Communities of practice as a tool for continuing professional development of technology teachers’ professional knowledge

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francois van As
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Technology Teachers

scholarly journals Critical Factors that Enhance the Effectiveness of Online Communities of Practice: EFL Coordinators’ Patterns of Involvement - The Greek EL Teachers Cops Professional Development Paradigm

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Katerina Kourkouli
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Online Communities Of Practice

The paper examines Greek EFL Coordinators’ involvement in online Communities of Practice (CoPs) in terms of its impact on participating teachers’ professional development. The study focuses on four online CoPs hosting 49 Greek EFL teachers as participants and four Greek EFL Coordinators, using an online platform named 2gather developed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in the context of a national in-service professional development project in Greece. The study involves investigating the Coordinators’ patterns of involvement and their trainees’ response using a mixed-methods approach which combines quantitative and qualitative research as collective case studies of the four groups. Differentiations between the four Coordinators’ reported patterns of involvement and teachers’ reported effectiveness of their CoP training experience enables us to identify critical factors that contribute to the enhancement of effectiveness. A comparison of the Coordinators’ and their trainees’ responses per online CoP highlights the factors that have supported teachers’ reported reconstruction of knowledge and practices and the reported effectiveness of the CoP training experience regarding their everyday teaching practice. The findings contribute to furthering our understanding of effective online CoPs implementation in the context of continuing professional development.

scholarly journals Introducing continuing professional development

1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Sims
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Postgraduate Training ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Postgraduate Education ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Standards Of Practice ◽  
High Standards

Most professions have recently realised that basic undergraduate and postgraduate training is not enough to maintain high standards of practice throughout a long career. Continuing professional development (CPD) has become a feature therefore of the working life of these professions, and medicine, which was in the forefront for undergraduate and postgraduate education, has somewhat lagged behind in this. The failure of consultants to keep up to date in their professional knowledge and attitudes is clearly detrimental to patients, to the doctors themselves, and to the Health Service.

Critical Factors that Enhance the Effectiveness of Online Communities of Practice: EFL Coordinators’ Patterns of Involvement - The Greek EL Teachers Cops Professional Development Paradigm

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Katerina Kourkouli
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Online Communities Of Practice

The paper examines Greek EFL Coordinators’ involvement in online Communities of Practice (CoPs) in terms of its impact on participating teachers’ professional development. The study focuses on four online CoPs hosting 49 Greek EFL teachers as participants and four Greek EFL Coordinators, using an online platform named 2gather developed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in the context of a national in-service professional development project in Greece. The study involves investigating the Coordinators’ patterns of involvement and their trainees’ response using a mixed-methods approach which combines quantitative and qualitative research as collective case studies of the four groups. Differentiations between the four Coordinators’ reported patterns of involvement and teachers’ reported effectiveness of their CoP training experience enables us to identify critical factors that contribute to the enhancement of effectiveness. A comparison of the Coordinators’ and their trainees’ responses per online CoP highlights the factors that have supported teachers’ reported reconstruction of knowledge and practices and the reported effectiveness of the CoP training experience regarding their everyday teaching practice. The findings contribute to furthering our understanding of effective online CoPs implementation in the context of continuing professional development.

Investigating Greek EFL Coordinators’ Involvement in Online Elteachers Communities of Practice as a Means of Professional Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-55
Author(s):  
Katerina Kourkouli
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Situated Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Perceived Benefit ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
The University

Abstract This paper examines Greek EFL Coordinators’ involvement in online ELTeachers Communities of Practice (CoPs) and its impact on their own and their trainees’/teachers’ professional development. The study focuses on four (4) Greek EFL School Advisors who acted as Coordinators of four online CoPs training fourty-nine (49) EFL teachers using an online platform named 2gather developed by the University of Athens in the context of a national in-service professional development project in Greece. Founded on the theory of situated learning, CoPs have been defined as “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger et al., 2002). The study involved monitoring the development of four online ELTeachers CoPs and their respective Coordinators’ patterns of involvement and response using a mixed-methods approach which combined quantitative data and qualitative research of collective case studies (Dornyei, 2007) of the four groups of teachers. A comparison of the Coordinators’ implementation of meaningful professional development (Franke et al., 2001) activities “before” and “after” their involvement in the online CoPs was carried out. Findings delineate the extent of the Coordinators’ “reformed” training practice in terms of professional development activities provided to the teachers “before” and “after” their CoP involvement as well as their report on their teachers’ and their own perceived benefit. Results also highlight the role of the Coordinators’ attitude towards the innovative model of teacher education for its feasibility and viability in Greece and contribute to furthering our understanding of effective implementation of online CoPs in the context of continuing professional development.

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