Learning experiences in Gödence Agricultural Development Cooperative as a community of practice

The situated learning approach, which considers learning as participation in the social world and explains it as an integral part of the social context, emphasizes that each learning will take place in different contexts. This context is shaped by the interaction of individuals with others, learning tools, physical environments and cultures. The communities that adults interact with in their daily lives constitute their learning context. Participation in the community where any knowledge exists is actually an epistemological principle of learning. These communities are conceptualized as communities of practice in the situated learning approach, and it is seen that adults participating in communities of practcie experience learning and identity development processes in practice with mobility from the periphery to the center. In this research, by evaluating the learning and identity development processes of adults participating in Gödence Agricultural Development Cooperative as a community of practice, with mobility from the periphery to the center; The learning context of the cooperative member adults is revealed. Cooperatives are voluntary, democratic, autonomous and solidaristic communities, and they are also learning organizations. Adults participating in the cooperative learn and develop identity in practice by interacting with others. In this context, Gödence Agricultural Development Cooperative members were determined as the working group. In the research conducted with the case study method; interview, observation, question paper and document analysis were used as data collection tools. During the field study that lasted for 86 days, demographic characteristics of 135 cooperative members were obtained through a questionnaire, observations were made with face-to-face interviews with 21 members, information about the cooperative was obtained through document analysis, and data were analyzed with descriptive analysis. As a result, adults participating in Gödence Agricultural Development Cooperative interact with other members; It moves from the periphery to the center by participating in activities and governing bodies within the community. In this mobility, learning processes emerge in practice. In the cooperative, the members basically acquire agricultural production-oriented learning, factory-machine knowledge and managerial and communicative learning. These processes both develop the identity of the cooperative and ensure the identity development of the members.