Professional Learning Networks Research Articles

Understanding topic duration in Twitter learning communities using data mining

AbstractBackgroundThere has been increasing interest in online professional learning networks in a variety of social media platforms, especially in Twitter. Twitter offers immediacy, personalization, and support of networks to increase professional knowledge and the sense of membership. Knowing the topics discussed in Twitter and the factors that affect the duration of a topic would help to sustain and reconstruct Twitter‐based professional learning activities.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to analyse the topics discussed and what factors affect the duration of a specific topic in 6 years within a virtual professional learning network (VPLN) using #Edchat in Twitter, based on media richness features.MethodsInternet‐mediated research and digital methods are used for data collection and analysis. Various text, natural language processing, and machine learning algorithms were used along with the quantitative multilevel models. This study examined 504,998 tweets posted by 72,342 unique users by using #Edchat.ResultsThere were 150 topics discussed over the 6 years and multilevel random intercept regression model revealed that a specific topic discussed in the #Edchat VPLN is discussed longer when it has more tweets, rather than retweets, posted by a high number of different users along with moderate text, high or moderate mentions with more hashtags.TakeawaysThe study developed an automated social media richness feature extraction framework that can be adapted for other theoretical applications in educational context. Emergent topics discussed in Twitter among #Edchat VPLN members for professional development were identified. It extends the social media richness theory for educational context and explore factors that affect an online professional learning activity in Twitter.

Professional learning networks: a conceptual model and research opportunities

ABSTRACT 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.

Leading as boundary crossing: How teacher leaders lead across a professional learning network in Shanghai China

This paper explores how teacher leaders enact leadership practice across a regional learning network, Master Teacher Studios, an officially initiated teacher learning program in Shanghai. It investigates the leadership strategies that are employed for cross-boundary endeavors in the network. The concepts of boundary and boundary crossing, as expounded by Wenger and others, are used to guide an examination of the process of teacher leadership enactment across a network, which is elucidated as interpreting the boundaries, selecting/designing boundary objects, and participating in communities of practice. The paper fosters an understanding of teacher leadership practice as boundary work in a network context, and delineates a process of teacher leadership enactment, as well as the importance of teacher leader identity in the process.

Promoting Transfer of Learning to Practice in Online Continuing Professional Development.

Leveraging online learning tools and encouraging transfer of learning to practice remains a critical challenge to successful continuing professional development (CPD) offerings. Four sets of factors are essential to the transfer of learning from CPD into practice: learner characteristics, instructional design, content, and environment. Through incorporating elements of educational theories/frameworks into the planning of online CPD activities, educators can maximize opportunities for learning transfer. In this article, we highlight four educational theories/frameworks that provide useful insight to tackle these interrelated factors in online CPD: Self-Determination Theory considers the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of participants, which can be encouraged through flexibility, customization, and choices available in online formats. Practical Inquiry Model encourages intentionally planning and embedding opportunities for reflection and dialogue in online activities to enhance knowledge application. Virtual Communities of Practice can be used to transcend spatial and temporal boundaries, promoting interactions and relationships where participants learn from peers. Finally, Professional Learning Networks can be fostered through developing interpersonal connections and sharing resources for informal and flexible learning. Online CPD is likely to increase in the future, and educators should consider elements of these educational theories/frameworks in the design and delivery of CPD to support participants' application of newly acquired knowledge.

Are you a team player or a personal pinner? situating pinterest as part of teachers\u2019 online and offline professional learning networks

Pinterest, a popular social networking site, is used as a resource by educators across all grade levels. We take the perspective that Pinterest acts as a professional learning network (PLN) and interrogate the ways that teachers share resources within online/offline PLNs. Eighty-eight teachers responded to a survey that asked about their social media use as well as their sharing of Pinterest resources with their professional colleagues. Building from the media use typology, we developed the Peer-to-Peer Pinterest Sharing Typology to describe types of sharing, finding that most respondents indicated that they did not share resources, others shared if forced to, and some shared as a way to enhance collegial collaboration. This research expands limited empirical work on both Pinterest as a PLN and on how learning and resources from online PLNs cross into school-based ones. This work will be of interest to those who seek to understand how social media sites play a role in teacher professional learning.

#iteachmsu Centering an Educator Learning Community (ELC)

Many scholars recommend preparing faculty for educator roles. Faculty Learning Communities, The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and teaching centers represent common preparatory approaches. But faculty and teaching assistants report time, disciplinary disconnects, and lack of incentives as ongoing barriers. Inspired by K-12’s professional learning networks and “hashtag activism,” the authors’ university launched #iteachmsu. #iteachmsu combines practices of social networking with a digital and in-person teaching “commons.” Through #iteachmsu, the authors hope to further shift campus cultures in the age of COVID-19, centering teaching and learning as a valuable and ongoing focus for an educator learning community (ELC).

Understanding teacher learning in professional learning networks (PLNs): The emergence of lived learning experiences

This paper reveals the nature of teachers’ professional learning in online professional learning networks (PLNs) by narrating both my learning experiences and my understanding of the acquired theories (e.g., Gnosis, Episteme, Enactivism and Complexity Theory) from a seminar. The seminar made my learning experience the moments of wondering, discovering, struggling, and transforming, thereby resulting in my knowing about the acquired theories. These moments and the theories enabled me to reflect upon the conventional teacher professional learning and to explore the nature of teacher professional learning in PLNs such as knowledge, doing and being as a whole, learnable participatory position, emergence and understanding, true professional learning, and affordances of PLNs for teacher professional learning.

Tracing changes in teachers' professional learning network on Twitter: Comparison of teachers' social network structure and content of interaction before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Responsive leadership within professional learning networks for sustainable professional learning

ABSTRACT 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.

Designing and providing inclusive ELT materials in times of the global pandemic: a Chilean experience

ABSTRACT Purpose The provision of inclusive learning materials has been a longstanding issue in FL education. During the 2020 pandemic, school closures have posed additional challenges to educators seeking to engage learners and provide egalitarian access to learning opportunities. Approach This case study documents a collaborative materials design process when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chilean schools into remote lessons for a whole school year. The collaboration was based on a small professional learning network consisting of two pre-service teachers and two teacher educators. Two questions were posed: What learning and circumstantial needs had to be considered for materials design and for the process of making the materials accessible to a diverse group of Year-9 EFL learners? What were the benefits and challenges for this networked learning system when searching for solutions? Findings: The combination of different access modes to materials, including paper-based worksheets and social networking, and the provision of internet access to facilitate video conferences, helped to overcome some but not all of the limitations caused by the lack of political commitment to offer solutions at a macro level. Based on a framework that combined principles of Differentiated Instruction, Universal Design for Learning, multimodality and bilingual support, the team developed materials at an appropriate level for most students. However, difficulties regarding differentiation between different learner levels persisted. Value This study sheds light on the affordances and challenges of a collaborative materials design process in which educators join perspectives to provide materials for greater educational justice in FL classrooms.

The Paradox of Ghanaian High School Mathematics Teachers’ Perspectives on ICT Use

The paper sought to investigate the perceived use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) of high school mathematics teachers in Ghana. A hundred high school mathematics teachers from 20 public schools,10 each located in the rural and urban areas respectively in the Central region of Ghana, were stratified and used in the study. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The result of the study indicated low levels of perceived knowledge/skills of ICT use by high school mathematics teachers, contrary to their reported high usage levels of ICTs. The findings of the study also indicated that the high school mathematics teachers’ ICT use in a professional related context (instructional delivery, assessment, and professional learning network) was minimal compared to use for social networking, although they seemed to be fully aware of the relevance of using ICT in a professional related manner. Similarly, their reported technical knowledge/skills of ICT were low. Thus, the results of the study suggest that, though the teachers reported high ICT usage, actual usage seems to be at the peripheries. Among other things, this study has implications for curriculum development and training in Ghana and countries of similar context. It may be necessary for the Curriculum Research Development Division (CRDD) of the Ghana Education Service in collaboration with the related agencies to explicitly define parameters such as what ICT tools must be used, when they must be used, and how they should be used when reviewing and revising their mathematics teaching curriculum. 

Inquiring tweets want to know: #Edchat supports for #RemoteTeaching during COVID‐19

Social media use has spiked around the world during the COVID‐19 global pandemic as people reach out for news, information, social connections, and support in their daily lives. Past work on professional learning networks (PLNs) has shown that teachers also use social media to find supports for their teaching and ongoing professional development. This paper offers quantitative analysis of over a half million Twitter #Edchat tweets as well as qualitative content analysis of teachers’ question tweets (n = 1054) and teacher interviews (n = 4). These data and analyses provide evidence of the kinds of supports that teachers in the United States and Canada sought on social media during the rapid transition to emergency remote teaching in Spring 2020 and how these supports informed teaching practices. These results provide insights into PLN theory and teachers’ social media use during times of disruption and crisis. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Prior to the spring 2020 pandemic, teachers turned to social media to find supports for teaching and just‐in‐time professional development (PD).#Edchat, one of the oldest and most used educational hashtags on Twitter, supports education‐related conversations, frequently self‐promotional rather than collaborative.The COVID‐19 pandemic disrupted educational systems globally and created new demands on teacher PD during transitions to emergency remote teaching and learning. What this paper adds Teachers’ professional learning networks (PLN) on social media can be flexible around contextual circumstances and users’ needs.#Edchat discourse can move beyond self‐promotion to inquiry with benefits for professional learning.Education‐related response networks on social media are useful to teachers in emergency situations (and beyond them) where just‐in‐time professional learning needs and questions surpass local PD capacity. Implications for practice and/or policy Teachers should increase capacities inquiring discourses on Twitter.Education stakeholders should increase support for teachers’ agency and advocate for broader conceptions and approaches to PD that incorporate PLNs spanning social media.

An exploratory study of how novice instructors pivot to online assessments strategies

ABSTRACT Increasingly, graduate student instructors (GSIs) teach online without prior formal training on how to design online assessments of learning and participation. We present findings from a collective case study of seven GSIs at a university in the United States of America to describe how these novice online instructors learned to enact assessment strategies in an online classroom. Findings reveal that the GSIs were influenced by professional learning networks such as peer communities of practice, the academic Twitter community, student feedback, and faculty gatekeeping of institutional resources and policies. With limited institutional and departmental support, the GSIs struggled to transform their face-to-face assessments to leverage technology but leaned on their professional judgment to prioritize traditional discussion and participation structures. Findings inform our understanding of how universities might prioritize professional learning networks on online teaching at differing institutional levels to increase GSIs’ access to online teaching information and knowledgeable role models.

Les réseaux connectés d'enseignants, un instrument de développement professionnel? Connected teacher networks, a tool for professional development?

Abstract: The professional development of teachers throughout their careers is an important lever for improving the effectiveness and equity of teaching. The collective work of teachers designing and managing projects and devices, in particular remotely via social networks and digital collaboration tools, raised high expectations regarding the professional development of participants. Have any effects of participating in professional learning networks or online communities been found in research? What are the conditions for transformations to take place? We will show the often significant effects of this participation on the participants' selfconfidence and their renewed interest in the exercise of their profession, and more limited effects on the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to analyse learning situations. We will also show the need to consider participation in a network in a larger set of interactions and in personal development paths where it can, at some point, play a decisive role. المستخلص: يعتبر التطوير المهني للمعلمين طوال حياتهم المهنية مهم لتحسين فعالية وعدالة التدريس. يؤدي العمل الجماعي للمعلمين الذين يصممون ويديرون المشاريع والادوات ، ولا سيما عن بعد عبر الشبکات الاجتماعية وأدوات التعاون الرقمي ، إلى رفع التوقعات فيما يتعلق بالتطوير المهني للمشارکين. وترکز اسئلة البحث علي: هل تم العثور على أي آثار للمشارکة في شبکات التعلم المهنية أو المجتمعات عبر الإنترنت في البحث؟ ما هي شروط حدوث التحولات؟ وقد ظهرت الآثار المهمة في کثير من الأحيان لهذه المشارکة على ثقة المشارکين بأنفسهم واهتمامهم المتجدد بممارسة مهنتهم ، وتأثيرات أکثر محدودية على اکتساب المعرفة والقدرة على تحليل مواقف التعلم. ويتضح أيضا الحاجة إلى النظر في المشارکة في شبکة في مجموعة أکبر من التفاعلات وفي مسارات التنمية الشخصية حيث يمکنها ، في مرحلة ما ، أن تلعب دورا حاسما.

Commentary: professional learning networks: insights and future questions

Commentary: professional learning networks: insights and future questions

Continuity and change in educators’ professional learning networks

While prior research suggests that many educators turn to social media to grow and enhance professional learning networks (PLNs) that extend beyond their schools, little is known about how PLNs shift over time. In this exploratory study, we investigated the nature of continuity and change in the PLNs of 192 K-12 and university educators from 17 countries. Participants responded to our request to comment on PLN descriptions they provided in a previous 2014 survey, and then identify continuity and change during the intervening years. Respondents overwhelmingly expressed that their PLNs had changed over the four years between the two surveys. The causes of PLN changes appeared to be diverse, dynamic, and interrelated. Various proximal and distal factors contributed to changes in professional activities. We frame the study through social ecological systems theory, discuss the significance of these findings, and consider implications for K-12 and higher education professional learning. Educators and those who lead and support their professional learning should reflect upon and attend to PLN change to ensure more educative results for teachers and students.

The travel of ideas: the dual structure of mobilized knowledge in the context of professional learning networks

PurposeIn the context of professional learning networks (PLNs), there are many studies which address knowledge mobilization (KMb). The majority of these focus on how research is mobilized by various actors. This paper explores the concepts of KMb both on an individual and an organizational level and discusses the role of PLN participants and PLNs as catalysts for institutional change (IC). To illustrate this, a model was developed which draws on a concept that depicts the mobilization processes at the various levels.Design/methodology/approachThe model was developed by drawing on theoretical approaches to both KMb on an individual and an organizational level of schools. The strengths and limitations of the model are then assessed as part of an exploratory study. Interviews of PLN participants (n = 7) from two schools and detailed logbooks of two participants were used to reconstruct experiences of KMb in the PLNs and the process of KMb among schools. By contrasting two schools, the study traces how mechanisms of KMb occurred. Data sources were analyzed using a structured content analysis alongside a deductive–inductive code system.FindingsThe results of the exploratory study show that, although the model is able to map the KMb practices, some refinement is still needed. While the extension of concepts describing the work of knowledge mobilizer (KM) leads to a more theoretically differentiated perspective, the data also showed that PLN participants only partially define themselves as KMs. The connection to concepts of strategies of knowledge mobilizing on an organizational level led to an increased transparency in the theoretical model. The data showed that KMb is influenced by organizational and individual beliefs.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the current knowledge base through a theoretical model that addresses the underinvestigated topic of KMb regarding the link between the individual and organizational levels. With a special focus on individual and organizational levels, a connection between KMb and IC is provided. The theoretical framework and research findings from an additional explorative study can be used to further develop relevant insights into the actions of participants from PLNs that enable IC processes among their schools.

A Dashboard to Monitor Self-Regulated Learning Behaviours in Online Professional Development

This paper reports on usage and impact on learning achievements of a dashboard developed to help monitor self-regulated learning behaviours in an online professional development path. The design of the path as well as of the dashboard were grounded on a pre-existing conceptual framework distinguishing between four different types of self-regulated learning behaviours taking place in professional learning networks and underpinning professional practice sharing. One of the objectives of the path was to promote such behaviours among participants, and the dashboard was designed to support their self-monitoring. Data were collected through usage log files analysis, a survey, and pretest and posttest. The results shed light on participants' actual usage of the dashboard, their opinion regarding its usefulness in relation of its capability to measure and support their SRL processes, and the dashboard's actual impact on their learning achievements. Moreover, some limitations in the current configuration of the dashboard emerged, which can guide further development.

Operating educational networks in Northern Ireland: the EQI shaped professional learning network

This paper reports on the operation of the DCU Shaped Professional Learning Network (DCU SPLN), an initiative of the Centre for Evaluation Quality and Inspection (EQI) at Dublin City University. The DCU SPLN was initially established in Belfast, Northern Ireland as part of the Erasmus+ Project, 'Polycentric inspections of networks of schools', the focus of which was to provide an assessment of the potential of polycentric inspection as a tool for improving school effectiveness and outcomes. The cluster has now grown to 140 schools organised in regional clusters throughout Northern Ireland. The paper provides examples of the impact of the network on policy and practice in Northern Ireland. Firstly, it has a Hearts and Minds driving force that is centered on the ethical use of first-hand evidence to drive school improvement and associated action research. Secondly, it is underpinned by the existence and support from external agencies, in this case, researchers at EQI. Thirdly, the professional development provided to schools by EQI and subsequent adjustments by participants and advisors had a direct ongoing positive impact on improving the actual quality of learning in individual schools. Finally, one of the key learning points was the gradual transfer of responsibility for professional learning provision from the EQI researchers to the leaders and teachers involved in the cluster. The paper concludes with drawing some general conclusions about the role of networks in educational practice.

Exploring the potential of collaborative teaching nested within professional learning networks

PurposeThis research investigated whether structuring an inquiry-oriented professional learning network to include school-based co-teaching partners would amplify educators' success in taking up and adapting evidence-based understandings and practices as meaningful in their contexts. Our research questions were: (1) What conditions did educators identify in the PLN overall that supported their co-construction of knowledge and practice development together? and (2) How did including co-teaching partners in the PLN help participants to mobilize knowledge and/or practices in the contexts where they were working?Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case study design was used because of its potential to examine how and why questions about complex processes as situated in context (Butler, 2011; Yin, 2014). A case study methodology allowed us to collect and coordinate multiple forms of evidence (i.e. interviews, teacher reflective writing, classroom artifacts, field notes) to examine both how conditions created within the PLN supported learning and how co-teaching partners were mobilizing what they were learning in their school contexts. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and data was analyzed abductively through an iterative and recursive process (Braun et al., 2018).FindingsConditions within the PLN overall that participants identified as supportive to their knowledge mobilization and practice development included: having a shared focus, feeling accountability to the group, collaborative enactment of practices within the PLN, large group sharing and debriefing, sustained cycles of collaborative inquiry, affective support, valuing diversity and drawing from expert others as resources. Participants also identified the benefits that accrued specifically from working with co-teaching partners. In addition, findings showed how the degree to which partners engaged in rich forms of collaborative inquiry could be related to their learning and situated practice development.Originality/valueFindings show the generative potential of inviting co-teaching partners into a PLN to engage in collaborative inquiry with others. PLNs offer the benefit of engaging with educators from outside of one's practice context, which enables pushing their thinking in new directions. Our findings add to the literature by revealing how in situ knowledge mobilization can be amplified when educators participating within a PLN are also working through cycles of inquiry with a co-teaching partner. Overall, this study offers a PLN model where teachers have built-in support for knowledge co-creation and mobilization both within and outside of their school contexts.