A New Way of Understanding Communities

                   I have decided to focus this blog on the exercise we did in class last week, relating it to what we learn from Wenger. In his book, Communities of Practice, we learn what informs community. We also understand that there are certain implications that come with our participation within a community of practice.

          In the class exercise, we were put into groups and asked to search the school to find ways in which the institution demonstrated communities of practice and how it negotiated meaning for different kinds of learning. Right away, one of the first things that struck me was the physical location of the professors’ offices in relation to each other. Profs of similar subjects were grouped in one section of the space, side by side, distinctly bonded together by the subjects they taught; as a community of practice, separate from the other communities that share the institution.

                   As Wenger takes Tomasello's philosophy of the triangle and builds on it, we learn that the negotiation of two people sharing the meaning of an object can be expanded to show that we also negotiate the meaning of a community of practice. The whole process of participating, which I stated earlier, has certain implications. I believe Wenger would say that our learning is influenced by our participation in communities of practice. How does this translate to the location of professor's offices in a university?

          For me, this physical placement translated into an unseen boundary where professors of Women's Studies were distinctly displaced from IT professors; and professors of English were distinctly displaced from math professors. These communities did not intersect with one another of their own accord. The cross-over came from the students who come with a necessity to form connections between these communities of practice in order to follow the path that lead to their degree.

          Some form of negotiation of community had formed. An invisible line drawn around professors by subject created a community that professors not associated with that subject did not cross. The physical location of the offices is just a manifestation of the distinct negotiated communities within the university. This brings about the point of the 3 ways of belonging. Certainly, alignment comes to mind. There is a sense of community, belonging and togetherness among professors of the same subject. A community of math professors' engagement with each other on various matters pertaining to the subjects they teach, as well as their shared connections to the students they have in common solidify this union. Yet, this sense of community does not translate when that same student crosses over to engage in courses taught by an English or Women's Studies teacher.

          In class, I asked the question, "If we equate education to the concrete structure of the university building, how then do we begin to challenge and break down the structures that perpetuate this isolation of communities. The response was that we were doing it now, by identifying the issue, by discussing it, by embarking upon the journey of lifelong learning. From that, I gleaned that we must see education for the hegemonic structure that it is. It is not neutral. However, we must remain engaged in the goal of resisting these structures.

          We understand that learning not only refers to formal education, but that it transcends and permeates through all aspects of our lives. We are each members of multiple communities of practice. One is not in isolation of the other. They all overlap and intersect with one another. Our learning comes in the form of formal education, of course, but it also comes in the form of life experiences, cultural and ancestoral information, environmental factors, workplace learning and on the job training, also informal learning in the workplace – those skills that no one teaches you in a classroom, but you acquire by doing.

          All of these ways that we take in information serve to enhance our skills, expand our knowledge, and increase out capacity to be transformed in our thinking. They also provide key insights into our identity, which is the perfect lead in to Bracher’s book, Radical Pedagogy. Bracher believes that identity is one of the key motivators for learning. It will be interesting to engage in discussion about Bracher’s theories and how they differ or complement those of the previous authors.

Bracher and Identity Theft!

          Bracher states that identity is a crucial factor in the motivation to learn. Maintaining and enhancing our identity drives us to continually learn and expand the meaning of who we are by way of our newly acquired knowledge and accomplishments. In fact, Bracher goes on to say that the development of a strong identity is an essential part of our well-being as humans.

So then, what happens to us when our identity is compromised? The Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Canada has a whole website dedicated to helping its citizens protect themselves against this fast growing invasion of privacy. http://priv.gc.ca/fs-fi/02_05_d_10_e.cfm . The website describes identity theft as the unauthorized use of your personal information. I would add that it is usually stolen for personal gain.

Each year thousands and thousands of people across the world fall victim to this crime. In this age of advanced technology, we have developed multiple ways of communicating with each other; faster and better than ever before. The transmission of information across cyber space is unprecedented. However, along with this advance comes the ease at which your personal information can become vulnerable to theft.

Now, there are a few points of note in Bracher’s book Radical Pedagogy that create interesting notions to ponder or challenge. First, Bracher says that our need to maintain identity can interfere with learning. Secondly, he says that when we do experience learning in support of our sense of identity, it’s seen as a threat to us and so we resist the learning.

In the first assertion, Bracher uses the example that students who are athletic, attractive and rich lack the motivation to learn because they already have availed to them all that they need to ensure a strong sense of identity.

In the second assertion, Bracher uses the example that unbeknownst to us as students, we often see learning as a threat to our identities as opposed to supportive of it. Thus we fight it and resist it with much force.

To take Bracher’s theory out of the classroom and into the real world, I have chosen to apply his theory using the example of identity theft; what happens to us when we become the victim of this crime, and how this contradicts what Bracher’s teaches us about our motivation and identity.

We know that identity theft can take many forms, and victims can be targeted in many ways. You can lose your identity simply by tossing old bills in the mail – thieves will dumpster dive and rummage through your garbage looking for your information. Other forms involve phone calls from fraudsters soliciting donations on behalf of reputable organizations and other types of bogus calls. The more sophisticated means of stealing people’s identity can include elaborate internet schemes such as hacking, and technological schemes through ATM machines.

But what does this mean to us in terms of the threat to our identity? Long gone are the days when people had to go directly into the bank to do their banking business. You can open accounts, complete transactions and transfer funds from account to account without ever having to leave your home.

Long gone are also the days when workers received their pay in the form of a cheque, pensioners received their pensions in the form of a cheque, and when you arrived at the counter to purchase your goods, you paid with cash. This is not to say it no longer happens at all, but these practices are no longer the norm.

Today, most employers use a direct deposit system for paying employees; debit and credit cards are the most widely used methods of payment for consumer purchases; and government bodies encourage pensioners and taxpayers alike to use their direct deposit system for receiving any government funds such as pension, GST and income tax refunds.

As a result of these shifts, our identity continues to be increasingly at risk. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) reported that in 2009, they received 11,095 reports from Canadian victims. In dollars, this equated to a total loss of over 10 million dollars; which risen by a million dollars from the 2008 total. http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/index-eng.htm

Decades ago, a department dedicated solely to handling cases of identity theft was almost non-existent, as was websites dedicated to educating people about how to protect themselves.

Bracher’s theory in his first example would suggest that athletes, attractive people and rich people would not be concerned with identity theft, because according to him, they would already have all they needed to support their sense of identity. So then, in essence, this would mean that if they were to fall victim to identity theft, they would not be concerned because their looks will continue to sustain them, or their high profile athlete status will keep them grounded, or their money will allow them to simply ‘purchase’ a new identity.

Bracher’s second example that suggests we fight against learning even when it supports our sense of identity can also be challenged here. Government and citizens alike agree that we all need to be educated about identity theft as one of the only means we have to fight it. Not only have whole websites cropped up dedicated to helping to educate citizens about this threat to their identity, but workshops for seniors and other vulnerable populations are taking place across the country.

On January 8, 2012, the Senate Bill S-4 came into law, making it illegal to possess another person’s identity information for criminal purposes. Prior to that, laws were inadequate to address this threat to our identity. We understand that becoming educated about the issues will help us to safe guard our identities. The only ones that may resist the learning around this issue are the ones who want to steal identities form others, and the less victims now, the easier it is for the criminal.

Bracher states that education is one of the key elements in social change. One of the key ways people can become empowered. His ideas here help to support mine and contradict his own, because we understand how important our identities are, what it means to lose them, and how learning about the threats and becoming educated about how to protect ourselves will ensure the preservation of what Bracher calls the crucial factor in our motivation to learn.