This document discusses using online communities and social networking for professional development and enhancing teaching. It provides examples of how communities can be used for collaborative projects, emotional support, and sharing best practices. However, simply creating a social platform is not enough - communities need measurable goals, engaging activities, collaboration and sharing of results, and institutional support to be successful. Factors like active participation versus passive engagement affect the impact on student performance. Designing instructional sequences and the tools available also influence how students utilize personal learning networks.

1. Online Community for Teaching
and Professional Development
Terry Anderson, PhD
Professor, Centre for Distance
Education

2. Do you use Online Communities?

4. But Do you do you use it for
Professional Development and
to Enhance Student Teaching?

5. Does Social Networking Improve
Teaching and Learning?
“The author summarized the major
outcome findings of 29 dissertations that
had a specific focus on SM-Education
issues. Of these, only 2 studies reported
any negative views by either students or
faculty on the implementation of SM
platforms for academic purposes. “
Piotrowski, C. (2015). Emerging Research on
Social Media Use in Education: A Study of
Dissertations. Research in Higher Education
Journal, 27.

6. What is wrong with Current
Professional Development (PD)?
• The overuse of single, one-day, episodic PD
sessions is “intellectually superficial,
disconnected from deep issues of curriculum
and learning, fragmented, and
noncumulative” (Ball & Cohen, 1999, pp. 3–4).
• Doesn’t work!

7. Uses of Networks for
Professional Development
• A focus/meeting place for special interest
groups
• “social networking tools can be used to garner
collective emotional support and recognition
for one's creative practices”
• Coordinating collaborative projects
Tapping the Wealth of Social Networks for Professional Development
Greenhow, Christine
Learning & Leading with Technology, v36 n8

8. Microsoft’s Professional learning
Community
• " Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
provide the support educators need to
continue to grow new teaching skills with their
peers.
• Groups of educators can work and learn
together to improve student achievement
through book study, action research, or
learning a new best practice through PLCs."

9. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ukschools/2016/09/30/create-a-profess

10. An American, Commercial PD service
• Curricula are designed to
enable participation in
academic communities via
online social networking
tools.
• These online
communities provide
opportunities for
collaborative learning,
contact with
external professionals and
involvement in research and
professional activities.

11. Shaha, S. H., Glassett, K. F., & Ellsworth, H.
(2015).

12. • “Further, results from a handful of specific
studies establish that the degree of teacher
engagement in PD significantly affects the
amount of improvement experienced in
student performance, contrasting active
participation versus more passive engagement
based principally on video participation”
Shaha, Glassett &, Ellsworth (2015) Long-Term Impact Of On-Demand Professional Developmen
On Student Performance. Journal of International Education Research. 11
http://docplayer.net/4067264-Journal-of-international-education-research-first-quarter-2015-
volume-11-number-1.html

13. • It is much easier to build/create a social
network platform than to populate it

14. What Creates Value in a Community
M. Seraj / Journal of Interactive Marketing 26 (2012) 209–222

15. TAM Model

16. Necessary Support

17. Keys to Success??
• Measurable goals and agreed upon goals for
the community
• Activities designed to engage teachers
• Action research or inquiry models focused on
tough questions
• Collaboration, sharing of results
• Institutional support and leadership

18. What do Students Want out of
Facebook
Magro, M. J., Sharp, J. H., Ryan, K., & Ryan, S. D. (2013). Investigating ways to use Facebook at the university level: A Delphi study.
Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, 10, 295-311.

19. Using Personal Learning
Networks with Students
“these results suggest that the techno-pedagogical design of
instructional sequences strongly affects the respective
communicative and interactive dynamics and determines, to a great
extent, the use that students make of the widgets available in the
iPLE to configure their own PLE.”
Saz, A., Engel, A., & Coll, C. (2016). Introducing a personal
learning environment in higher education. An analysis of
connectivity. Digital Education Review(29), 1-14.

20. Dron, J., & Anderson, T. (2014). On the Design of Social Media for Learning.
Social Sciences, 3(3), 378-393.

21. Soft Versus Hard Technologies
• Soft – unfinished, malable, need user
direction, many facetted, complex, effective
• Hard – single purposed, simple to use,
unyielding, efficient
https://landing.athabascau.ca/blog/view/65996/the-neediness-of-soft-technologies

22. Hardening in networks should mostly be
concerned with reinforcing network ties, alerting
members to relevant activities, simplifying
communication and sharing, and helping people to
structure, make sense of and yet not be
overwhelmed by their networks.” Dron and
Anderson, 2014

23. The Network Paradox
• “ The network is not useful till it is used – it is
not used until it is useful”
• Cold start problem

24. Network Facilitation as Gardening

25. Our Athabasca Example
landing.athabascau.ca

26. What is the Landing?
• Walled Garden with Windows
• A Private space for AU
• A user controlled creative space
• Boutique social system
• Networking, blogging, photos,
microblogging, polls, calendars,
groups and more
• Differentiating and merging
work, from school, from fun

27. "He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes;
he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”
Chinese Proverb
Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca
Slides at http://hdl.handle.net/2149/2313
Blog: terrya.edublogs.org
Your comments and questions most
welcomed!