legitimate peripheral participation describes a mechanismwhereby newcomers to a community of practice constantly move between periph-eral and more central forms of participation. Center and periphery do not referto physical locales but rather to relations of production and accountability crucialfor the community’s functioning.
I'd like to learn more about what Azevedo means by accountability
practice participation results partly from the senseof future that the community imparts to its members.
thinking about all of the distinctions between the different types of participation.
follows from the child’s identification withfamily and community and his or her ongoing commitment to these
how does this shape the child's identity?
follows from the child’s identification withfamily and community and his or her ongoing commitment to these
how does this shape the child's identity?
person’s understanding of his or her ongoing andfuture relationship to the community and its members, as well as his or her motivesfor engaging the practice in the long run.
identity
distributed framesof cognition (Hutchins, 1995, 1998), norms and values of practice in differentcommunities of amateur astronomers, as well as the division of labor in such com-munities (e.g., Stevens, 2000), create the conditions for and shape individuals’forms of participation.
are these some of the resources perhaps?
structuraland process features of the practice, which together afford individuals the ability tocontinuously tailor the hobby: (a) an extensive and varied material infrastructure;(b) participating simultaneously across multiple communities/sites of astronomypractice; (c) activity structural resources that function as templates for short- andlong-term activities; and (d) processes of collaboration and idea sharing.
are these possible resources? hopefully an explanation will follow and I can expand on this.
he availability of distinctsitesandcommunities of practice,each of which espoused a certain instantia-tion of the hobby—that is, a particular substantive focus of astronomy practice,including observations of various kinds, teaching, reading, socializing, and soon—afforded the practitioner the possibility of tailoring his or her practice in avariety of ways
Where one practices the hobby is also an important resource both in terms of access to the practice itself, and to others in the community of practice.
I wonder if this kind of variation can be found in other hobbies. Is it as significant of a factor among model railroaders or people who knit?
Collaborationwas thus an important dimension of Mitchell’s, Sally’s, and many others’ prac-tices, an inference further strengthened by the ethnographic observations thatinformal and more systematic collaborations were endemic (and thereforeval-ued)at bothMt HillviewandLake Countrysideevents. But it was also clear thatthesocializingfunction ofcollaborationwas at least as important as its products,and individuals clearly used the hobby as a means of developingfriendshipsthatextended beyond the fields of practice.
The community of astronomers, and the relationships that they build together, are clearly a resource for learning, as illustrated here and at other points in the article (ex. looking at an object through several telescopes with different resolutions). But the important thing here is that it's not just about working together in the moment, but about how these continued relationships/friendships support and encourage learning in the future.
Specifically, a lens oflines of practicesuggests that,given certainconditions of practice,people will weave all sorts ofpreferencesintoongoing and long-term activities of interest, thus sometimes deviating from theintended curriculum and its topical core, often in dramatic ways
This point, being heavily influenced by the use of the resources for each individual. If everyone used the resources the same way, there would be know weaving of preferences.
Sharing of resources is key here. Jackie had the most powerful scope in thegroup, and therefore it often served as the primary instrument for their observa-tions, especially when it came to the most faint objects on the list. By comparingviews across many scopes, astronomers could develop a better sense for theirobservations
I wonder if using people as resources, in whatever case/way, is the most powerful resource tool? Do people really learn the most from human contact?
consider that all amateur astronomers I met inthe field mentioned that completing theMessierlist was a past, present, or futureobservational goal. To be sure, each such individual would do (or did) this indistinct ways: Some observed the objects over a long period of time (say, becausethey pursued multiple simultaneousobservational goals,as was Mitchell’s case),whereas others focused on finishing the list in the least possible amount of time.6
I think this is something found across all communities, the use of one specific resource.
Notice that in many practices in which people participate intensively andextensively (e.g., work and school), at any given time individuals are likely tobe affiliated with a single such community of practice and/or institution
I think the use of resources will allow for people to not be so heavily affiliated to a single community. For example in Mitchell's case he was able to build a telescope for his affiliation of the astronomy community. But, him building the telescope made he be a part of another community as well.
the technological infrastructure that he importedinto his manyobservational linesof practice was clearly continuous with otherpractices beyond amateur astronomy and gave Mitchell’s hobby a flavor that wasdistinctively his.
I think this plays into the idea of how individuals use different resources in different ways.
Taking detailed observationalnoteswas thus a naturalextension of Mitchell’s many other daily practices, and it too shaped and sus-tained his astronomy practice
In reading this point, it makes me understand the difference in resources individuals will have. Not all people will use the resource of notes like Mitchell will.
comparing these notes to Mitchell’s would make very salient the multiple andspecific dimensions of Mitchell’s extended hobby participation.
The notes posed as a resource to Mitchell and the individuals at Lake Countryside but also to Azevedo
events such as eclipses, comets, and planet alignments are periodicbut relatively rare, and thus they always attracted Mitchell’s attention, as well asothers’. Likewise, one-time occurrences such as the birth of a nebula are also rareand thus Mitchell and others often took the time to observe them
Does the rarity of certain instances within a given community of learning also pose as a resource? Mitchell's knowledge in know certain events were very rare engaged him to observe more in depth when the instance did occur.
sites of practice themselves became a case, to be developed inreflexive relation to individual practice cases. In this manner, I hoped to documentidiosyncratic and shared forms of participation within the larger space of prac-tice made available by the hobby as a whole
The individual site of practice, and the greater context of astronomy can also be seen as resources. When thinking about the actual site were is the knowledge is being learned, but then the application in the greater context of astronomy also supports this learning. It motivates the individual to take what they learned from the individual site and add their knowledge to the larger field.
developing a classroom practice in which par-ticipants (students and teacher alike) see themselves as a community that sharesthe endeavor of learning a discipline.
Which also has the ability to pose as a resource, right? When fostering a classroom that functions as a community, the teacher is promoting an environment that students feel comfortable in, which in turn would probably increase their participation/engagement.
An individual or personal interest, in contrast, refers to a person’s long-termdisposition to engage a topic or domain—such as world history, the physics ofmotion, or sports—and is usually associated with high knowledge and high valueof such a topic/domain
Using the knowledge of what the individual's long-term disposition to a topic or domain proves to be a resource to support learning. In an undergrad class that I teach, I make sure to learn about my students' research interests to be able to provide them with readings that will engage them when learning about the material.
It follows that becausepeople learn (e.g.,observational skills) along theirlines of practice,intersectionsbetweenlinesshow knowledge and learning that cross line boundaries
Learning is defined by lines of practice. This sounds a lot like LPP. Although, in some ways it provides nuance because it conceptualizes a possibility of boundary crossing and embraces difference in LPP for different contexts and different people in the same CoP.
preferenceemerging in Mitchell’s narrative regarded hisdevelopingidentityin amateur astronomy
Interesting that "preference" or "long term goal" of developing the identity of amatuer astronomer dialectically influences his other goals and preferences, which influence his practice, which help him achieve that goal.
Collaborationwas thus an important dimension of Mitchell’s, Sally’s, and many others’ prac-tices, an inference further strengthened by the ethnographic observations thatinformal and more systematic collaborations were endemic
The community/other hobbyists are important resources for learning. Collaboration is key in driving cohesive learning and keeping these groups together.
As is commonly the case, initial coding of the data yielded a very largenumber of categories
The coding categories, in this specific instance, name the resources that support learning and engagement (including telescopes above). These are the physical tools, the objects/concepts being looked at and the participants goals. They support the LPP and eventual participation in the community of practice of astronomers (amateur)
ectures, planets(Saturn, Jupiter, Mars,andVenus), theMoon,asteroids, deep sky objects, Messier objects, star clusters, variable stars, dou-ble stars, galaxies, comets, globular clusters, periodical events(e.g.,eclipsesand planetalignments),nebula, Cassiopeia, atlasandcharts, goals
In this specific instance, all of these are resources that support learning and engagement (including telescopes, books above). These are the physical tools, the objects/concepts being looked at and the participants goals. They support the LPP and eventual participation in the community of practice of astronomers (amateur)
I broaden the descriptiveand explanatory range of these conceptual categories by capturing commonaltiesand idiosyncrasies in practice participation that are the hallmark of interest-basedpursuits.
Practice participation caught my eye here. What are the contradictions and patterns that emerge from a focus on practice participation?
As she explained,observing M103 followed from her goal of looking at as many “pretty objects”as possible, and she included star clusters as such. As we will see, the themeof observing pretty objects appeared quite frequently in her narratives of thehobby
Again, goals as a specific resource for learning. I wonder why Azevedo chose the word "goal" instead of "motivation" or something similar.
taking observational notes helps one tolearn about various celestial objects and their defining features and eventually tobetter see such objects (Levy, 1991). Note taking is also a requirement for receiv-ing certificates/awards for certain achievements.
This is interesting to me because note taking works to do two distinct things. First, it is a resource for the person to go back to and learn more about astronomy as a practice after the night of star gazing. But more interestingly, it is "a requirement for receiving awards." Thus, the participate has to do a particular activity to be recognized as a participant and move towards becoming a fuller participant in the CoP. In that way, having a "sense of a future" is crucial - otherwise, why take the notes?
A learning ecology describes a system ofpeople, practices, technologies, and values in a local environment, and individu-als typically participate in multiple such ecologies across time. The frameworkhighlights how people actively create learning opportunities for themselves asthey strive to pursue their evolving interests (in this case, in technological mat-ters), in the process crossing boundaries of several settings (e.g., school, home,and after-school programs). As we will see, tracking how individual hobbyists’practices change over time is one of the methodological/analytical strategiesto inferring the immutable/persistent aspects of people’s short- and long-termpractice, which therefore are central to both a structural and process account ofengaged participation
A long highlight, but I think important to framing how the author pulls out "resources" and frames the analysis to come. What seems to be the most important part of the concept of a "learning ecology" is that it is distributed over time as well as people, places and things. The aspect of time again brings me back to my earlier annotation about the dynamic aspect of participation and (as the author argues at the end of this quote) central to engaged participation.
Suchdetours, which he called “personal excursions,” afforded students the means toforge deeply personal connections to classroom activities and thus served asstrong motivators for students’ continuous pursuits.
So "personal excursions" support learning because they keep the student engaged, even if that means "detouring" a bit.
hundreds of members, a strong online presence, and a full yearly calendar ofvaried events (e.g., lectures, business meetings, outreach efforts, field trips, and,of course, regular observing practice)
Are these resources (as Jasmine said, not in Azevedo's words) for the practice, understanding the practice not as one night but as the long term commitment to astronomy?
Just what the object of interest-based participation is—that is, what fuelsengagement
This is where Nasir would say that a combo of material, relational, and ideational identity resources would enhance connections to the CoP, thus "fueling engagement," right?
the product of which he intendedto submit for the Astronomical League’s Sun Spotter Award. The project wasundoubtedly motivated by Mitchell’s growing curiosity about the Sun and theprospect of receiving the award.
So would Nasir say this is an example of ideational identity resources? Mitchell has set a goal for himself, as well as established what he believes is worthy to be learned (what he will hone and apply).
Breaks in the people’s observational routines may also have followed froma number of observation-related occurrences. A common interruption regardedan unusually good sighting of any given
Reminds me of Nasir and the importance placed on relational resources. These relationships with others at the star parties helps to strengthen the sense of belonging. There is continued learning as they converse and point out new things to one another, which "increases connection to the practice," as Nasir would say.
Mitchell’s astronomy activities took place across a number of sites
I'm not Azevedo would consider this one of the resources, but I had a hard time thinking of anyone who legitimately belongs in a community of practice who would say that there is just one "site" in which he practices it. Depending on where Mitchell is -- and even when he is in his home -- the activity that he engages in differs, but since he is always an astronomer, he engages in astronomy in different ways depending on the site that he is in.
I can consider myself a golfer, and certainly I "play golf" on the course. But I exercise my "golfer"-ness at the bar when I'm watching games with friends, online as I contribute to forums on instruction, etc.
I think it is interesting to contrast this with how we see kids and school subjects, for instance. For many, the classroom is the beginning and the end of how what is taught there permeates the rest of their lives.
When he started amateur astronomy,marrying it with his interest in photography was a natural move for him.
Can it be said that his knowledge from photography was used as a resource to further his interest and motivation for engaging in amateur astronomy? Or they fueled each other?
presumably in amateur astronomy as well, andthus provide a tangible way for tracing a hobbyist’s motivations for engagingthe practice in the short and long run.
Azevedo highlights tools, artifacts, and materials as not only a social and cultural tools that facilitate actions but for allowing insight into hobbyist's motivations. They sure in a dual role/resources.
conversations flowed freely between various topics and, naturally, astronomy
Once again the importance of 'natural' conversation. Not forced or content driven, but completely interest based.
Some limited themselves toanswering people’s questions in a private manner, whereas others delivered lec-tures out loud.
Social interactions as a form of resource; whether through small chats or larger conversations, they are learning through knowledge/experiences of others.
Beyond attending to the material means through which astronomers fashiontheir practices, it is important to highlight the materiality of people’s goals asexpressed in the physical (e.g., a planet) and conceptual (e.g., observational skills)objects that themselves become central targets of long-term practice participation
Here the author highlights the importance of tangible goals within the field of practice or hobby. Is this goal a form of 'resource'? These goals are important because this is where the drive to participate in the community is key and pushes the learner to break past a newcomer to the community.
providing favorable conditions for individuals’ interests to take hold and developis a central concern of instructional design. Ensuring support from peers andinstructor as well as allowing students to plan and execute aspects of learningactivities
Peers, instructors (can this also include parents), and self are all resources to learning by providing support. Support from others seems to suggest CoP or guided participation.
driving distance
This article mentions 'distances' very often- even when discussing the research context. I think when interpreting access and resource in relations to hobbies one cannot ignore the physical access in terms of locations. One can study astronomy all they want, but the importance of these interactions and experience within a community of practice are unparalleled to anything they can read.
Still, she wanted to make sure that she had spotted the right formation,and thus she began consulting several books in search of a picture of M103 thatcould confirm or reject her inferences
Access to these books is part of what establishes her identity as an astronomer and not just a stargazer -- without these, she is just a star gazer. Certainly reminds me of the individual pieces of track equipment which reinforced the hurdler's identities in Nasir & Cook
To design instruction for long-term,interest-based engagement, therefore, one begins by surveying students’ broadtopics of interests and then uses such topics to anchor learning activities
Perhaps the most useful/important resource of all for sustained engagement - tapping into the learner's own intrinsic motivations!
deasharing,for both short- and long-termprojectsandgoals,worked in a similar wayto enable the sustaining and extending of a person’slines of practice
Collective practice and idea sharing as a resource. Group processes support the creation, development, and sustenance of practices - collaborative routines are important resources for extending and supporting a person's lines of practices
short-termprojectsmay feed into long-termgoals,and thisprovides a mechanism for engaging multiplepreferencesacross time.
This resource is the component of both short-term and long-term pursuits. By structuring goals and activities to be a combination of immediate and long-term, or seeing how short-term can feed into larger projects, practice can be engaging and sustained across sites, communities, individual or collective pursuits, at at one's own pace.
Practicing at different sites/communities was therefore an expedient wayof tailoring one’s amateur astronomy practice.
This resource refers to the variation of sites and communities - each site provides very specific conditions of practice that results in very specific versions of a given hobby. Participating in a variation of sites allows a person to tailor their practice to make unique and individualized, and thus supports commitment to the practice.
everallines of practice, each of which is an expression of clusters of his or her vari-ouspreferencesattuned to certainconditions of practice
I understand these components for engaged participation to be resources... This piece refers to the material infrastructures or artifacts of different lines of practice - varied infrastructure supports a deep engagement and involvement with the practice.
Although in this case Sally worked on her own, she and others often collabo-rated on short- and long-term projects or simply consulted with peers for explicithelp. For instance, people often knew the experienced members of the commu-nity, and they might have requested their assistance when they stumbled upon anydifficulties. In addition, because individuals had scopes of different magnification,practitioners often knew whose scope was capable of resolving object featuresthat others’ might not have. So participants often traded viewpoints on theirobservations.
This is a nice example of multiple resources. The CoP was available when Sally needed help and she had access but could engage with them or work alone when she wanted. The group shared material resources as well as ideas about their observations. There was support for learning but Sally was able to choose when and how she wanted that support.
Mitchell stated thathe was not the building type, but he claimed that he could not pass up the opportu-nity of taking a telescope-making course with John Dobson himself—the creatorof what has become a very popular large-aperture telescope.
Interesting how this resource, availability of an expert, gave Mitchell access that he would ordinarily deny under other conditions. "Building" was not part of his identity, but like AA members, his identity underwent transformation as a result of this resource.
Star parties at Mt Hillview were quite lively.
Star parties serve as a relational resource connecting one to the community as well as the practice.
given the significant leeway hobbyists have inshaping the content, goals, means, and pace of their activities.
Hobbyists have leeway that instructors and students don't have. This drives the learning and motivation to learn and is a valid resource.
senseof future that the community imparts to its members.
"Sense of future," I understand this as authenticity and consider it a resource because it serves to motivate learners and "legitimizes" their efforts.
After games or practice, on occasions when the team would go out for pizza. the boys talked minimally about their own games, but primarily about what was happening in the major leagues. The give-and-take, back-and-forth nature of reasoning, arguing, and making a point on and off the field illustrate the dialogical nature of the discourse. The coach assumes an audience of listeners who share his situation and orientation to action and who recognize that talk about baseball is dominant and valid in this context
Aside from actually learning how to play baseball, which was not a strong motivation for the players, the league attended to other preferences. It was social and allowed a chance to talk about their interest in major league baseball ( a hobby).