New Model of Teacher Learning in an Online Network

While many researchers have examined teacher participation and professional development in online networks and communities, few have looked at the factors and contexts that shape how teachers learn in these online spaces. Examining teachers' learning processes within these online spaces can yield important insights for scholars, school leaders, and teacher educators who are interested in designing online networks and communities or supporting teacher professional development within these spaces. This study was designed to shed light on the multifaceted nature of teacher learning within an online network environment. Data were collected through an online survey and in-depth interviews of members in the Edmodo math subject community. A thematic analysis was conducted across the two data sets in order to identify patterns of actions and factors that shaped the participants' learning processes. A new model of teacher learning was developed to display teacher learning as an iterative, multistep process that is socially constructed, distributed, and situated in the contexts in which teachers work. Implications and ideas for further research are discussed.     

Cultural and organisational issues facing online learning communities of teachers

Collegial sharing and reflection about practice has been widely suggested as an effective form of teacher professional learning. Information and communications technology (ICT) has the potential to foster this professional learning through online community environments. Whilst the potential of self-sustaining online teacher communities to support professional learning through reflective sharing of practice is recognised, the journey to realising this potential is not straightforward. This paper identifies two key aspects of school culture that are acting as barriers on the journey—schools do not adequately value collegial reflective sharing of practice, and classroom teachers do not use online communications tools as an integral part of their professional practices. The paper suggests a framework for maximising participation in online teacher communities.     

Study of Self: The Self as Designer in Online Teacher Education

In this article we describe our engagement in self-study as part of an examination of design-based research for education. We focus on graduate-level online teacher education as an example of how self-study provided a means of examining deeply our teaching and our roles as teacher and designer in the learning environment. We posit that online learning environments are particularly well suited for self-study to enhance design perspectives because the interactions between teacher and students are informed by personal context and mediated by technological tools. The graduate students in our courses were teacher leaders in literacy or mathematics who were learning how to support professional development for other teachers. Throughout our self-study research we found ourselves drawing upon our previous design research experiences, which aided our ability to engage in self-study: We were part of the classroom system, focusing on our roles within the teaching and learning process as designers of the online learning environment. Three key design principles resulted from our self-study process: focusing on systems of learning and teaching, designing pedagogical tools and products, and using iterative processes. Engaging in self-study enhanced our understanding and implementation of synchronous online instruction, particularly regarding our use of technological tools to enhance student learning and support learning communities.     

学习共同体研究热点知识图谱分析

为科学清晰地展现国内外学习共同体研究成果,以中国知网（CNKI）与科学引文数据库（WOS）为文献来源,运用 CiteSpace V 软件的关键词共现聚类分析、研究机构共现分析和关键词时区共现分析等方法绘制知识图谱。研究发现,国内外学习共同体研究前沿包括教师专业学习共同体、网络学习共同体以及实践共同体 3大主流方向。研究热点聚焦教师专业发展、项目教学、合作学习、情景学习、教学策略开发等理论。未来学习共同体将与深度学习、泛在学习、自组织等理论结合产生新的生长点,对教师专业发展和网络学习具有重要推动作用。     

学习分析：助推大数据时代高校教师在线专业发展

随着“大数据时代”的到来,一股席卷全球的智能化在线教育浪潮正在蔓延,高校传统的教学模式趋向颠覆,高校教师的职业发展也将受到重大挑战。众多大学生在在线学习时将会产生海量的数据,高校教师如何挖掘、分析这些数据,对改进自身教学实践、促进自身专业发展都具有丰富的价值。学习分析在大数据时代的高等教育中被广泛应用已成必然趋势,并具有非常广阔的应用前景,高校教师应该具备较强的数据分析能力。学习分析从以下四个方面促进大数据时代高校教师在线专业发展：可以提升作为在线学习者的高校教师的学习效率,激发其自主的专业发展意识;可以提高高校教师作为在线教学者的教学效率,发展其在线教学实践智慧;可以提高高校教师作为研究者的研究绩效,提升其对学生在线学习的服务能力;可以提高高校教师作为管理者的管理效率,提升其在线教学领导力。     

Integrating collaborative PBL with blended learning to explore preservice teachers’ development of online learning communities

This study integrated collaborative problem-based learning (collaborative PBL) with blended learning to explore the emerging process and function of online learning communities among preservice teachers. Thirty-two preservice teachers participated in a 16-week instruction program. Analyses of online group discussions and portfolios found that (a) the integrated approach facilitated the preservice teachers’ formation of online learning communities; (b) the preservice teachers’ online learning communities emerged via four stages: motivation and acquaintance, socialization and belongingness, information exchange and consensus, and tacit understanding and development; and (c) six factors influenced the development of the preservice teachers’ online learning communities.     

A Professional Development School's Evolution Potential: Teachers' Initial Perceptions of Their Teaching and Learning Community

The major aim of this research was to investigate the environment of a secondary school as it began to become a professional development school. Using the theoretical dynamic of technical cultures, open systems theory, and organisational learning as background, the use of quantitative and qualitative data describes the practical dynamic of a learning environment at the initial stage of becoming a professional development school. This article uncovers instructors' perceptions of teaching and learning in a secondary context, offers a framework to investigate the school's teaching and learning environment, and suggests ways to use such investigation to understand the evolution potential of learning communities. . . . Tensions among educational purposes are revealed as we attempt to reach practical accommodations. It is helpful to see these difficulties clearly. We need, however, to build on these insights, pushing beyond merely saying that our work is hard. We need to investigate particular promising approaches and to pursue analyses that show why things are hard, in the hopes of gradual, but significant, improvement. (Floden, 1997, p. 283) This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

教师远程培训在线辅导策略的质性分析

远程培训是教师培训的重要方式,也是建设高素质专业化教师队伍的重要途径。但教师远程培训的理论研究明显滞后于实践的快速发展。在线辅导教师作为教师远程培训中学习支持服务的主要实施者,其辅导行为直接影响学员的学习行为,进而影响教师远程培训的整体质量。在线辅导教师的自我角色定位可以概括为导学者、设计者、促学者、评价者和建议者5种角色。不同的角色定位所需的在线辅导策略不尽相同,但在线辅导者需要具备引导策略、交互策略、监控策略、反思与迁移策略、反馈策略等五大基本策略。这五大策略包含16个子策略和32种具体的在线辅导行为,可以作为教师在线辅导的借鉴和参考。     

Taking stock of research on teacher collaborative discourse: Theory and method in a nascent field

Scholars generally agree that teacher professional conversations can play a critical role in teacher learning on the job. However, empirical research on the topic is relatively diffuse, both theoretically and methodologically. This paper presents a systematic review of 64 articles about teacher team discourse and interaction. The review offers an overview of the field and analyses of studies’ theoretical perspectives on teacher learning, methodological approaches to analyzing discourse, research and intervention designs, and emergent ideas and findings about generative discourse. We conclude with key questions and emphases for the consolidation and further development of this fragmented and nascent field.     

用于数学教师专业发展的网络学习共同体——机遇与挑战

在数学教师专业发展中,网络学习共同体逐渐凸现并成为重要的专业学习理念。采用案例分析的手法突出经验性研究能提升教师对这一理念的认识。网络学习共同体的基本原理及实践中的基本经验为数学教师专业发展提供了重要的思考元素。一方面,网络学习共同体在数学教师专业学习中起到了本质性作用,如能提升数学教师理论联系实际能力等;另一方面,网络学习共同体在实践中面临种种挑战,如教师密集的作息时间表、对面对面式专业学习模式的偏爱等。     

Professional Learning Communities: Bridging the Technology Integration Gap Through Effective Professional Development

ABSTRACT

While technology is prevalent in American classrooms, meaningful technology integration remains an issue, indicating a lack of effective professional development. Unlike the typical workshop model, professional learning communities (PLCs) utilize teacher-centered approaches to professional development. Kolb’s experiential learning theory, Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, and the expectancy-value model work together to provide the theoretical foundation supporting professional development through PLCs. This article proposes a plan for transformative technology integration using a PLC model for professional development.     

What makes an online community of practice work? A situated study of Chinese student teachers’ perceptions of online professional learning

This paper brings to the fore a cohort of student teachers' perceptions of an online learning experience during school placement in a Chinese tertiary institution; it critically explores factors contributing positively to online professional learning and the development of the community. An ethnographic case study approach was adopted. Findings indicate that online communication allows participants to recognize the significant presence of others in supporting and transforming their learning. It also fosters an appreciation and embracement of the multidimensional roles that they take on. Voluntary participation and empowerment emerge as key factors making this a vibrant professional community for professional growth.     

Adapting to large-scale changes in Advanced Placement Biology,Chemistry, and Physics: the impact of online teacher communities

Over the past decade, the field of teacher professional learning has coalesced around core characteristics of high quality professional development experiences (e.g. Borko, Jacobs, & Koellner, 2010. Contemporary approaches to teacher professional development. In P. L. Peterson, E. Baker, & B. McGaw (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (Vol. 7, pp. 548–556). Oxford: Elsevier.; Darling-Hammond, Hyler, & Gardner, 2017. Effective teacher professional development. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute). Many countries have found these advances of great interest because of a desire to build teacher capacity in science education and across the full curriculum. This paper continues this progress by examining the role and impact of an online professional development community within the top-down, large-scale curriculum and assessment revision of Advanced Placement (AP) Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. This paper is part of a five-year, longitudinal, U.S. National Science Foundation–funded project to study the relative effectiveness of various types of professional development in enabling teachers to adapt to the revised AP course goals and exams. Of the many forms of professional development our research has examined, preliminary analyses indicated that participation in the College Board's online AP Teacher Community (APTC) – where teachers can discuss teaching strategies, share resources, and connect with each other – had positive, direct, and statistically significant association with teacher self-reported shifts in practice and with gains in student AP scores (Fishman et al., 2014). This study explored how usage of the online APTC might be useful to teachers and examined a more robust estimate of these effects. Findings from the experience of AP teachers may be valuable in supporting other large-scale curriculum changes, such as the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards or Common Core Standards, as well as parallel curricular shifts in other countries.     

Student‐to‐Student Interaction Revisited: A Case Study of Working Adult Business Students in Online Courses*

Faculty teaching in online environments are universally encouraged to incorporate a variety of student‐to‐student learning activities into their courses. Although there is a body of both theoretical and empirical work supporting this, adult professional students participating in an online MBA program at an urban business school reported being at best indifferent and often negative regarding these learning activities. A case study was performed to explore how pervasive this attitude was and the possible reasons for it. Through various sources of data and exploration, we discovered that common interactive modalities are not associated with either perceived learning or satisfaction. A content analysis of a data analysis course revealed that 64.5% of responses recalled student‐to‐student interactivities when responding to a “learned least from” query. We identified three possible reasons for these negative responses: time inefficiency, interaction dysfunction, and flexibility intrusion. We conclude that, although some working professional students probably do learn from student‐to‐student interactivity, the costs incurred may be too great. If working adult students present a different profile than those students typically represented in academic research and thus have different needs and expectations, we may need to rethink the design of online education delivered to them.     

线上教学视域下高校教师职业素养自我提升研究

职业素养是个体胜任特定职业所需的各种内在条件的总和,高校教师职业素养直接决定着高等教育教学的实际效果,制约着高校人才培养、科学研究和社会服务的质量与水平。大规模的线上教学引发了高校教育教学的巨大变革,从职业品格、职业知识和职业能力等三个维度对高校教师的职业素养造成了严峻挑战。要切实提升高校教师职业素养,促进高等教育的高质量发展,高校教师必须在理念重构、定向学习、深度反思和体验观摩上下功夫。     

国际视野中的教师专业发展

教师专业发展在当前教育改革中具有重要地位.本文介绍西方国家教师专业发展领域的最新进展,探讨教育政策环境对教师专业发展的影响.文章阐述教师专业发展的界定、目的、功能、影响因素及其评价,指出教师学习和学习社群在西方学术讨论中已经成为探讨焦点.国家和市场对西方国家教师专业发展的实施有重要影响.     

cMOOC与xMOOC的辨证分析及高等教育生态链整合

知识经济社会是一种全新的社会形态,社会的发展以知识的生产和创新为基础,知识呈现出数字化、网络化的形态。当前基于课程的大学教育对知识传授的速度越来越滞后于知识增长的速度,也无法适应网络化知识产生、传播和应用的方式。高等教育从单纯面授模式转向在线模式或混合模式已成为不可逆转的趋势。MOOCs作为在线教育发展大潮中的一种探索形式,主要发展出基于联通主义学习理论的cMOOC和基于行为主义学习理论的xMOOC。从MOOCs的理念及其对高等教育变革的视角来看,cMOOC提出了适合数字时代基于网络的分布式认知过程的学习理论和教学模式;xMOOC借助于互联网,引入商业模式,突破了百年来高等教育坚固的“知识产业链”,吸引品牌大学的介入,为在线教育的发展提供了可操作的运行模式。但是无论哪种MOOCs均是课程层面的尝试,是局部的探索,因此需要站在数字化知识经济时代人才培养转型的高度,从整体上认识和把握在线教育的发展规律,积极推进尚处起步阶段的MOOC研究与实践。     

Learning ecologies through a lens: Ontological,methodological and applicative issues. A systematic review of the literature

The concept of learning ecologies emerged in a context of educational change. While the “learning ecologies” construct has offered a broad semantic space for characterizing innovative ways of learning, it is also true that its potential to promote innovative educational interventions may have been hindered by this same broadness. Based on this assumption, in this paper the authors carried out a systematic review of the literature on learning ecologies with the aim of analysing: (1) the varying definitions given to the concept, including the ontological perspective underlying the phenomena studied; (2) the methodological approaches adopted in studying the phenomenon; and (3) the applications of the research on this topic. Throughout this analysis, the authors attempt to describe the criticalities of the existing research, as well as the potential areas of development that align well with the theoretical/ontological issues, methodological approaches and educational applications. The authors selected and analysed 85 articles, which they then classified in a set of 20 categories defined by them on a theoretical basis. Moreover, in order to triangulate the manual coding, a bibliometric map was created showing the co-citation activity of the 85 papers. The emerging picture showed significant variability in the ontological definitions and methodological approaches. In spite of this richness, few educational applications currently exist, particularly with regard to technology-enhanced learning developments. Most research is observational, devoted to describing hybrid (digital and on-site) learning activities that bridge the gap between the school and social spaces. Furthermore, many of the studies relate to the field of secondary education, with fewer studies exploring adult learning and higher education. The studies dealing with professional development relate mostly to teachers’ continuing education. The authors conclude that the concept of learning ecologies could be used to address further experimental and design-based research leading to research applications if there is proper alignment between the ontological, methodological and applicative dimensions. The main potential of this strategy lies in the possibility of supporting learners by raising their awareness of their own learning ecologies, thereby empowering them and encouraging them to engage in agentic practices. This empowerment could help maintain and build new and better learning opportunities, which every learning ecology can incorporate, amidst the chaotic abundance that characterizes the digital society.     

学习分析技术支持下的教师在线学习行为特征分析

在线学习已成为教师专业发展的主要途径,参加学习的人员规模大、行为表现复杂。为了探析教师在线学习行为的群体特征,该文以Y市四期教师在线培训为例,应用统计分析、序列分析、关联规则、社会网络分析等方法,从学习活跃、学习投入时间、学习行为序列、社会交互四个方面分析了教师在线学习行为的群体特征。研究发现:教师在线学习活跃性较高;在线学习时间投入充足;在线学习目的性较强且行为活动方式简单;社会交互情况不够理想。因此,建议实施在线学习与线下集中研讨相结合的混合式教师培训,培训安排与支持服务、学习内容与活动设计应符合教师在线学习规律,并提供有效的技术脚手架和干预机制,以期提高教师培训效益。     

Value creation in online communities for educators

The popularity and pervasiveness of online communities have led researchers and practitioners alike to closely examine the utility of online communities for supporting and facilitating professional learning. As economic constraints leave fewer resources available for professional development, educators in particular are examining the potential of online communities to enhance and extend traditional professional development opportunities. Leveraging the potential of online communities requires an in‐depth understanding of the value that members find through their participation. This study used Wenger, Trayner and de Laat's value creation framework to better understand cycles of value creation in online communities. Findings illuminate how members with varying perspectives and levels of expertise co‐construct new forms of meaning and understanding in ways that are individually and collectively valuable, and how they apply that knowledge to their professional practice. Additionally, the study offers insight into the ways in which actions of community leaders and a sponsoring organization support and facilitate value creation through different types of activities, tools and interactions.