Wenger’s three dimensions of practice (full table)
These notes are part of a series for the book.
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
| Chapter | Characteristic | Mutual engagement | Joint enterprise | Shared repertoire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Properties of a community | Engaged diversity Doing things together Relationships Social complexity Community Maintenance | Negotiated enterprise Mutual accountability Interpretations Rhythms Local response | Stories Styles Artifacts Actions Tools Historical events Discourses Concepts |
| 3 | Learning in practice | 'Evolving forms of mutual engagement' (Wenger, 1998, p. 95) | 'Understanding and tuning their enterprise' (Wenger, 1998, p. 95) | 'Developing their repertoire, styles, and discourses' (Wenger, 1998, p. 95) |
| 6 | Competence | We learn how to interact with others and work together. | Our investment in the community shapes our understanding of the conditions within and faced by the community. | We know the COP's shared history through its 'artifacts, actions, and language' (Wenger, 1998, p. 153). |
| 6 | Identity | We are 'part of a whole through mutual engagement' (Wenger, 1998, p. 152). | Our understanding shapes our perspective, which leads members to make similar decisions, come up with similar interpretations, and have similar values. | We have personal experiences and memories of negotiation with the COP's repertoire. |