Keri Morgret
Online Learning Communities
Developing an Online Community for Preservice and Inservice Teachers
“…[P]owerful education requires that teachers and principals be able to analyze and
reflect on their practice. Individually and with others, they need to assess the effects of
their work and to refine and improve their practice (Schon, 1987; Shulman, 1987).” From
The Stanford University School of Education Conceptual Framework for Professional
Education
Reflection is an important component in the professional life of both preservice and
inservice teachers. Dewey (1993) was the first to bring up the concept of reflection in education,
though the work of Donald Schonn in The Reflective Practitioner (1983) and Educating the
Reflective Practitioner (1990) has brought about a renewed emphasis for reflective educators.
Today, reflection is mentioned as a component in the conceptual framework of many teacher
education programs (Stanford University, Georgia Southern University, CSU Northridge) as well
being a part of ongoing training for inservice teachers (Jane Adams Elementary School, Sequoia
Union High School District, Redmond Junior High School, Hopewell Valley Central High
School).
“The ability to think about what one does and why - assessing past actions,
current situations, and intended outcomes - is vital to intelligent practice, practice that is
reflective rather than routine. As the time in the teaching process when teachers stop to
think about their work and make sense of it, reflection influences how one grows as a
professional by influencing how successfully one is able to learn from one’s
experiences.” (Richert, 1990)
Reflection on one’s teaching is also important enough that the National Teacher
Certification Board has as one of its five core propositions that “teachers thinks systematically
about their practice and learn from experience”(2000). Even with all of the benefits of and
importance placed on reflection, there are still several barriers that teachers face when they try to
reflect on their teaching. Teachers are often isolated, the only adult in a room with twenty or
thirty or more children. New teachers, who would seem to benefit most from thinking about
their teaching, have their time filled up with trying to create lesson plans, grading homework,
writing up discipline problems and for many sitting down after class to think about write about
how their day went is a luxury, not a necessity. Even if a teacher did have the time, what
productive could be done with these reflections? If they are comfortable enough with the other
teachers at their school, they could spend their 45 minute lunch break trying to brainstorm with
the other teachers, but they are likely to need to make copies, go to the bathroom and return
phone calls in this time as well, leaving little time for discussion. If they are a student teacher,
they may not even be meeting with their classmates anymore in a classroom setting to reflect and
brainstorm, or may meet only once a week. They may also be one of only a few, if any, teachers
teaching their subject at their school. Even experienced teachers, when in a setting to
specifically talk about peer review and reflection, seem to want more time to talk about teaching
“my subject to my students” (Hutchings, 1994)
I am proposing that electronic communications, and ideally an online community of
teachers, could help eliminate some of these barriers to reflection and help enhance their
teaching. While self-reflection is valuable, reflection with others can also be quite valuable, and
possibly considerably easier in an online environment. In an asynchronous online environment
(such as a discussion board, listserv, or email), teachers could send their reflections and
questions to another teacher at their convenience – which could include five in the morning,
when the household is quiet and the teacher has time to think, or during their lunch break on the
classroom computer. The teacher’s peers or mentors could then respond at their convenience,
and a meaningful exchange has the possibility of occurring through the online medium where
there was little chance for face-to-face reflection.
A review of the literature suggests that an online community for teachers can be
beneficial for the teachers. Results from studies include first year teachers accesses an
interactive computer network received valuable moral support (Merseth, 1991 in Barnett, 2001)
and “beginning teachers who had access to and participated in electronic mailing lists felt less
isolated and more wiling to engage in idea sharing and discuss classroom issues” (Roddy, 1999
in Barnett, 2001).
Reports From Existing Electronic Communities for Preservice and Inservice Teachers
Red River College
Red River College is located in Winnipeg, in the province of Manitoba, Canada and
offers a teaching degrees as one of its many programs. Recently, the student teaching aspect of
the program increased from eighteen to twenty-four total weeks (spread out over all five years of
the program), and students no longer return to school each Friday to discuss their student
teaching experiences (Proctor, 2001). The college created a pilot project to allow the preservice
teachers the chance to communicate with their classmates and instructors through electronic
communications, as they no longer met as a group to reflect.
Red River College implemented the WebCT discussion forum for the initial six week pilot
study. A survey of the twelve students in the study indicated the following beneficial aspects
(Proctor, 2001):





Being able to exchange information and ideas
Interacting with other students, knowing other students were experiencing similar
situations
Easier to express feelings
No interruptions
Don’t have to be embarrassed about your ideas
The least beneficial aspects were


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lack of time;
slow response of the web server at RRC
more lesson ideas should be shared and having student teachers sign up for the forum
and not participate in discussions
Comments from students regarding their Web CT experience at RRC (Proctor, 2001):
 Rather than trying to find face to face time for everyone, any questions can be posted
and read, then answered at your leisure.
 Sometimes easier to communicate ideas and feelings over the Internet, don’t have to be
embarrassed about your ideas.
 It allows one to be quite honest and frank, without the fear of looking silly. People also
talk to one another online when they may not in person.
 Its one sided, no interruptions. The forum also allows you to express yourself more
completely.
 You can do it on your own time and not have to worry about specific schedules.
 Web-based forums, in my experience, promote online discussion because they are so
easy to add your own comments to. You can go online at any time and participate.
TeacherNet
In discussing TeacherNet, an online community of preservice teachers, master teachers, and
supervisors at California State University Long Beach, Jean Casey describes some of the benefits
in using telecommunications during student teaching (1994):
1. Increased reflectivity. Students in all studies reported increased time to reflect on
what they were learning, including teaching approaches and decision making. Use of
e-mail writing helped foster probing to promote deep understanding of teaching, to
engage in a written conversation about experiences associated with their making
meaning of teaching. (McIntyre and Tlusty, 1993 p.18)
2. Increased feeling of rapport with and support from the university supervisor, access to
other supervisors and university personnel.
3. Increased team support, decreased feelings of isolation. Perhaps the most notable
outcome of the e-mail approach is the immediacy with which students can establish
contact with the university supervisor or their peers or master teacher. No longer do
they have to call for an appointment or wait until the next seminar class to address
concerns, questions, or ideas. (Moore, 1993)
4. Increased self-esteem due to mastering technology and receiving positive support
through e-mail messages, increased pride from the professional documents they could
create at home.
5. Increased knowledge and use of information access and retrieval as well as various
types of technology, such as multimedia.
6. Increased use of the computer at home for personal and professional work and in the
classroom when teaching.
WebKF
Web Knowledge Forum is an asynchronous system developed by the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education. In an interview with faculty teacher educators, the faculty members cited
the following advantages of WebKF: (Brett, 2001)








Providing a forum for students to interact whenever an idea “hits” rather than waiting for
class
Provides for more spontaneity
Encourages greater reflection
Deepens and extends class discussions
Reduces the isolation during practica
Provides an opportunity to cover extra elements of the curriculum
Gets more people involved at a deeper level
More egalitarian because it is harder to dominate the discussion online
Implementation Tips from Theory and Practice
In this section, I will examine theory related to online learning communities in general,
and discuss how this theory and experiences from the field can be used when building an online
community for preservice or inservice teachers. In this paper, I am not focusing on elaborate
web based communities where people can create an avatar character for themselves or
communities that are expected to drawn thousands of visitors or dollars. I am instead looking at
what factors to think about when getting a grass roots community of teachers organized into
taking their first steps towards being an online community, keeping in mind some of the
technology and social factors that are unique to the teaching profession.
First, one needs to consider the population of the potential community. Will the
participants have any face to face contact? Will the community be limited to teachers
exclusively, or will administrators, supervisors, and other school personnel be allowed to or
encouraged to participate? Is the online community intended to support an already existing
community (teachers at a particular school, or preservice teachers in a class meeting physically at
a local university), or is it for people that have a need to talk but are not yet meeting? If the
online community is to support an academic class, will postings and activities be evaluated or
graded?
Next, tools to support the community need to be considered. The following table
addresses some of the pros and cons of the different types of tools (this table assumes one knows
a bit about each type of tool – see http://www.fullcirc.com/community/connecttools.htm for an
in-depth discussion about each type).
Tool
Email,
Listserv
Pros
Free, low bandwith, can engage
in communication without “going
anywhere else” (separate web
site, newsgroup area, etc.)
Newsgroups
Free, available from many
computers, messages
automatically archived, view in a
threaded format (easier to follow
multiple conversations over time).
Low bandwith
Free, allows for files, pictures,
message threading, search
features, graphical interface for
easier administration. Easier to
set up multiple topics. Users can
often determine notification
(email, digests, read online only).
Allows for web based interaction,
multiple topics, graphical
interface. Is designed to support
academic classes, has
administration tools that assist
with class management, grading.
Web group
(Yahoo
Groups)
Courseware
(WebCT,
Blackboard)
Cons
Email not always easily accessed via the
web or from different, public computers.
Inservice teachers are often at many
locations and cannot set up private email at
each computer. Difficult to view different
message threads in order. Plain email has
no provisions for a moderator. Archiving
or later viewing of messages can be a
problem. Administration of listserv often
text based commands.
Need to remember to “check” newsgroup,
administration may be through text based
commands.
Advertising, need to remember to go to site.
Higher bandwith (images, especially ads),
limitation on file storage size.
May be expensive, especially if just for one
class if institution has not adopted a course
management system. Requires your own
server, administration.
What kind of structure should the community have? Should there be a facilitator that introduces
a new discussion topic each week? Should there be a minimum required participation level
(applicable for preservice teachers in connection with a course)? What factors help encourage
teachers to open up and reflect and share ideas with each other? The answers will vary
depending on the type of community members and the purpose of the community. Here are
some findings associated with different methods that may help guide the structure of the
community.
Structure
Feature
Encouraging
Discussion
(Heflich and Putney,
2001)
Evaluation of
Comments
(Wade,
Niederhauser,
Cannon, and Long,
2001)
Building Trust
(Barnett, 2001)
Group Size
(Wade,
Niederhauser,
Cannon, and Long,
2001)
Context
Implementation
Commentary
Listserv to
support preservice
(student) teachers
in practicum
placements.
Students knew
each other
already. Online
course.
Each student was assigned a
week to assume the role of
discussion leader. Before
posting a question, the ideas
were discussed with the
instructor, the students were
encouraged to reflect on their
ideas, and the instructor helped
form the question in a way that
generated reflective responses
from the other students.
Grades based on student one
page paper evaluating their
effort to post and quality of
contributions and instructor
examination of the discussions.
“We avoided grading on
content, positions, and opinions
to encourage students to freely
express and argue their true
beliefs.”
A sense of trust is much easier
established when the
community participants have an
opportunity to meet face to
face.
Can help address issues
of developing initial
topics and encouraging
participation in the group.
Topics selected were
generated from
experiences in practicum.
Seven newsgroups of four or
five students each. Small
newsgroup size to replicate
small-group discussion format.
Topics discussed in newsgroup
were also discussed in class,
allowing for exposure to
multiple perspectives.
Students said, “It’s nice to
see other’s perspectives –
people you probably
wouldn’t talk to
otherwise” “...we don’t
feel like a number in this
class.” In some cases, the
newsgroup led to changes
it students’ thinking.
Newsgroup to
support in person
class of 37,
secondary-level
preservice
teachers
Literature review
of teacher
professional
development
programs
supported by
electronic
networks
Newsgroup to
support in person
class of 37,
secondary-level
preservice
teachers
Do not expect immediate
lengthy reflection and
discussion in an online
only community.
Due to time considerations, I have limited this report to the reasons one might build an online
community, and the first steps to consider when building such a community for preservice or
inservice teachers. I have found Amy Jo Kim’s book Community Building on the Web to be a
worthwhile reference to building online communities, and would suggest this as a next step for
someone building a community. I would also suggest examining http://www.tappedin.org for
information about a synchronous community for teachers and reading their research papers. In
addition, the Center for Research on Learning and Technology and Department of Instructional
Systems Technology at Indiana University has put together one of the best literature reviews
concerning electronic networking and teacher professional development. I do feel that literature
specific to preservice and inservice teachers needs to be examined, as they have issues that are
unique to their profession when compared with most people that work in an office. I intend to
take what I have learned in writing this paper and apply it to my Master’s Project for LDT, and
share my findings with the STEP program at Stanford.
Bibliography
Barnett, M. (2001). Issues and trends concerning electronic networking technologies for teacher
professional development: A critical review of the literature. Manuscript submitted for
publication in Journal of Technology and Teacher Education.
http://inkido.indiana.edu/mikeb/papers/inprep/electronic_networks.pdf
Brett, C., Bereiter, C., Woodruff, E. & Teplovs, C. (1999) Promoting Reflection on Teaching and
Learning through Analysis of On-line Knowledge Building Environments: The Challenges.
Annual Meeting of the National Centres of Excellence-Telelearning Annual Conference,
Montreal.
http://home.oise.utoronto.ca/~cbrett/personal/TeachingWebKF.pdf
Casey, J., & Vogt, M. (1994). TeacherNet: The wave of the future...toward a national network of
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http://www.iste.org/jcte/PDFs/te17310hef.pdf
Hutchings, P. “Peer Review of Teaching: From Idea to Prototype. Lessons from a Current
AAHE Teaching Initiative Project” AAHE Bulletin. November 1994.
Richert, A. E. (1990). Teaching teachers to reflect: A consideration of programme structure.
Journal of Curriculum Studies, 22(6), 509-527.
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, What Every Teacher Should Know, 2000
http://www.nbpts.org/standards/five_core.html
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http://xnet.rrc.mb.ca/proctor/Online%20Forum%20Project.PDF
Wade, S., Niederhauser, D., Cannon, M., & Long, T. (2001). Electronic discussions in an issues
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