Abstract

Physical educators report a multitude of benefits from accessing informal learning opportunities via social media. However, a lack of research has been conducted on adapted physical education (APE) teachers’ usage of social media for professional learning (PL) purposes. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore how APE teachers use social media to learn about APE content. A survey was used to identify APE teachers’ (n = 73) social media usage patterns. Descriptive statistics were reported, and multiple t-tests were used to compare how participants perceived the usefulness of social media vs. conferences for PL purposes. Multiple linear regression analyses were also used to identify variables that predicted the participants’ likelihood of attending conferences and using social media for PL purposes. Results demonstrated many participants used an array of social media platforms to learn about topics such as activities and equipment. However, participants indicated that conferences were significantly more useful in gaining information about APE related topics compared to social media. Following multivariate analysis, personal and professional usage of social media for PL purposes was associated with conference attendance. The potential of APE teachers and organizing bodies to use social media for PL purposes and future research recommendations are discussed.

Highlights

  • Social media are virtual platforms that enable users to share and exchange information

  • The findings from this study suggest that adapted physical education (APE) teachers appear to use and value social media professional learning (PL) experiences for a variety of purposes, especially related to collaboration

  • With data suggesting there is a lack of conferences with content tailored to APE teachers (Hodge and Akuffo, 2007; McNamara et al, 2021a), additional efforts are needed to provide this group of professionals with adequate and frequent PL opportunities related to their specialty

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Summary

Introduction

Social media are virtual platforms that enable users to share and exchange information These platforms are being used by educators to learn and grow professionally (Harvey and Hyndman, 2018; Hyndman and Harvey, 2020; McNamara et al, 2021a). The second item included a question on the frequency of use: “Typically, how frequently do you use social media for personal purposes?” Response options were on a seven-point scale from “multiple times a day” to “once a month or less frequently.”. Participants’ responses to the two questions related to the amount of time and frequency of social media was used with responses dichotomized into two groups: novice users (2 years or less and once a day or less) and experienced users (a few times a day and more than 3 years).

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