Understanding the role of structural capital as facilitator in professional learning networks and organizational learning of university

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.

This chapter examines the educational landscape as a framework for the growing international focus on Professional Learning Networks (PLNs). It outlines the international policy demands along with the nascent focus on partnerships and networks. Policy demands in increasingly complex society are important drivers for networked forms of professional development. Literature on PLNs suggests that there are five key conditions supporting the ability of PLNs to drive changes in practice and student learning. Although different studies present slightly different terms, in general these conditions are represented by the ideas of focus, collaboration, reflective professional inquiry, leadership and group and individual learning. To understand how to achieve improvement in the schools of PLN members, people need to explore how PLNs can bring about organizational learning in these schools. To promote the expansion of PLN learning to other colleagues in their schools, the boundary needs to be 'crossed'.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 educators in the 21st century utilize social media platforms to enrich professional learning networks (PLNs). PLNs are uniquely personalized networks that can support participatory and continuous learning. Social media services can mediate professional engagements with a wide variety of people, spaces and tools that might not otherwise be available. Teachers who once might have had access to only a handful of colleagues can now employ Facebook, Twitter and other mediums to learn from peers across the globe at any time. However, educators face numerous challenges building and enhancing their PLNs for professional growth. To support educators in the development of their PLNs, we present a framework for PLN enrichment. Rooted in our research and experiences with PLNs, this flexible framework is designed to help educators reflect upon how they might continuously improve their PLN experiences and outcomes.

In a time of rapid policy and curriculum change, teachers must be knowledge workers who continue to develop professionally. Professional learning networks (PLNs) offer teachers the opportunity to develop professionally by positioning them as inquirers into their own practice and authors and agents of situated innovation. Six examples of PLNs are introduced in this book to illustrate key attributes of PLNs that build educators’ ownership, practice, and expertise. Also highlighted is the potential of PLNs to address questions of equity, both for educators working in remote and rural communities who have limited access to professional development and other resources, and diverse learners and equity-seeking communities (e.g., Indigenous communities, non-dominant cultural groups). Scholar, practitioner, and policy audiences can benefit greatly from the PLNs described here and draw from these case studies to inform equity-oriented PLNs centering the importance of teachers, students, engagement, collaboration, and rural place in educational transformation efforts.

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.

BackgroundThe COVID‐19 pandemic has affected teaching and professional learning activities. Teachers may have to rely on online spaces, such as Twitter, to interact with their professional learning networks and get enough support.ObjectivesThis study aims to investigate the structure and the content of teachers’ network interactions on Twitter both before and during the COVID19 pandemic.MethodsData were analysed for 103 teachers using multiple methods, including social network analysis (SNA) and content and thematic analysis.Results and ConclusionsContent analysis revealed that teachers’ cognitive and affective posts increased significantly during COVID‐19. Thematic analysis showed that, during COVID‐19, teachers’ post sfocused on issues around digital transformation. SNA showed that the sizes of teachers’ networks and in/out‐ties grew during COVID‐19. Although the study finds that teachers interacted with individuals both within and outside their discipline and their country, most teachers’ interactions were with teachers from similar disciplines and same country. Teachers used Twitter to share information and support each other.ImplicationsThis study provides recommendations for stimulating professional interactions among teachers. This work shows the potential of SNA and content analysis to analyse teachers’ professional learning networks.

Professional learning networks (PLNs) are uniquely crafted and dynamic learning ecosystems, consisting of people, spaces, and tools that meet an educator’s professional needs, interests, and goals (Trust et al., 2016). They serve as a means through which people grow in aspects of their professions. The people within a PLN are individuals who provide career-based feedback, advice, ideas, emotional support, and/or mentoring (Krutka et al., 2017; Trust et al., 2016). The spaces within a PLN are physical, digital, and hybrid places that support or enable professional knowledge building with and from others, such as conferences, workshops, webinars, Twitter chats, unconferences, Reddit forums, and massive open online courses (Trust and Prestridge, 2021). The tools within a PLN are physical resources (e.g., books, curriculum materials) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet search databases, social bookmarking tools, blogs) that are used to access, curate, construct, and disseminate professional knowledge (Trust et al., 2018). Taken together, the people, spaces, and tools within a PLN can support ongoing professional learning and growth for individuals in any academic or organizational context.

PurposeIn the research reported here we looked at data from three professional learning network (PLN) studies to answer the research question: What do researcher-facilitators do in PLNs and how do their roles vary across PLNs?Design/methodology/approachIn this research we used a multiple case study design focused on three individual PLNs, each one constituting an embedded case. To better understand the role of the PLN facilitator, we analyzed interview and artifact data to generate findings about how PLN facilitation was structured to support learning.FindingsDrawing from our analyses we identified four themes. Researcher-facilitators nurtured collaboration and distributed leadership; selected and offered theory, research and related resources; supported cycles of goal setting, action and reflection; and designed and implemented structures that built from teacher and student data. These three case studies show how PLN researcher-facilitators provided opportunities for teachers to step back from their practice and make evidence- and theory-supported meaning of their experiences. This study also advances understanding about how facilitators can position resources to support knowledge construction within PLNs. The third case study specifically illustrated how researcher-facilitators supported PLN members’ data-informed reflective inquiry. These case studies show the promise of providing educators with opportunities to enact agency, leadership and, at the same time, access supports.Originality/valueThe cross-case analysis of case studies offers much-needed empirical research regarding the role researcher-facilitators play within PLNs. Specifically, our study recasts the role of researchers, moving them away from unidirectional knowledge generators to instead facilitating opportunities for educators to bridge research/theory, evidence about student learning and practice.