Visualizing Digital Communities of Practice

Abstract

In 2021, forty art, design, and media educators throughout a midwestern state in the United States critically examined their lessons through the lenses of social-emotional learning (SEL), standards-based assessment, research-informed practice, and culturally responsive instruction. During the program, teacher-learners recorded their reflections, which are condensed in a presentation-as-art-installation, highlighting dialogic self-reflection in a community of practice. In the video, originally conceived as a 2-channel installation, teachers discuss SEL; equity, diversity, and inclusion; research-informed practice; and standards-based grading, looking at the camera by themselves and reflecting on their daily practice as they incorporate new learning into their teaching. The text discusses how these transformative conversations took place, the necessary conditions for dialogic self-reflection in a community of practice, their impact on their professional practice, and sharing classroom experiences.