Abstract:

Community of practice (Barab and Duffy, 2000) is a constructivist-based learning theory that advocates the need for authentic learning environments situated within a real-world community as a means to optimize learning.  Given the growth in online education, this paper examines the theory’s importance through a web-based learning environment lens and provides implications for instructional design, tools that support the theory, addresses challenges with the theory, and provides an example of a newer Human Presence system that provides promise in implementation of those interested in community of practice as a framework for designing and implementing their online course.

My actual paper is embedded below.