Teacher engagement in a Web 2.0 world

Developing your online teaching and learning Community of Practice

Abstract

Recent developments in web-based tools have presented new opportunities for teachers and learners to engage in new ways, not only with their specific discipline, but also with themselves, with each other, and their learning. Online Communities of Practice (CoPs) serve not only as clearinghouses for what teachers already know about a discipline, but also as places where new knowledge and skills are developed. They can be a place where professional identities can be shared and grown as knowledge and skills are grown; they can provide space for ideas to be shared, considered, developed, and then used by all members of the CoP; and they are certainly a place where we are able to confront and develop the ways in which we learn. The researchers are two academic developers currently at Unitec Institute of Technology. In the Spring of 2009, the researchers, as technology stewards, created "The Teaching and Learning Community at Unitec' (T & L Community), an online CoP (http://tlcommunityunitec.ning.com/). The T&L Community is where teachers share and develop teaching and professional resources as well as announce events such as professional development opportunities, conferences, and other gatherings. Members participate in conversations through blog posts and comments, real-time chat and themed chat sessions. This new tool for engaging teachers with each other and their profession resonated with the early members and the CoP began to grow twice as fast as the technology stewards had anticipated. This paper explores the background, context and aims of the research, presents preliminary findings, and presents the methodology for further data collection. The paper draws early conclusions and implications about using online communities of practice in a teaching and learning environment.