Individual Learning Characteristics in Web-based Communities of Practice

The Knowledge Management paradigm of Communities of Practice can be efficiently realized in web-based environments, especially if one considers the extended social networks that have proliferated within the internet. In terms of increasing performance through the exchange of knowledge and shared learning, individual characteristics, such as learners’ preferences that relate to group working, may be of high importance. These preferences have been summarized in cognitive and learning styles typologies, which also define implications that could serve as personalization guidelines for designing collaborative learning environments. This paper discusses the theoretical assumptions of two distinct families of learning style models, cognitive personality and information processing styles (according to Curry’s onion model), in order to explore the possibilities of personalization at the group level of CoP.