The impact of a teacher study group on teacher beliefs about teaching and social media

Abstract

Professional development approaches to teacher learning have shifted from short-term workshops to teacher communities of professional practice, which extend over a period of time and focus on the professional knowledge teachers need to use in their own context. A promising approach to teacher learning communities is a teacher study group. A teacher study group provided a venue to engage in collaborative discussion about teachers' beliefs about teaching and the use of social media as a teaching tool. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a teacher study group on participants' beliefs about teaching and social media use for instruction. This study utilized narrative inquiry within a case study. Six teachers who taught at a community college participated in a teacher study group focused on collaborative dialog and reflection about teaching and on the use of social media in their courses. The results of this study revealed the impact of the teacher study group as a supportive community for teachers to share their teaching experiences and reaffirm their teacher beliefs and practices. Teachers' exchange of viewpoints contributed to shared meanings and understandings about teaching pedagogy, particularly in the area of place-and culturebased education. Findings of this study suggest participants needed to explore their beliefs about teaching in-depth and therefore the integration of social media into teaching and learning was of less importance.