Things in common in learning communities

In this commentary, I consider Dewey’s account on community to address the field’s interest of creating and sustaining communities, using the three themes identified from the four articles of this special issue. They include: (1) expanding things in common, (2) making individual and collective work matter in private and public, and (3) renewing and transforming the democratically constituted community. Using the discussion from the articles, I argue that the most critical issue of learning communities is not just about creating and sustaining a community of the designer’s or the teacher’s intentions but more about the participants’ continuing the similar process or becoming democratic participants who can form, lead, and transform various learning communities.