Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

19 – Building Communities of Practice
Learning outcomes
After completing this chapter, you should be able to do
the following:
• Discuss technology’s effect on social practices within
a community.
• Identify resources that rationalize the design theory
for developing information and communication
technologies (ICTs).
• Define and apply the following technical terms as
they apply to computer interactions:
– platforms
– applications
– services
• Explain the relevance of technical standardization to
interpersonal communication tools such as email.
• Describe underlying processes (recording, referencing,
and publishing data) that occur in mainstream
commercial applications such as Microsoft Outlook®.
• Identify facilitation and sequencing techniques that
may enhance digital community interactions.
• Describe how modelling tools can support community
involvement in the development of digital
community infrastructure.
Introduction: the turkey boat
problem
The Power to Edit
Each spring an excited group of athletic individuals filter
into the small and close-knit whitewater rafting community.
Upon arriving at the river community these
trainees are given a place to camp, and an opportunity
to ride along with the senior guiding staff. Although
the senior guides are tolerant of the new arrivals, they
recognize that, in an average training year, only one
third of them will eventually become guides.
Over several months, the new arrivals will be asked to
practise rescue techniques, learn to read complex
whitewater hydraulics and develop sound decisionmaking
abilities within highly stressful and quickly
changing conditions.
Only after these hard skills have been attained can trainees
begin to comprehend the immense responsibility they
hold for the safety of others. In an effort to manage the risks
inherent in rafting, guides need to develop their problemsolving
techniques before they progress into dangerous
situations. Whitewater guides must understand that each
participant plays an important role in an interdependent
team, which must coordinate efforts in order to successfully
navigate treacherous and complex whitewater rapids.
Often people who want to become a professional
guide see the role of guiding as a burden to be shouldered
through physical strength and expertise. Indeed,
physical competence is an important component however,
the importance of the other team members within
the boat is often underestimated. This lack of recognition
can quickly lead to failures in communication—
creating an environment where accidents can occur.
The turkey boat is used in raft guide training to address
the importance of teamwork and communication.
A team of guide hopefuls (around eight, total) with little
or no direct advice, are given a whitewater raft, paddles,
life jackets and helmets and told to navigate difficult
whitewater rapids.
Much like learning to drive a car, the kinetics of whitewater
rafting are not overly complex. Your paddle works as
the steering wheel, gas pedal and brake. And as with driving
a car, once the basic kinetics have been learned, confidence
quickly follows. Unlike a car, however, a raft can be controlled
by any of the individuals holding a paddle—and to
complicate matters, each individual is viewing the river
from a different location. So the turkey boat consists of
eight individuals, armed with minimal technical knowledge
and growing (sometimes inflated) confidence, eagerly
striving to prove their leadership ability.
Leadership development schools such as Outward
Bound have taught basic sports psychology for years.
The idea behind these schools is that group development
progresses through stages. Further, these stages can be
used to develop tools that facilitate highly dynamic
group interactions. Although raft guiding activities can
be classified as adventure recreation, or perhaps even
educational, the focus of guide training programs are to
build physical and social competencies, including guiding
technique, communication, respect, and problemsolving.
Because of this focus, guide training programs
can be described as a developmental adventure education.
Developmental adventure education contains a strong
process-based component. This process can be used to
assess the goals of the group and attempt to facilitate a
trajectory of learning for the participants. These trajectories
work to place engagement in activities in the context
of a valued future within the group. In this way,
learning can be experienced as a form of identity. 20
20
A detailed review of this process can be seen in many
written works, but most notably, the recent works of
Etienne Wenger who has developed a persuasive and detailed
analysis of this position.
288 Education for a Digital World