Duncan, Kirksey, Krispinsky, and Oliveira 1

Dylan Duncan, Bradley Kirksey, Marc Krispinsky, and Kelsey Oliveira

Dr. Scott

ENC 3375

6 December 2016

Analyzing Rhetorical Forte as a Community of Practice

Overview of Analysis

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something that

they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better (Wenger-Trayner,

Start-Up Guide). Members essentially work together in developing their own levels of

knowledge and interest on a topic into one that can be shared and understood by everyone

involved. For the purposes of this class, every league had to endure one shared level of interest,

yet comprised of different practices and sense of community amongst members: we played

fantasy football, with our league specifically being comprised of players who have had some

level of experience in the realm.

Membership in a community of practice requires those involved to have a shared element

of interest, the domain, through which the community is defined by. The combined interest and

know how helps members to identify and discern themselves within the community of practice.

In the case of our class, the domain is the world of fantasy football. All members are encouraged

to be dedicated and have a shared understanding of the leagues activities in order to truly be a

unique group of individuals. Although those who are not in the group may not appreciate or

understand the level of knowledge shared, those within are motivated by their shared abilities

and learn new ideas from each other.

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In order to advance the goals of the domain, members of a community of practice interact

with each other through activities and deliberation, exchanging information and providing help

to create a shared level of competence that constitutes a sense of community. In particular, the

community element of a community of practice thrives on the mutual interactions, alliances, and

associations that occur within. Members seek to develop relationships centered on these notions

of support and guidance, showing care and concern with their levels of interaction. Without

regular interactions and continuous learning, these individuals cannot truly be considered a

community of practice.

Not only does a community of practice share and advance these levels of interest, but, as

community of practice analysts Etienne Wenger and Beverly Trayner state, Members of a

community of practice are practitioners (Introduction to Communities of Practice). Through

this notion, members develop and share a collection of resources, such as stories, tools, ideas,

past experiences, and problem solving methods ultimately, a shared practice. Although most

of the practices within our league were predetermined by the course assignments and

interactions, we were able to occasionally bring forth insight and information through our own

mediated discussions. These distinct resources develop into a shared collection that distinguishes

a group of individuals as being a community of practice.

Through the combination and integration of these three elements, a community of

practice evolves. With further development and growth in these three areas, communities

flourish and establish themselves as being such.

Our league, Rhetorical Forte, is an expert league that sometimes values individual

opinions more than those of other members. We started off with weekly posts about our teams

and opinions about our efforts, but this practice has slowly faded. Today, our league still remains
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active in roster and game participation, but it is definitely less active in group discussions and

class involvement than when we started earlier this semester. Most people would think our

expert league would be more involved than the less experienced leagues, but the other leagues

seem to be more communal with advice and strategies. The competitive nature of our league has

proven to make our league less social and more serious. We essentially acted like less of a

community of practice compared to the other leagues. A community of practice is about the

process of collective learning between the members of the community of practice something

that would occur within class assignments or between a select group of members. Ultimately, he

expert league was the least helpful to each other compared to the other class leagues. This

occurrence was due to the expert league members trying to rely on their own knowledge of the

game and trying to not seek the advice of others. Due to the competitive nature of fantasy

football, expert members were more likely to want to win without having to rely on other

people's advice.

Relating back to the objective of this course, the image below, designed by Wenger-

Trayner, portrays the different levels of participation between members within a community of

practice. This image focuses on a community of practice within the workplace, but this image

still relates to our fantasy football league. There were definitely people in our league that were

peripheral lurkers within the league, while there were also active leaders and a core group of

active members. Although members of our league span greatly in terms of their levels of

participation, one commonality holds: we are the expert league of the class. With this designation

and visual representation as seen, we ultimately and coincidentally fall in a categorical mix of

occasional and active participants. Ideally, our league would thrive best with fully active

participants, but a community of practice is designed to thrive off of the many different insights
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and interactions that different members can provide, building upon the shared body of

knowledge and tools utilized within.

Explanation of Domain

Our league, as clearly defined in the first week of class, consists of more experienced

fantasy football players. Because we are considered the expert league in this class due to

previous experience levels, we all share a similar level of expertise and understanding of fantasy

football. Unlike the other leagues, where their main concerns lie in actually learning how to

perform certain tasks, such as picking players up on the waiver wire, we all face more advanced

issues, such as which players will produce better game time outcomes than others and comparing

stats between them. Our league is also the only one in the class that features PPR scoring,

another key feature and shared quality that we all have to consider and focus on when deciding
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what players will produce best for us reception wise. Despite our shared levels of expertise and

understand, our levels of interest and values do vary. Some members of our league participate in

multiple other leagues, including daily and money leagues, outside of this class, showing a high

level of interest in the subject.

Outside of the fantasy football realm, these levels of interest and values vary specifically

in the classroom setting. Some members are more highly invested in this specific league, as they

come to class often, participate in league and class discussions, and are keeping up with building

their weekly lineups. Other members of the league will keep up their lineups, but they tend to

have minimal interactions with others and are basically there just to get the grade. These levels

of interest and value can be interchanged and varied, but its overall setting follows as such.

Explanation of Community

The league has been competitive and has maintained a social connection through online

posts and discussions. Our league, however, may be less united than other groups. The other

leagues seem to be more connected due to their shared learning about fantasy football. They

seem to be less competitive and are playing fantasy football just for fun, perhaps showing more

interest in the rhetorical aspect of the course. This idea is visible through our league message

board posts as well as in-class interactions that have seemed to become less active since the

beginning of the season. League members are choosing not to post on the discussion board or

necessarily talk about the topics presented in class, especially when they are optional.

Through Wenger-Trayners three modes of belonging, we are able to demonstrate the

different levels of activity and participation that have occurred in our league and how we have

established ourselves as a loosely based community of practice:

Engagement
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Engagement is defined as being the active involvement in mutual processes of

negotiation of meaning (Wenger, Learning, Meaning, and Identity 173). Members of a

community of practice are responsible working with other members involved and participating in

shared activities which correspond to its shared domain. Each of the assignments and weekly

league posts have required us to interact and participate within league communications. Other

than these interactions, we engage in discussion before each class, reviewing the weekend's

games as well as looking ahead to the following week. These levels of engagement essentially

outline the levels of participation within our league, as the extent to which we contributed and

became involved in such matters further displayed how dedicated we were to building upon and

being fully engaged in this community.

In order to start becoming engaged, all of the leagues began by choosing to analyze a

draft guide in order to develop a drafting strategy. For the expert league, however, the draft

strategies that members decided to implement were largely the result of prior knowledge of the

domain that were brought along with students into the course. In contrast, we witnessed some of

the other less experienced leagues learning about draft strategy together and as a result closer and

more meaningful relationships were developed and relied upon throughout the semester. In

addition, most of the research on subsequent assignments was carried out by individuals rather

than groups as a whole, and this factor seemed to further distance group members from one

another. Not all members of the expert league seemed to participate in the same level of

engagement. Students that showed up to class on a regular basis tended to be more engaged in

the material, whereas the students who constantly missed class and showed up late were always

having to play catch up. Some of the engagement practices that were fostered seemed to be more

individualized and less group oriented for the expert league.

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Alignment

Wenger defines alignment as coordinating our energy and activities in order to fit within

broader structures and contribute to broader enterprises (Learning, Meaning, and Identity 174).

Essentially, members are to ensure that their own ideas and means of communication and

understand are shared by all in order for the community to continue its goal of being a shared

process. By participating in Skype sessions with fantasy experts and viewing weekly articles

posted on major sites such as CBS Sports or ESPN, members of our league have been able to

align our understanding and knowledge of different elements of fantasy football, like start/sit,

add/drop, etc. Even though we already had a basis of knowledge with fantasy football, we were

encouraged and sometimes required to view certain articles or websites in order for us to each be

exposed to the same outlets and build upon their use together, with the same understanding.

In addition to aligning with an understanding to the domain, the expert league formed

separate alignments based on the personalities and skill level of the separate members of the

league. In particular, as the members of the expert league were paired up into groups for the

initial assignments, certain alliances began to form between members of the league who felt that

they worked harder and maintained more focus than other. For example, Dylan and Marc

developed a working partnership that spanned three assignments. In addition, Dylan would often

ask Marc for advice about lesser known players on the waiver wire. As a result, certain and

specific alignments were formed and maintained based on a mutual understanding of the domain

and level of engagement.

Imagination

Imagination is the process of creating images of the world and seeing connections

through time and space by extrapolating from our own experience (Wenger, Learning,
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Meaning, and Identity 173). This mode allows members to express themselves individually

through the community, distinguishing themselves from other members in their own unique way.

Through creating our unique team names and logos, we were able to initially demonstrate our

imagination and personal view of the league and fantasy football. Through the various

assignments we have completed, such as the Add/Drop assignment, we have been forced to use

our imagination in trying to persuade league members to make decisions that many people would

disagree with.

Imagination also has given rise to unique personalities and identities within the

community of practice. In addition, members of the expert league have been able to adapt the

identities to compensate for the flow of the game as it progressed. For example, teams that

struggled early in the season before gaining traction and advancing to a more established position

in the league began to change team icons in order to reflect the new and imagined identities that

were established through fantasy football success. Specifically, league members witnessed Team

Marley change his icon to an image that can be described as a type of robot-terminator as his

team began to gain traction. Teams that were newer to fantasy sports, such as Dylan, settled on

modest team names (i.e. Team D) that can be seen as representative of a modest imagination

based on experience level as well as level of success. In the end, the creation of separate and

distinct team names and icons is evidence of the way that imagination was utilized in order to

develop and establish identities in the expert league community of practice.

Explanation of Practice

Sadly, meetings haven't been particularly widespread and usually involve or are about

class. Group interactions have remained mostly formal and have not have really transformed into

out of class meeting. Throughout the duration of our league interactions this semester, we have
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engaged in many different practices that have established us as being a community of practice.

While there are many different means of resources and guides that we have engaged in, there are

a few specific elements, as initially defined by Wenger-Trayner in their introduction to

communities of practice, that stood out within our leagues engagement:

Initiating a New Learning Process

Although members of this league had some level of knowledge and experience in fantasy

football, we had to establish a new way of learning as we evolved into a community of practice.

Through this evolvement, members had to initiate ways of learning and understanding fantasy

football methods in a way that could be shared by others in the community.

The overall format of the class helped align the competence and understanding among

league members through introductory assignments. The Draft Guide assignment allowed

members of our league to introduce websites and other tools that would be helpful in organizing

ones drafting strategies and ideas. This project allowed us to share our tools of knowledge in

fantasy football with other members of our league, beginning our development as a community

of practice.

The advancement of our league as a community of practice continued as we worked

together on more assignments and projects, with the Advanced Resource Workshop being our

most hands-on and educational experience. Through this assignment, we were able to present

members of our league with another resource that is typically foregone in the day-to-day

analyses of the fantasy football process. By introducing and explaining these sources through

visual and oral discussion, we were able to further promote our shared levels of understanding

and participation within the leagues activities.

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Overall, the process of establishing a new basis for learning was difficult for our league,

as we were already familiar with the basics and essential ideas of what goes into participating in

a fantasy football league. This notion was a disadvantage for our league in comparison to others,

as their experience in fantasy football was very minimal or nonexistent, with their learning

process starting from scratch. This disadvantage, however, could also be seen as beneficial to the

development of our league as a community of practice as we had to develop a new shared level

of learning, attempting to conquer this feat and incorporate each of our own understandings into

a communal bounty of information and knowledge.

Problem Solving

All of the group projects are, in their own way, problem solving. By putting a grade on

the line, group projects have been a great way of getting people who otherwise might not speak

to each other to sit down on their own time and unite for a common goal. Through such

assignments, members of our league were encouraged to analyze issues of trading,

adding/dropping, and starting/sitting players active on our rosters. We had to ultimately

determine and agree upon which instances would prove most successful for specific members of

our league, without potentially hurting our own chances of success. Our interactions and

instances of problem solving within this setting helped members of our league interact with each

other while developing a greater understanding of the knowledge those individuals possessed.

In addition to group projects, the class often comes together to tackle problems inside

fantasy football. Most of the time leading up to class has been spent talking about lineups, teams,

matchups, and sometimes other leagues. We are comfortable asking each other for advice and

trying to figure out what the best decisions for us to make would be. This level of trust and

understanding comes from our league being comprised of expert players who have a decent level
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of knowledge about the ins and outs of fantasy football. Although these interactions are informal

in nature, they allow our league to develop outside of the realm of classwork and assignments.

We are able to interact and communicate about our own league problems and solve them through

the opinions and expertise of other members. As a result of these activities, members of our

league appear to be more likely than members of other leagues to suggest or complete mutually

beneficial trades, usually coming out of these pre-class conversations.

Our levels of problem solving were probably the most advanced of all the leagues in the

class, as we possessed the greatest knowledge and understanding about fantasy football. This

area is probably one that we were the most successful in, with regards to our development as a

community of practice, as we were each able to provide our own elements of input to create a

coherent understanding of what our ideas and suggestions were for solving an issue in fantasy

football. We were usually reluctant, at first, to trust others that we were competing against, but

we ultimately showed trust and a true interest in the advice of others, creating a body of shared

knowledge and opinions for our community.

Identifying Needs and Gaps

Everyone wants their roster to be better. Of the seven trades that have happened in our

league, at least four of them were proposed in class instead of on the computer, where most

leagues take place. Good fantasy players are able to recognize where their roster is weak and

where it is strong. Being an expert league, our group members were able to identify weaknesses

of other league members rosters and propose trades that would fill the gaps in our rosters and

make each of our teams stronger. These interactions displayed the level of comfort we had

discussing the logistics of our team development with other members of the league. Because of
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our leagues fantasy football driven background, it seemed as though many of our interactions

sought out greater levels of interest when they ultimately benefitted our teams in some way.

Less specifically, gaps existed within our league in skill level. A few league members had

been playing fantasy football for years, while other league members were just casual football

fans. These gaps in skill level made it sometimes difficult for our league members to

communicate. At times, the more experienced players found it difficult to trade with other league

members because the gaps in knowledge existed. This type of situation forced the more

experienced players to acknowledge this gap and to create a more substantial argument in order

to receive a trade with these less experienced league members.

Ultimately, our levels of identifying needs and gaps within the league lied heavily with

each players specific needs and gaps of their team. Our identifications were more individual

rather than group-oriented, as we sought out trades and advice that would essentially benefit us

in the long run. Based on our differing levels of experience, however, members tailored their

arguments specifically to each member of the league to make their claims more persuasive based

on their own knowledge of fantasy interactions. As the semester and season progressed, these

instances allowed players to apply rhetorical devices and arguments learned in class to appeal to

the target of their choice, rather than just giving their own opinion on why they should follow

through.

Synthesis of League as a Community of Practice

The title Dr. Scott initially gave our league at the beginning of the semester as outlined in

Wengers Level of Participation diagram essentially captures the essence of our league: we are

experts. We all share a similar level of knowledge and understanding when it comes to fantasy

football due to our prior experiences in playing it.

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As seen through Wenger-Trayners image posted earlier in this analysis, the experts lie

between two categories: occasional and active participants. This one visual and title is able to

embody the varied levels of values, interests, and interactions among members of the league, all

tied together with this shared level of knowledge. Some of us choose to participate,

communicate, and contribute to discussion and learning, defining the basis and image of our

community. Others tend to participate strictly in assignments and required discussions,

contributing to the shared domain of our community. We are also faced with having to engage in

a classroom that is dominated by fantasy football beginners, causing the overall level of

understanding on the topic to be out of our favor and possibly lead to some disinterest not caused

by our league specifically. Because of this disconnect and varying levels of participation, our

league is not able to fully grow in participation and interaction as the other leagues have, as our

intent and interest continue to vary.

Our group wonders if this class was aimed towards more experienced players, then would

the expert league be more involved today? For example, if we hadn't started the class learning

how to draft and what basic drafting strategies to use, then would our league be more engaged?

The league typically seems most interested and engaged when discussing team backfields, injury

risks, and things that might have been over other leagues heads. We believe that if the course

could somehow be less focused on the learning process of fantasy football and more on the

engagements that take place within the interactions of seasoned fantasy players, then our league

would have participated more and become more of a developed community of practice. We

understand that a majority of this class is made up of beginners and these introductory lessons

need to be introduced, but this element was most likely what held our league back from

interacting in a way that exhibits the true nature of what a community of practice entails.
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Works Cited

Wenger, Etienne. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge

University Press, 1999.

---. Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Quick Start-Up Guide. Wenger-Trayner,

http://wenger-trayner.com/quick-cop-start-up-guide/. Accessed 29 November 2016.

Wenger, Etienne and Beverly Trayner. Introduction to Communities of Practice. Wenger-

Trayner, 2015, http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/.

Accessed 1 December 2016.