[Scott] This is your space. Come in here, be comfortable. If you want move around throughout the institute, you can do that. If you want to find your space and reserve your space for the full two weeks, that's great too. [Narrator] Along with social relationships, an important aspect of communities of practice is the space in which the members interact, which they both shape and are shaped by in return. In this section, I will explore our participants' responses to the spaces of DMAC, both physical and qualitative, in order to gain a better understanding of how these resources influence their experience of communal digital learning at DMAC. Specifically, I will examine the ways in which DMAC serves as a space of legitimate peripheral participation within Wenger's community of practice theory in order to offer suggestions for designing environments that foster digital composing groups in other institutional contexts. A significant concept within community of practice theory is legitimate peripheral participation, which Wenger defines as "the process by which newcomers become involved in a community of practice." Though no one in our interviews used this specific term, several used the spirit of this concept to describe their experience of DMAC. [Charlene] Professionally I felt like it was just, it's kind of you know, square one, this is where you start. [Sally] I can't read directions I was just telling Harley, and, but I can, I am really good at looking at YouTube videos and, you know, doing the watching, the apprenticeship kind of thing. And, but that's so much more of a pleasure to do when you do it face to face. [Becky] DMAC and the WPA conference, and now the Writing Center Summer Institute I mean, I see those as disciplinary sites of professional development. that more and more of us are looking to you know, as ways to learn new things and understand new things and also to kind of become solidified members of a disciplinary community. [Narrator] The first way in which DMAC serves as a space of legitimate peripheral participation is as a space for learning through play. Digital media composing often occupies a peripheral role in academia because it is seen as "just play," compared to the more "serious" work of creating alphabetic compositions. However, what might appear to some as merely play may actually be a more effective environment for learning digital technologies than lecture in some situationsÑ-a chance to learn by actively participating in a communityÕs practices. Although formal instruction was both needed and appreciated, many of the participants also expressed a need, sometimes even a desperation, for sufficient space and time just to learn by playing around with the composing technologies. [Pennie] And we're asked to sort of pick up these new ways of doing things, but people aren't necessarily given sort of time to figure that out. "Just play with it!Ó And you're like, "I don't have time to play with this because I've got to go back and do this, this, or this." [Brenda] I think I need to create some spaces next year, you know, not only for the graduate students but for a lot of the adjuncts that work there for them to come in and just have some play space, you know, with the materials on the computer. [Narrator] For professional academic composers, perhaps used to rigid discipline in an environment where the stakes for composing texts are high, there must be an infrastructure that deliberately welcomes mistakes in the pursuit of learning. DMAC provides precisely this risk-free learning space by offering a welcoming atmosphere that encourages low-stakes, hands-on exploration. [Sean] There's so many things here that are kind of outside of the instructor's control. You don't get that in a classroom, a classroom is I mean, it's a very controlled, monitored space right, where, as a student you walk in and, you know um, there's an instructor who, no matter how interactive and invitational their sort of style is, they're still in charge, and they're grading you, and you're being graded and judged at every moment based on your performance. [Charlene] You know, as people who have been students for so long and are still working in academia, there's that natural tendency toward perfectionism, and stress, and guilt and, you know, the imposter syndrome, not feeling like any of us are good enough to be doing what we're doing. Right, when Cindy held up that piece of paper that said "No guilt," you know, everyone knew what she was talking about. [Narrator] Though not all spaces can realistically operate in this fashion, designing an environment where it's okay to ask questions and make mistakes, and even to have fun while doing so, may be crucial in releasing participants from self-consciousness or anxieties in giving them the freedom to play in learning new skills. The second way in which DMAC serves as a space of legitimate peripheral participation is by opening up spaces for learning on the literal periphery of the institution, outside the official spaces of the workshop itself. The casual, unofficial spaces within the overall institution are important to learning through community building along with the official spaces. [Rachel] It's been fun to hang out and walk back and forth with each other and talk about our institutions, talk about our research, talk about our insecurities, crack jokes, you know, it's made a huge difference, I think, in my experience. Crystal] And actually, last night when we screened the Concept in 90 films, it was a very emotional experience for me because I had I don't know, I've been talking to lots of the folks along the way and seeing pieces, or seeing different images that they were planning on using, and I don't feel like everyone really well, obviously, because you know, I've only known them a few days, but just seeing glimpses into people's lives and then seeing them on the screen 00:05:50,770 --> 00:05:54,820 it was a really touching and moving experience for me. [Narrator] Moreover, casual spaces are not limited to physical meeting venues. Several participants talked about the role that digital spaces played in fostering a learning community. [Andy] The activity we did this morning, right, where Trey had people use Google Docs both individually and in groups really I think opened up that space in 311 in sort of a communal way, right, people interacted in a multimodal way so that we were typing and talking and listening all at the same time. [Nicole] Even people who are on the other side of the room who I get over to a little bit less frequently and haven't talked to as much, I still feel like I have some level of relationship with them through the Tweet, the Twitter feed that's going on, on the righthand side too. [Narrator] Along with designing for a dynamic between public and private spaces of interaction and learning, virtual spaces are important resources in which these interactions can take place as well, particularly for a community of practice focused on learning digital technologies. That space becomes both a forum for conversation and a performance of practice in and of itself. Looking at DMAC as a place that fosters legitimate peripheral participation within a community of practice, I argue that it is important to take particular note of these marginal spaces, whether material or experiential, that might otherwise go overlooked in designing technological professional development opportunities. While neither genuine learning nor genuine community can be manufactured, creating threshold spaces that invite new members into a community of practice can be powerful resources. It is in these peripheries, at the edge of the more officially organized events, that the richest and most impactful learning relationships might develop.