A tale of two subreddits: Change and continuity in teaching‐related online spaces

Abstract

AbstractDespite social media’s ubiquity in modern life, research on some topics related to educators’ use of social media for professional purposes remains underdeveloped, such as how use may change over time. This study explores educators’ self‐directed learning through social media by comparing change and continuity in how users contribute, interact and converse in two teaching‐related subreddits, r/Teachers and r/education. More than a million Reddit contributions spanning three‐and‐a‐half years comprise the dataset: 696 660 contributions to r/Teachers from 55 148 users and 339 618 contributions to r/education from 43 711 users. Learning ecology and affinity space concepts frame multiple methods of analysis, including quantitative measures of individual contributions, content interactions and social interactions, as well as qualitative content analysis of top posts and responses. Findings are discussed in light of the literature as change and continuity in Redditors’ participation patterns in the two subreddits suggest distinct spaces for distinct purposes. This study offers a starting point for further work to understand the opportunities and challenges of self‐directed learning in open and complex social media spaces. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Educators use social media to reach outside their local contexts for self‐directed learning. Teaching‐related subreddits vary in how users contribute and interact. What this paper adds Different online spaces host distinct kinds of discussion. Educators’ participation in online spaces is not static. Social media research methods should account for the possibilities of change and continuity in contributions, interactions and conversations. Implications for practice and/or policy Teaching‐related subreddits continue to grow and may offer helpful content and interactions to users; however, self‐directed learning through social media also necessitates increased digital literacy. r/Teachers appeared to be a conversational space primarily for teachers. r/education seemed to be a bulletin board space for posting about broader educational topics.