has been performed, using the software GOLDVARB and RBRUL, in order to establish statistical correlations between the qualitative results of the research and the variable use of nominal agreement, as well as to better understand the linguistic contexts that favor or disfavor the application of the plural mark. The outcome of the quantitative analysis of the narratives has evidenced that the participants’ gender identities are relevant for the construction of their identities as young and adults. That result has also been confirmed from a linguistic point of view, once the variable use of nominal agreement correlates statistically, at Centro do Trabalhador, with those categories and gender categories: the application of the plural mark is favored by women and adults at Centro do Trabalhador. The results have also shown that, regarding the linguistic contexts, the application of the plural mark is favored by phonic salience, by the presence of precedent marks and by the prenuclear positions of the noun phrase, as previous studies had pointed out about this variable in Brazilian Portuguese, like Scherre (1988). The global analysis has also shown that the variable use of nominal agreement is a social practice (ECKERT, 2000a) at Centro do Trabalhador.

Background: Innovation and collaboration are deemed popular terms that are widely used and agreed on. It is implied that innovation without collaboration seems to be unlikely (Deichmann et al., 2017, Haanæs et al., 2018, Innov8rs, 2018). However, the meaning behind innovations of disruptive, incremental, or radical character remains vague and presumably differs between practitioners, just as it differs among scholars. Also, the literature only implies how collaboration can be used effectively for innovation, whilst focussing more on what forms of collaborations are existing.   Research questions: How is innovation understood in the CIC? How does the CIC work together in order to realise cross-industry collaborations for innovation?   Purpose: This study aims at investigating the variety of innovation understanding and how it is applied in collaborations, based on the views of practitioners from different companies that are part of the Cross Industry Club.   Method: This research is designed as an exploratory case study and follows a qualitative strategy with abductive reasoning. Data is collected through nine semi-structured interviews with representatives from five different companies.   Conclusion: The study revealed that practitioners have other aspects in mind which define their understanding of innovation compared to scholars. By that, the usage of innovation terminology is rather arbitrary in practice. The influence of innovation frameworks on the understanding of innovation and the collaborative work have been revealed. Innovation in a cross-industry collaboration, in its purpose and characteristics, is similar to the work of communities of practice. Challenges that appear during the emergence of a collaboration like the CIC, and values that affect the initial work towards cross-industry projects, have been identified.