Not all of the job placement settings resembled a community of practice. Only one setting (the childcare where Nadine was asked to "shadow" the supervisor) seemed to contain all the elements of a community of practice. The setting that contained the least elements was the discount department store, where Marion was isolated and doing the same mundane tasks day after day. In the second childcare where Nadine worked she was actively involved in the integral activities of the childcare, including leading a reading circle. She worked closely with a supervisor who used modeling and coaching to facilitate learning, and the focus was on learning rather than direct teaching. In addition, Nadine was able to recognize the learning purpose of the activities and how they contributed to the operation of the childcare. She was also engaged in activities that were improvised practice situations and related to the day–to–day operation of the childcare centre. Marion, on the other hand, was isolated. She received brief instructions in the morning and had little interaction after that. This provided little learning. She was assigned a single mundane task that was quickly mastered, and was not able to move beyond this activity. She learned very little about the day–to–day operation of the work setting and was not exposed to any other aspects of the store or even the department she worked in.

Participation

Participation is integrally linked to a community of practice and, subsequently, the sites that best demonstrated a community of practice (such as one of the childcare settings) also demonstrated participation. The opposite is also true. The site that least demonstrated participation (the discount department store) was hard pressed to reveal any tangible evidence of participation. In the best examples of participation, the students were engaged in a productive activity in a community of practice. In addition, based on the notion of legitimate peripheral participation, students were fully accepted into a community of practice, were considered a newcomer and trained by oldtimers, were immediately engaged in activities that were integral to the learning process, received monitoring and support, and were given room to make errors. In the poorest examples of participation, very few (if any) of these elements were apparent. The students readily shared their experiences regarding how they participated at their placements. Subsequently, this section is richer than the previous job placement descriptions that appeared in the content and context subsections.