Candyce R. Briggs
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School Psychology, the University of Iowa
SROP at the University of Iowa , 2005 |
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Abstract |
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| Educators have to endure a variety of changes as society imposes new demands on schools. Along with these demands comes a desperate need for “professional learning communities”. Traditionally, these learning communities are through conferences, workshops, and professional meetings. However, in the twenty-first century, the use of internet has become an excellent tool for communicating and receiving information. The use of online learning communities offers a new model for professional growth in teachers. Learning communities online provide promising opportunities for collaborative learning environments for teachers in which they can reflect on practice with colleagues, share expertise in a distributed knowledge framework, and build a common understanding of new instructional approaches, standards, and curriculum (Fulton & Riel, 2005). The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of online learning communities among educators who have subscribed to a specific online community called Gifted-Teachers List-serve. The study will be conducted by administering a self-constructed “Professional Development Effectiveness Questionnaire” to all subscribers of the Gifted-Teachers list-serve. Using a 5-point Likert scale, the subscribers will rate how effective each item was to them. It is hypothesized that teachers who use online learning communities will find it more beneficial than participating in traditional learning communities. Results of this study will determine if online learning communities are more effective in professional development and what can be done to improve or sustain professional development among educators. |
