Information superhighway and continuous professional development for the networked teachers: online communities of practice

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the impact of technology on teacher training through online communities of practice (CoP) and investigates its potential for facilitating continuous professional development for the educators who can create personal learning networks on the web. Wenger's Community of Practice Theory (1998) and Garrison et al.'s (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) are explored as underlying theories of CoP. Furthermore, examples of online communities of practice will be briefly enlisted. The chapter will provide brief information how online learning is operationalized within the confines of CoP. The chapter will also discuss role of online communities of practice for teachers' continuous professional development with reference to current literature, explore challenges and focus on suggestions and avenues for further research.