Analyses and critiques of communities of practice theory and applies it to understanding learning and teaching practices in higher education.

Learning Architectures in Higher Education restores criticality and rigour to the study of communities of practice as a means of understanding learning, acknowledging that this is one of the most influential and widely used theories of learning to emerge during the last 30 years but one that has been misapplied and diluted. Jonathan Tummons explores communities of practice theory, looking at how its focus on learning as apprenticeship can be understood, providing the reader with a conceptual framework for making sense of learning as a social practice as distinct from an individual, psychological process. Tummons looks at how communities of practice theory needs to be reconfigured to take account of the insights provided by other theoretical models and then applies his critically and theoretically reworked perspective to two distinct higher education contexts, providing critical and powerful tools for examining learning and teaching practices.

"Tummons has written a valuable text for academics and Higher Education researchers interested in utilising communities of practice theory within their research. He explores how learning architectures and complimentary theories can be used in practice to enhance theoretical frameworks of pedagogy, research, and learning in the academy." - Jennifer Leigh, Lecturer in Higher Education and Academic Practice, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Kent, UK