Open AccessLeveraging Social Media and Scholarly Discussion for Educator Empowerment
Author(s) -
Steven Kolber,
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Sandy Nicoll,
Kelli McGraw,
Nicholas Gaube,
Keith Heggart,
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Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the australian journal of teacher education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1835-517X
pISSN - 0313-5373
DOI - 10.14221/ajte.2021v46n11.3
Subject(s) - sociology , empowerment , social media , narrative , mediation , reading (process) , pedagogy , professional development , public relations , community of practice , publishing , faculty development , educational technology , social science , political science , computer science , world wide web , linguistics , philosophy , law
This paper shares insights from an international community of educators who have been using social media as a virtual space for a scholarly reading group: #edureading. The collection of educator narratives presented in this paper show how social networks on Twitter and Flipgrid were used as inclusive environments for teacher-led professional development. This paper is both a report of research involving five practitioners inquiring into their collective experience, and an exercise in building the scholarly capacity of the #edureading group. The accessibility of the social media platforms, as well as the collaborative, inquiry-based approach to scholarly reading, emerge as key themes in the educator narratives. The findings of this research emphasise that professional learning occurring in virtual spaces is open to social mediation using the norms of social networks, rather than the norms of workplaces, jurisdictions or education sectors, and that this can lead to a greater sense of empowerment for educators