[...] Harold Jarche draws attention to Weisbord (2005) who believed that “productive workplaces…foster dignity, meaning and community”. If we can re-imagine the university course as a ‘productive workplace’ it should therefore be possible to encourage students to develop dignity, perceive meaning and feel a sense of community from a much earlier stage in their university experience. Wenger’s model of Communities of Practice (1998) explores the notion that we all belong to a variety of communities, beginning on the periphery and slowly moving towards the centre as we grow in experience. University life is representative of Wenger’s model: students enter a new world, immersing themselves in communities, and gradually develop knowledge, understanding and confidence as they move through the course. …