Virtual Communities of Practice (VCOP) are technology-mediated communities in which people with shared interest participate in activities around a subject, problem, or event over a period of time as a strategy to draw conclusions, solve problems, learn, and make innovative changes.

Learner Applications: Communicate, present, solve problems, practice, rehearse

Instructor Applications: Facilitate group work, scaffold, model, interact with multiple student at one time, scaffold, mentor, model, lead discussion

Examples:

• Engineering - An online interaction tool designed with mechanical engineer's needs in mind with links to helpful resources, solutions and ideas from peers.
• The Well - The regulars in this place include noted authors, programmers, journalists, activists and other creative people who swap info, test their convictions and banter with one another in wide-ranging conversations.

Services:

• edu 2.0 - A free service that hosts both formal and informal learning.
  
• Elgg - A server-based open source software package to create social networks.
• Opencourse Collabortories - Hosts virtual communities developing, evaluating and using open, non-proprietary learning objects in their disciplines.
• Epsilen - A professional portfolio + social networking service for anyone with a .edu email address. This service is free to individuals but requires institutional membership to offer courses.
• Google Groups - A free service for Google Mail members.
• Live Journal - Private journal, blog, discussion forum, or social network
  
• Nicenet - A free service that hosts both formal and informal learning.
• Ning - Full, free-service VCOP provider, very popular with educators.
  
• Yahoo Groups - A free service for Yahoo Mail members.

Successful Practices:

References:
Rheingold, H. (1998). The virtual community.

Wenger, E. Communities of practice: A brief introduction.