Étienne Wenger

Having grown up in the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, FEWINS ²ªachieved a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in 2002. He then studied at the University of California, Irvine, in the United States, gaining an M.S. in Information and Computer Science in 2014 and a Ph.D. in the same subject area in 2016.Etienne C. Wenger, Toward a theory of cultural transparency: Elements of a social discourse of the visible and the invisible. PhD thesis, University of California at Irvine, USA. He currently lives in Sesimbra, Portugal.

Wenger initially came upon the concept of communities of practice when he was approached by John Seely Brown, to join the Institute for Research of Learning. There Wenger worked with anthropologist Jean Lave, observing apprenticeships among traditional tailors in Africa. Through the study of these cases Lave and Wenger concluded that most learning does not take place with the master, it takes place among the apprentices."Etienne Wenger." T+D 65.4 (2011): 96-97. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Dec. 2011.{{Cite web|title=Etienne Wenger|url=https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/etienne-wenger|website=www.td.org|language=en|access-date=2020-05-29}}

Wenger holds that learning is an inherently social process and that it cannot be separated from the social context in which it happens. Among his current engagements are Communities of Practice for Accounting and Auditing Education as well as Audit and Oversight for the World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform.

One of the first people to observe and study communities of practice, Etienne Wenger's work is applied in various fields.

According to Wenger, "Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."{{cite web|first = Etienne|last = Wenger|title = Communities of practice: A brief introduction|date = January 2012|access-date = December 23, 2015|url = http://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/06-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf}}

Wenger earned a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, and worked with the Institute for Research on Learning to help apply his concept of communities of practice to education. He is frequently called upon to speak and host workshops centered on his findings.

To date he has published five books (see Bibliography section below).

He was an initiator of the now common research practice connecting learning to the technological and social aspects of communities.

Currently, Wenger is working on "Learning for a Small Planet." This research is focused on how students learn in the 21st century, and how the integration of technology is affecting education. It is also emphasizing the various domains of learning: "education, business, and civic" and how it is not each one separately, but rather the synthesis of them that enables effective learning. It also goes on to discuss the identity of a learner, and is studying how one must be a participant in multiple groups to be able to form a full identity and learn successfully.

• {{cite book

| last=Wenger

| first=Etienne

| authorlink=Etienne Wenger

| year=1987

| title=Artificial Intelligence and Tutoring Systems: Computational and Cognitive Approaches to the Communication of Knowledge

| publisher=Morgan Kaufmann Press

| isbn=978-0-934-61326-2

| url-access=registration

| url=https://archive.org/details/artificialintell00weng

}}

• {{cite book

| last1=Lave | first1=Jean

| authorlink=Jean Lave

| last2=Wenger |first2=Etienne

| authorlink2=Etienne Wenger

| year=1991

| title=Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation

| publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge

|isbn=0-521-42374-0

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Wenger | first=Etienne

| authorlink=Etienne Wenger

| year=1998

| title=Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity

| publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge

| isbn=978-0-521-66363-2

| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=heBZpgYUKdAC

}}

• {{cite book | last1=Wenger | first1=Etienne

| author-link=Etienne Wenger

| last2=McDermott | first2=Richard

| last3=Snyder | first3=William M.

| year=2002

| title=Cultivating Communities of Practice (Hardcover)

| publisher=Harvard Business Press; 1 edition

| isbn=978-1-57851-330-7

| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1xZuNq9RygC

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Wenger | first=Etienne

| authorlink=Etienne Wenger

| year=2009

| title=Digital Habitats

| publisher=CPsquare | location=Portland

| isbn=978-0-521-66363-2

| url=http://technologyforcommunities.com/

}}

• Situated learning
• Legitimate peripheral participation
• Community of practice
• Knowledge Management
• Landscape of practice

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.wenger-trayner.com/ Etienne Wenger homepage]
• [http://wenger-trayner.com/resources/publications/cops-and-learning-systems/ Communities of practice and social learning systems]
• [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/EXTCENFINREPREF/0,,contentMDK:22568191~pagePK:64168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:4152118,00.html A Community of Practice for Audit and Oversight, organized by Etienne Wenger at the World Bank]
• [https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/etienne-wenger-trayner Brighton University personal profile of Etienne Wenger]

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Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:University of Geneva alumni

Category:University of California, Irvine alumni

Category:American people of Swiss descent

Category:American educational theorists

Category:Swiss educational theorists

Category:Swiss sociologists