This book explores such questions as: "Are learning communities essential in education?""How are they designed and developed?""What difference do they make in learning?" The book contains contributions from educators who share their research and practice.

Most would agree that a learning community of practice cultivates social and intellectual development in educational settings but what are the other benefits and what does a learning community actually look like in practice? This book explores such questions as: Are learning communities essential in education? How are they designed and developed? What difference do they make in learning? The book contains contributions of educators who share their research and practice in designing and implementing learning communities in school, university, and professional network settings. It presents their experiences, and the how to of these educators who are passionate about building and sustaining learning communities to make a real difference for students, teachers, faculty, and communities. Combining scholarly and practitioner research, the book offers practical information to teachers, school and university administrators, teacher educators, and community educators.

Offers ideas for designing and sustaining learning communities in multiple educational contexts, i.e., schools, university classrooms, professional network settings Although there have been multiple theories generated by educators about the importance of learning communities OF practice, there is limited information about learning communities IN practice and the impact they are making in various educational contexts on a national and international level Although there is much research and theory to support that learning communities can be effective for impacting students' learning, improving education programs, and changing learning in university settings, there is less written about how to actually design and implement such learning communities Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Inhalt
Learning Communities in School Settings.- The Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL): 22 Years of Praxis.- DICEP: Promoting Collaborative Inquiry in Diverse Educational Settings.- Pre-Service Teachers and Sixth Graders Explore Social Justice as a Community of Inquiry.- Lights, Camera, Action! Using Slowmation as a Common Teaching Approach to Promote a School Learning Community.- Growing Our Own: A Learning Community Partnership between a University and a Public Middle School.- A Whole-School Approach to Urban Educational Renewal: Community, Collaboration, and Leadership.- Learning Communities in University Settings.- Fellow Travelers: New Teachers and Their Graduate School Faculty Take a Journey to the Land of Peer Discussion Groups.- Establishing a Learning Community as a Site to Explore Our Multicultural Selves.- Dissertation Support Groups: Building a Community of Practice Using Noddings' Ethic of Care.- Collective Creativity: A Learning Community of Self-Study Scholars.- Learning Communities in Professional Networks.- A Learning Community for Teacher Induction.- Creating an International Learning Community for Teacher Education Scholars.- Role of Teacher Research Communities and Cross-Culture Collaboration in the Context of Curriculum Reform in China.- Creating Stages for Development: A Learning Community with Many Tasks and No Goal.- Supervisors of Teacher Interns: Building a Learning Community Through Inquiry-Based Practices.- Funny, This Does Not Look Like a Community: Working Collaboratively Across Borders and Institutions.