A Critical Review of the Literature on Electronic Networks as Reflective Discourse Communities for Inservice Teachers

Over the past two decades, computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies have been used in a variety of efforts aimed at fostering teacher learning and teacher collaboration. This study is an attempt to closely examine the literature on the use of electronic networks for creating reflective teacher communities. We found that many teacher networks pursued the goal of building learning and reflective communities for teachers. Much was expected out of electronic teacher networks both as a practical solution to the stubborn problems in teacher professional development and as a new agent to create what is difficult to realize in face-to-face situations. However, we found a general lack of rigorous research on these networks. Little is known about the effectiveness of these networks on teacher learning. Few seriously examined to what degree the networks indeed were communities that promote reflective discourses.