Beyond school walls: teachers' use of professional learning networks to receive help on a global scale. (1st January 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Trust, Torrey
• Is Part Of: International journal of social media and interactive learning environments. Volume 1:Number 3(2013)
• Page Start: 270
• Page End: 286
• Publication Date: 2013-01-01
• Subjects: social media -- professional learning network -- PLN -- education technology -- teacher professional development -- Web 2.0 tools -- help-seeking behaviours -- community of practice -- virtual communities -- teacher learning -- information aggregation; Social media -- Periodicals; Educational technology -- Periodicals; Internet in education -- Periodicals; 371.33405
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-3954

Abstract

Even though the availability of information and the ability to connect with educators around the world is increasing rapidly through the internet, many teachers continue to seek help for overcoming classroom challenges from within the confines of their schools. In this study, 14 K-12 teachers volunteered to participate in an online course about using professional learning network (PLNs) tools to solicit help from educators around the world. A pre-course survey and post-course survey were administered to determine whether the online course effectively helped teachers expand their help-seeking behaviours beyond their schools. Analysis of the data found that after completing the online course, the participants were more willing to use their PLN to ask for help from a global audience of educators and experts.