virtual learning

The Role of Web-based Communities in Teacher Professional Development

This chapter investigates four threads in the role of online communities in teacher development.

The first thread examines the ways in which the learning community can be seen as a form of distributed cognition. The second deals with factors contributing to teacher participation, the ways in which the online learning community itself requires, and develops, new skills and concepts. The third thread deals with the re-conceptualisation of learning, whilst the final aspect focuses on the co-construction of knowledge in an online environment.

This chapter was originally published in the International Journal of Web Based Communities as: Cuthell, J. P. (2008) The Role of a Web-based Community in Teacher Professional Development. International Journal of Web Based Communities, Vol. 2, No. 8 2008, pp. 115 – 139. Geneva, Inderscience

Teacher development and web-based communities