Investigating pre-service teachers’ informally-developed online professional learning networks

Authors

  • Matthew Kearney STEM Education Futures Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
  • Damian Maher STEM Education Futures Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
  • Lien Pham Graduate Research School, University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.4766

Keywords:

teacher education, professional learning, social media

Abstract

This study investigates how final year pre-service teachers (PSTs) from several countries use social media to support their online professional learning network (PLN) activities. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, it uses a global survey and interview methods to generate fresh insights into PSTs’ informally-developed online PLN practices and their perceived benefits of these self-initiated activities. Findings uncover new understandings of contemporary PSTs’ patterns of use and configurations of their online PLNs and have implications for their effective transitioning into the teaching profession.

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Author Biographies

Matthew Kearney, STEM Education Futures Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

Kearney is an Associate Professor in the area of ICT in Education. His scholarly interests focus on innovative technology-based learning in K-12 and teacher education contexts (see full list of Kearney's publications). He has led or participated in numerous funded research projects investigating pedagogical practices with emerging learning technologies. He was a chief investigator on an ARC Discovery Grant, Optimising Mobile Learning in Maths and Science; and was also part of an Erasmus+ funded project, Mobilising and Transforming Teacher Education Pedagogies, exploring the use of mobile technologies in teacher education. He is now a leading partner in a new Erasmus project: Designing and Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies. He has been a staff member in UTS: Education and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences since joining UTS in March 1999, and is deputy director of the STEM Education futures research centre at UTS.

Damian Maher, STEM Education Futures Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

Damian completed his thesis in 2006 at UTS and looked at the Internet as a communication tool in the upper primary classroom. His current research also focuses on the use of ICT in the primary school classroom. In 2009 he carried out research looking at the use of an interactive whiteboard linked to a web-conferencing system. Other interests are with ESL learners in primary schools and the transition from primary school to high school. During 2015 worked on several BYOD projects with both primary and secondary schools. PBL projects are a major focus of Damian's work in 2016. In 2018 he is looking at impacts of digital technologies on teaching and learning as well as on PLNs and on technology mediated learning spaces.

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Published

2020-01-01

How to Cite

Kearney, M., Maher, D., & Pham, L. (2020). Investigating pre-service teachers’ informally-developed online professional learning networks. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 36(1), 21–36. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.4766

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Articles