Web-Supported Communities for Teacher Professional Development: Five Cautions

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Najafi, H. & Clarke, A. (2008). Web-Supported Communities for Teacher Professional Development: Five Cautions. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 8(3), 244-263. AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/25320.

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Journal Information

Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education
ISSN 1528-5804
Volume 8, Issue 3, September 2008
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

More Information on CITE Journal

Authors

Hedieh Najafi, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Canada; Anthony Clarke, University of British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

This interpretive case study explores an attempt to add an online component-the On-line Literacy Project-to a successful face-to-face professional development community. Participants were six members of the Literacy Project, which was carried out in the school board of a western Canadian city. The principal theoretical framework informing the study was Lave and Wegner's (1991) community of practice. Analysis of data, collected over 7 months, showed that although participants acknowledged the potential of the Online Literacy Project the concept was poorly understood, received little support, and was not deemed relevant for a number of reasons, many of which are reported in the information and communication technology literature. However, a number of distinctive factors emerged in this study that serve as cautions for others interested in similar professional development endeavors.

Keywords

• Virtual Environments
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Community
• Educational Technology
• Interaction
• Mentoring
• Professional Development
• Computers
• Information Communication Technologies
• Internet
• Networking Technologies

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