This manuscript provides an overview of the findings of an ongoing qualitative exploratory study that examined how preservice and inservice teachers in two different online education courses (ED 600 and ED 500) developed an understanding of the multifaceted issues that affect diverse learners. The study also investigated the instructors’ reflections about their courses through their individual journals. An analysis of the study participants' Discussion Board posts and interactions online revealed how the Discussion Board forum was used as a critical, reflective space for participants' to engage in self-reflection and to exchange and challenge one another's ideas. The journals also revealed the instructors' overall aspirations for the course, and their role in cultivating an online community in their courses.

This study uses Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Network Analysis to examine an online peer mentoring site created to unite first-year and third-year preservice teachers enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education program. The peer mentoring site was developed to provide both first-year preservice teachers and more experienced peers the opportunity to discuss, share, and learn both from and with one another. The study demonstrated that the online peer mentoring site supported valuable interactions and professional communications among firstyear and third-year students. In particular, the preservice teachers engaged with one another to share their experiences and learning as they prepared to be teachers. This study has implications for the field of undergraduate education in its demonstration that an online peer mentoring site can allow for the cultivation of learning, ideas and knowledge exchange, and support of students learning in informal environments. This research also has implications for future research to determine how different populations of students use an online peer mentoring site to interact with their peers and the outcomes that emerge. Such data could inform future development of peer mentoring sites and similar learning spaces.

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In this qualitative study, I explored the socialization experiences of eight teachers in two suburban high schools, and how they described their in - school identities. The findings from the study revealed how the participants constructed their identities differently for reasons that included wanting to deflect particular stereotypic images of their cultural/ethnic group or mitigating their own discomfort in revealing more private aspects of their core identities. The study offers implications for teacher education programs and the critical role that they play in preparing preservice teachers of color to work in suburban school settings, and in exposing all teacher candidates to diverse representations of teachers.

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