Evaluating Value Creation, Motivation, and Personal Experiences in a Game-Based Professional Learning Network for Computer Science Education

Professional learning networks (PLN) in Higher Education represent new social configurations for networked workplaces in which education, research and innovation can be combined. Here academic staff engages with others outside of their everyday organisational community. This study identifies and conceptualizes essential behaviours that facilitators of professional learning networks use to promote value creation of various kinds. 
 
 The two-phase study started with an empirical field study on the value creation stories of 11 participants within 3 professional networks to investigate essential facilitator behaviours. A panel study including 30 researchers, lecturers and practitioners representing a wide range of learning and innovation networks, was conducted to validate and enrich the findings derived from the field study. 
 
 From the field study 54 facilitator behaviours were identified. The panel study raised 68 complementary statements on essential facilitator behaviours. Qualitative data analysis lead to five themes of facilitator behaviour. Facilitators’ contributions to value creation in networked workplace contexts can be understood as the interplay of five foci of facilitative behaviour: 1. relationship, 2. space, 3. ownership, 4. direction, 5. result. Findings concerning facilitator behaviours are synthesised in an conceptualisation of the process dynamic of value creation in networked workplaces: The Facilitator Compass.
 
 This paper provides insight on what plays a major role in the success of professional networks: the way they are facilitated. While the role of a facilitator is acknowledged in literature and in practice, this study adds to the knowledge base by showing how academic staff can navigate for value creation in networked workplaces.

Background Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) of educators represent a promising approach to achieving continuous school improvement. At the same time, a range of studies in this area, including several systematic reviews and meta-analyses, report multiple conceptual and methodological challenges, or, at best, mixed results. Purpose and sources The aim of this theoretical discussion paper, therefore, is to seek, first, to synthesise and connect to previous studies focused on professional learning communities and networks by combining and reflecting on their findings and recommendations. Second, we aim to contribute to the methodological development of the field in order to propose research that can link what happens in PLNs to changes in outcomes for students. For the latter, we will also make use of new insights from the field with regard to the use of big data in education. Main argument We propose a conceptual model of what defines PLNs, enactment process variables, and influencing factors, presenting our theory-of-action for how PLNs can be effective. Second, we discuss challenges and recommendations in studying PLN impact regarding research approach, research design and measurement. This discussion includes consideration of the use of big data to help to make the analysis of patterns in, and relations between, different types of PLN research data more efficient and reliable. Conclusion We need to define and study the processes and effects of PLNs more efficiently and effectively, to support PLNs in fulfilling the promise of increased teacher learning, improved outcomes for students, and, ultimately, sustainable school improvement at scale.

Research shows that teacher professional learning is most effective when it is characterised by active engagement of teachers, a direct connection to their daily practice, and high levels of collaboration. Increasingly, networked professional learning is promoted to enable teachers to make better use of the potential of their social context and improve the quality of their learning. This chapter explores value creation in teacher learning networks and investigates how value creation is affected by contextual factors. The study was conducted in two projects that aimed to promote and facilitate teachers’ networked professional learning. The findings showed little difference in teachers’ networked learning activity itself, but substantial differences were found in leadership commitment, time, and opportunity for networked learning and voluntary network participation. Overall, the study shows how creating connections between teachers may lead them to redefine their idea of what learning could be like and reframe the value of their peers for learning. Interestingly, the combination of committed leadership and mandatory network involvement appeared to have helped teachers to have positive networked professional learning experiences.

Over the past decades a new form of professionalism has emerged, characterized by factors of fluidity, instability and continual change, leading to the necessitation of new forms of professional development that support agile and flexible expansion of professional practice. At the same time, the digitization of work has had a profound effect on professional practice. This digitization opens up opportunities for new forms of professional learning mediated by technologies through networked learning. Networked learning is believed to lead to a more efficient flow of complex knowledge and routine information within the organization, stimulate innovative behaviour and result in a higher job satisfaction. In this respect, networked learning can be perceived as an important perspective on both professional and organizational development. This proposed edited volume provides examples of Networked Professional Learning and questions the impact of this emerging form of learning on the academy and interrogates the impact on the teachers of the future. It will feature three sections that explore networked professional learning from different perspectives: questioning what legitimate forms of networked professional learning are across a broad sampling of professions, how new forms of professional learning impact institutions of higher education, and the value creation that Networked Learning offers professionals in broader educational, economic, and social contexts. The book will be of interest to researchers in the area of professional and digital learning, higher education managers, organizational HR professionals, policy makers and students of technology enhanced learning.

The emergence of networks within education has been driven by a number of key factors. These include: the complex nature of the issues facing education, which are typically too great for single schools to tackle by themselves; changes to educational governance structures which involve the dismantling of old ways of working and the introduction of new approaches with an individualized focus; as well as the increased emphasis on education systems that are ‘self-improving and school-led’. Within this context, the realization of teacher and school improvement actively emerges from establishing cultures of enquiry and learning, both within and across schools. Since not every teacher in a school can collaboratively learn with every other teacher in a network, the most efficient formation of networks will comprise small numbers of teachers learning on behalf of others. Within this context, Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) are defined as any group who engage in collaborative learning with others outside of their everyday community of practice; with the ultimate aim of improving outcomes for children (Brown and Poortman, 2018). This broad definition encompasses a huge range of between-school or school-plus-other-organization network types, including data use teams and research learning networks. Research suggests that the use of PLNs can be effective in supporting school improvement. In addition, PLNs are an effective way to enable schools to collaborate to improve educational provision in disadvantaged areas. Nonetheless harnessing the benefits of PLNs is not without challenge. In particular, participation in learning networks does not automatically improve teaching practice or student outcomes. Correspondingly, this encyclopedia entry explores the notion of PLNs in detail; it also sheds light on the key factors and conditions that need to be present if PLNs are to lead to sustained improvements in teaching and learning. These factors and conditions are: focus, collaboration, reflective professional inquiry, individual/group learning, and leadership.

Many studies point to the relevance of school leaders’ self-efficacy for the successful organisation and management of schools. However, to date, there are only a few findings on which factors have a positive influence on this characteristic. This study therefore examines the extent to which the use of formal and informal learning opportunities, in addition to the antecedents mentioned by Bandura (mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, physiological and emotional states), have a direct positive effect on school leaders’ innovation-related self-efficacy, as well as an indirect effect on self-efficacy mediated by mastery experience. Analyses of a survey with a representative sample of N = 405 school leaders in Germany using structural equation models confirmed the effect of mastery experience (i.e. perceived achievement), vicarious experience (i.e. encouragement from a team), and emotional states (i.e. exhaustion) on school leaders’ self-efficacy. Regarding professional development, the analyses revealed a direct positive effect of participation in university training and professional learning networks, which were not mediated by mastery experience. Our results demonstrate the value of leadership preparation programmes that enable the participants to explore different work-related tasks and promote feelings of mastery, as well as the importance of team coherency and potential value of distributed work.

Professional learning networks that utilize various social media platforms have sprung up among teachers, including in Indonesia. Social media-based professional learning networks are an alternative way of formally dealing with multiple limitations of teacher professional development in Indonesia. The research investigates 504 teachers' experience in social media-based professional learning networks and their reasons for engaging. This study uses a mixed method with a sequential explanatory approach. Data was collected using questionnaires and in-depth interviews, and then the data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that the teachers' level of experience engaged in social media-based professional learning networks has yet to demonstrate the maximum level of each element of professional learning network experiences. Teachers' reasons to be engaged in social media-based professional learning networks are to facilitate the learning process of teachers according to their needs, place them in equal roles and positions, provide opportunities for sharing and collaboration, emphasize learning strategies from fellow teachers, inspire good practices that have an impact on students, and encourage them always to reflect. Harmonizing the reasons with the learning experiences developed in social media-based professional learning networks can be an alternative way to increase professional learning network experiences for teachers.

The emergence of networks within education has been driven by a number of factors, including: the complex nature of the issues facing education, which are typically too great for single schools to tackle by themselves; changes to educational governance structures, which involve the dismantling of old ways of working and the introduction of new approaches with an individualized focus; in addition is the increased emphasis on education systems that are ‘self-improving and school-led’. Within this context, the realization of teacher and school improvement actively emerges from establishing cultures of enquiry and learning, both within and across schools. Since not every teacher in a school can collaboratively learn with every other teacher in a network, the most efficient formation of networks will comprise small numbers of teachers learning on behalf of others. Within this context, Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) are defined as any group who engage in collaborative learning with others outside of their everyday community of practice; with the ultimate aim of PLN activity being to improve outcomes for children. Research suggests that the use of PLNs can be effective in supporting school improvement. In addition, PLNs are an effective way to enable schools to collaborate to improve educational provision in disadvantaged areas. Nonetheless harnessing the benefits of PLNs is not without challenge. In response, this paper explores the notion of PLNs in detail; it also sheds light on the key factors and conditions that need to be present if PLNs are to lead to sustained improvements in teaching and learning. In particular, the paper explores the role of school leaders in creating meaningful two-way links between PLNs and their schools, in order to ensure that both teachers and students benefit from the networked learning activity that PLNs foster. The paper concludes by suggesting possible future research in this area.

Learning for sustainable regional development: towards learning networks 2.0?

The Problem Virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) share many features of digital learning networks (DLNs). Their work is ecosystemically connected, and they operate on overlapping continuums. This makes understanding how they function and decisions about which term to use difficult. The Solution This article outlines points of convergence and divergence between VCoPs and DLNs. It explains how the term, complexly coevolving, clarifies their brackish connections, and the proposed term, glocal peer-learning practice networks (GPPNs), is needed to describe their intersecting existence. The Stakeholders Organizations and networks that seek to quickly and comprehensively describe the scale and scope of their work. Researchers who seek to unify terminology for better evaluation and advancement of the field across societal sectors. Practitioners and funders who aim to develop or strengthen work against issues of global concern using combined features of VCoPs and DLNs.

After outlining the central role of leadership for individual and interorganisational learning in sustainable Professional Learning Networks (PLN), this article describes Austria’s professional learning environment and professional learning (PL) within this changing field. In order to meet urgent institutional requests for sustainable PL, new organisational responses are needed. The authors highlight the implications of the notion of responsiveness, framing it as resulting from interorganisational practices such as PLNs and as ensuring sustainable organisational leadership capabilities within PLNs. After describing the two levels of the study (meso and micro), the findings, which are based on two case studies in Austrian schools, show that the role played by PLNs in challenging professional learning environments is blurry. The discussion shows that these case studies have extended the single-level approach deployed in previous studies. The article concludes by highlighting the specific leadership role that is required within PLNs in order to establish responsiveness, change routines and thus enhance professional learning.

PurposeThere is currently a focus on using networks to drive school and school system improvement. To achieve such benefits, however, requires school leaders actively support the mobilisation of networked-driven innovations. One promising yet under-researched approach to mobilisation is enabling distributed leadership to flourish. To provide further insight in this area, this paper explores how the leaders involved in one professional learning network (the Hampshire Research Learning Network) employed a distributed approach to mobilise networked learning activity in order to build professional capital.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methods approach was used to develop a case study of the Hampshire RLN . Fieldwork commenced with in-depth semi-structured interviews with all school leaders of schools participating in the network and other key participating teachers (12 interviews in total). A bespoke social network survey was then administered to schools (41 responses). The purpose of the survey was to explore types of RLN-related interaction undertaken by teachers and how teachers were using the innovations emerging from the RLN within their practice.FindingsData indicate that models of distributed leadership that actively involves staff in decisions about what innovations to adopt and how to adopt them are more successful in ensuring teachers across networks: (1) engage with innovations; (2) explore how new practices can be used to improve teaching and learning and (3) continue to use/refine practices in an ongoing way.Originality/valueCorrespondingly we argue these findings point to a promising approach to system improvement and add valuable insight to a relatively understudied area.

In the last decade data-based decision making has been promoted to stimulate school improvement and student learning. However, many teachers struggle with one or more elements of data-based decision making, as they are often not data literate. In this exploratory study, professional learning networks are presented as a way to provide access to data literacy that is not available in schools. Through interviews with scientific experts (n = 14), professional learning networks are shown to contribute to data-based decision making in four ways: (1) by regulating motivation and emotions throughout the process, (2) by encouraging cooperation by sharing different perspectives and experiences, (3) increasing collaboration to solve complex educational problems, and (4) encouraging both inward and outward brokering of knowledge. The experts interviewed have varying experiences on whether professional learning networks should have a homogenous and heterogenous composition, the degree of involvement of the school leaders, and which competencies a facilitator needs to facilitate the process of data-based decision making in a professional learning network.

Purpose: This study investigates how feedback provided through the Kahoot! platform influences student engagement and learning outcomes in Spanish language education. Focusing on the role of feedback within gamified learning environments, the research examines its effectiveness in enhancing student participation and achievement. Methodology: This study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) of 52 selected references to analyze the effectiveness of feedback in Spanish language instruction. The review focuses on the characteristics of feedback provided through Kahoot! and its role in enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes. The study also compares traditional teacher-provided feedback with AI-driven feedback mechanisms available on digital platforms. Findings: The study identifies that feedback provided through Kahoot! is primarily constructive and aids students in overcoming challenges related to grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. The real-time nature of feedback enhances student engagement by fostering active participation and immediate rectification of errors. Additionally, the study finds that AI-driven feedback systems offer real-time insights that complement traditional teacher-based feedback, leading to improved student performance and motivation. However, challenges such as platform complexity and lack of comfort in using digital tools remain barriers to effectiveness. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: This study contributes to the understanding of feedback as a critical component of student engagement in language learning. The findings emphasize the importance of integrating both traditional and AI-driven feedback mechanisms to optimize learning outcomes. From a policy perspective, the study highlights the need for structured implementation of digital learning tools in educational institutions. In practice, the study provides insights for educators on leveraging game-based learning platforms to enhance student participation and performance in Spanish language acquisition.

ABSTRACTLeadership is an essential contributor to effective professional networking within education. In the pursuit of school and system improvement, leaders at all levels are being challenged to collaborate and network in order to secure the best positive outcomes for students. Professional learning networks are one of the main developments in many education systems in recent years. The article takes a distributed perspective on leading professional learning networks. Firstly, the article explores the contribution that leadership makes to effective networking and productive collaboration; secondly, it considers the challenges of leading collective action; and thirdly, it proposes that distributed leadership could offer an important theoretical framing to understand, in greater depth, the nature and impact of professional collaboration, particularly but not exclusively, in the form of networks. Consequently, the article argues that distributed leadership offers a useful framework for future empirical enquiry and analysis into the effective leadership of professional learning networks. Finally, it proposes that the knowledge base on networks and networking should move away from largely normative descriptions, self-report and over assertion to far more sophisticated data collection and analytical processes that would generate more rigorous and reliable evidence on the intentions, processes and outcomes of professional learning networks.