John Cuthell

The role of a web-based community in teacher professional development

This paper explores the development of MirandaNet, an online Community of Practice (CoP) established in 1992, and its contribution to teacher Continuous Professional Development (CPD). It identifies four stages in its development. Its initial stage was as a conventional website supported by an e-mail-based listserv that built distributed cognition accessed by its members. During its second stage it analysed those factors that support (or hinder) the participation of teachers in online communities, and ensured that appropriate affordances were built into the MirandaNet model. The third stage built on Salmons 5-Step Theory (2002) and developed the use of discussion forums for the communal construction of knowledge. The final stage described in this paper is the use of MirandaNet as an interactive resource in which members may share, exchange and publish a range of documents and artefacts, similar to Web 2.0 affordances.

What does it take to be active? Teacher participation in online communities

Web-based communities of practice are seen as a critical component in the development of a knowledge society. This is particularly so in education: the vision of e-learning, empowering learners, supporting creative and innovative teaching, is dependent on teachers being able to access professional forums in which they can construct praxis appropriate to new ways of teaching and learning. This paper examines a number of such online communities of practice and examines the factors that contribute to teacher participation. The extent to which knowledge is constructed in these forums is also examined.

Online forums as a resource for teacher professional development: lessons from a web-based community of practice and influence

This paper describes a number of small-scale studies that focus on the ways in which e-learning can be integrated in a range of settings for teachers and their pupils. They examine a range of projects: those based in classrooms, home-school environments, after school activities, school-based Continuous Professional Development (CPD), subject-based CPD in national contexts and post-graduate accreditation. The work of primary and secondary school pupils and adult learners is considered.

MirandaMods: From Practice to Praxis in Informal Professional Learning Contexts

This chapter focuses on a variant of the “unconference” called MirandaMod. “Unconference” is a generic term for relatively informal partly facilitated participant-driven meetings focused on a theme or a purpose. In an unconference, the agenda is set by the participants, subverting the hierarchical nature of conventional academic conferences. Teachers in England have led the development of two kinds of “unconference”: the TeachMeet, that concentrates on the craft of the practitioner, in which teachers present their techniques and ideas to their peers, and the international MirandaMod, a themed unconference variant that encourages a focus on “praxis” – the melding of learning theory, pedagogy and practice. This chapter investigates the MirandaMod model that reflects the complex, social, intellectual and practical process of professional learning and facilitates this under three headings: the opportunities for teachers to record changes in their beliefs and understandings in relation to changing practice and developing skills; the variety of locations and modes that reflect different cultural contexts for learning and, the potential for professionals to re-evaluate their identity in relationship to their role and their pedagogical observations. MirandaMods also enrich social learning over time, particularly when opportunities for face-to-face meetings are limited because of economic restraints.