Evolution of educator professional development in the age of social media: A case study of the #Oklaed community of practice on twitter

Abstract

This case study examines in what ways the #Oklaed hashtag on Twitter represents a community of practice, why educators are participating in this space, and what benefits educators see in their practice. Educators are choosing to participate in Twitter chats, and this study will show the value of professional development when educators can choose when and how they participate. A survey shared through Twitter provided a way for educators to share how they were using Twitter. From this data, interview participants were selected for a semi-structured interview. Finally, data was collected from Twitter of tweets that were shared with #Oklaed in the text of the tweet from January 2013 to February 2017. By analyzing the survey, interview transcriptions and codes, and the Twitter data, there is evidence that the #Oklaed hashtag represents a community of practice. Other implications are that administrators should consider utilizing social media as a possible way to complement professional development that is required by the school or district.