Virtual communities for professional development: helping teachers map the territory in landscapes without bearings

Murphy, Elizabeth and Laferrière, Thérèse (2003) Virtual communities for professional development: helping teachers map the territory in landscapes without bearings. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 49 (1). pp. 70-82. ISSN 0002-4805

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Abstract

This article illustrates how through participation in virtual communities, teachers can progress in making sense of their practice of working with online technologies. These communities are described as reflective of a creative-interpretive and socio-constructivist approach to teachers' professional development. The article reports on a study in which teachers came together as a community to engage in collaborative, reflective practice through participation in an online discussion. Excerpts from the discussion highlight how teachers make sense of their practices by viewing problems from multiple perspectives and contexts and by adapting and reorganizing existing conceptions of their practices in the light of new experiences.

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