Online teacher communities of practice: a proposed model to increase professional development in Tanzania
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Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Informatics and Virtual Education
Abstract
Communities of Practice (CoPs) have been deployed in many settings and proven to be very successful in sharing knowledge in many settings. In today ‘s world, people from different organizations and sectors need to work together in many ways to achieve a common goal. In the education sector, CoPs have played a key role in sharing some pedagogical skills among teachers at different levels. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in these CoPs has not been fully deployed to help in the teacher‘s professional development. This paper aimed at designing a CoP using ICT to increase collaboration among teachers, assist in their professional development and improve pedagogy. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. Sixty teachers from 11 different Secondary School Inspectorate Zones participated and responded. The results showed that the use of CoPs can help accelerate teachers ‘professional development. The study proposed a model of an effective CoP for teachers using information and communication technologies. It consists of a website linked to social networks which give alerts to other teachers elsewhere using mobile phones or computers. The suggested model once implemented will help teachers share skills and knowledge in different subjects of their interest.
Description
Abstract. Full text article. Also available at https://tinyurl.com/yc333tc6
Keywords
ICT, Pedagogy, Online Social Network, Communities of practice, Information and communication technologies, CoP
Citation
Liana, L. H., & Ngeze, L. V. (2015). Online teacher communities of practice: A proposed model to increase professional development in Tanzania. Journal of Informatics and Virtual Education, 3(1), 22-27.