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Teacher Participation in Online Communities of Practice: a Mixed-Methods Study of Community, Context and Practice

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Teacher Participation in Online Communities of Practice: a Mixed-Methods Study of Community, Context and Practice Teacher participation in online communities of practice: a mixed-methods study of community, context and practice Kristen Weatherby Institute of Education, University College London 2017 Submitted for the degree of PhD 1 2 Author’s Declaration I, Kristen Weatherby, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Kristen E. Weatherby 3 4 Abstract The primary objective of this doctoral research is to understand the relationship between teachers’ participation in online communities of practice and the development of their teaching practice. The online community at the centre of this research is the Computing at School (CAS) community, created to support the computing curriculum in the United Kingdom. A mixed-methods methodology was employed that included a survey of CAS member teachers as well as semi-structured interviews with a subset of surveyed teachers. A content analysis of interactions between members on the CAS online community aided in development of maps of teacher context and in understanding whether CAS exhibits characteristics of a COP. Findings indicate that some teachers report significant changes to their teaching, classroom management, lesson planning or personal understanding of computing concepts as a result of their participation in the CAS community. CAS exhibits characteristics of a COP, according to Wenger’s (1998) framework, but not all CAS teachers use CAS in this manner. Other CAS members use CAS simply as a resource bank, from which to download activities for classroom use. Findings also reveal that a computing teacher’s background characteristics, notably his or her professional experience prior to teaching computing, play an important role in their attitudes toward and preparedness for teaching computing as well as influencing the professional development resources to which they have access. 5 6 Table of Contents Author’s Declaration ........................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................... 7 Table of Figures .................................................................................................................................13 Table of Tables ..................................................................................................................................14 Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................15 Glossary.............................................................................................................................................17 Chapter 1 – Introduction .......................................................................................................................19 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................19 Introducing the research ...................................................................................................................19 Premise and significance of the research ...........................................................................................20 The online community in this study ...................................................................................................21 Design of the study ............................................................................................................................21 Outline of the thesis ..........................................................................................................................21 Chapter 2 – Background ........................................................................................................................25 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................25 Microsoft Partners in Learning ...........................................................................................................25 Developing a global network for teachers ..........................................................................................26 Describing the Partners in Learning Network .................................................................................27 Problems with the Partners in Learning Network ...............................................................................29 Developing a technology platform for an online community ..........................................................29 The user interface as barrier to teachers’ access to resources ........................................................30 Teachers were not actively joining and participating in the PiLN ....................................................30 Inspiration for this Research ..............................................................................................................30 Chapter 3 – Review of Literature ...........................................................................................................32 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................32 Learning as a social endeavour ..........................................................................................................33 Expanding further on Vygotsky’s theories of social learning: activity theory ...................................35 Situating Learning ..............................................................................................................................38 Context..............................................................................................................................................39 A learner’s Ecology of Resources ....................................................................................................40 Summary of theories of learning in relation to this research ..........................................................42 Learning in a community ...................................................................................................................44 Communities of practice ................................................................................................................45 The evolution of the community of practice ...................................................................................46 What sets apart a community of practice? .....................................................................................48 7 Negative aspects of the community of practice model .................................................................. 49 Social learning and teacher learning .................................................................................................. 49 What constitutes a teacher’s practice? .......................................................................................... 50 Conditions that influence teachers changing their practice............................................................ 51 Developing a teacher’s practice..................................................................................................... 53 The realities of teacher professional development ........................................................................ 54 Learning communities for teachers ................................................................................................... 55 Online communities – and online communities of practice ............................................................... 56 Do online communities of practice exist? ...................................................................................... 57 Positives for online communities ................................................................................................... 58 Possible barriers for participation in online communities .................................................................. 59 Teacher participation in online communities ................................................................................. 60 A question of trust ........................................................................................................................ 61 Advice from the literature for online communities of practice .......................................................... 62 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 63 Chapter 4 – Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 66 Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 66 A personal journey towards a mixed-methods methodology ............................................................. 66 Theoretical basis for methodology .................................................................................................... 67 A third paradigm ..........................................................................................................................
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