Collaborative professional learning: cultivating science teacher leaders through vertical communities of practice

The article explores the complementary connections between communities of practice and the ways in which individuals orchestrate their engagement with others to further their professional learning. It does so by reporting on part of a research project conducted in New Zealand on teachers’ online professional learning in a university graduate diploma program on ICT education. Evolving from social constructivist pedagogy for online professional development, the research describes how teachers create their own networks of practice as they blend online and offline interactions with fellow learners and workplace colleagues. Teachers’ perspectives of their professional learning activities challenge the way universities design formal online learning communities and highlight the potential for networked learning in the zones and intersections between professional practice and study. The article extends the concepts of Lave and Wenger’s (1991) communities of practice social theory of learning by considering the role participants play in determining their engagement and connections in and across boundaries between online learning communities and professional practice. It provides insights into the applicability of connectivist concepts for developing online pedagogies to promote socially networked learning and emphasising the role of the learner in defining their learning pathways.

Download Full-text

The Semiformality of Teacher Leadership on the Edge of Chaos

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/1943-5045-90.3.397 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 90 (3) ◽

pp. 397-418 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

JASON MARGOLIS

Keyword(s):

Teacher Leadership ◽

Complexity Theory ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Teacher Leaders ◽

School Leaders ◽

School Systems ◽

School Teachers ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Edge Of Chaos ◽

Systemic Learning

In this article, Jason Margolis draws from complexity theory to explore the twenty-year negotiation between formal and informal teacher leadership in research and practice, making the case that there has been a drift toward a conception of semiformal teacher leadership in the field. Through both theory and examples, he illustrates how semiformal teacher leadership has the potential to afford school systems and educators both information and processors of information they likely would not otherwise have. Teacher leaders, in roles that are neither inflexible or ill-defined, can carve out intentional spaces on the edge of chaos to promote professional learning and communication in ways that solely school teachers or solely school leaders may not. In these spaces, productive complexity, agency, and systemic learning can coevolve.

Download Full-text

Making the most of mobility: virtual mentoring and education practitioner professional development

Research in Learning Technology ◽

10.3402/rlt.v23.25566 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 23 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Hazel D. Owen

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Communities Of Practice ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Research Study ◽

Learning Needs ◽

Learning Technology ◽

Learning And Development ◽

Virtual Mentoring ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Knowledge Cultures

Learning provision, including professional learning, needs to embrace mobility (of knowledge, cultures and contexts – physical and cerebral) to enable education practitioners to interact locally and globally, engage with new literacies, access rich contexts, and to question, co-construct and collaborate. Virtual mentoring, also known as distance, remote, tele-, cyber- and eMentoring, offers a level of flexibility that enables mentors and mentees to maximise these concepts of mobility. There are Professional Learning and Development (PLD) initiatives that offer contextualised, individualised learning experiences via mentoring partnerships and Communities of Practice (CoPs), but not so many that have focussed on virtual mentoring and online CoPs. This article describes a Virtual PLD programme that has been offered in Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009 to date and discusses findings from the associated research study, including benefits that can be specifically equated to the virtual nature of the mentoring and access to the online CoP. Also reported are shifts in mentees’ self-efficacy and perceptions of changes in professional practice.Keywords: online communities; professional development; coaching(Published: 16 September 2015)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2015, 23: 25566 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v23.25566

Download Full-text