Investigating Greek EFL Coordinators’ Involvement in Online Elteachers Communities of Practice as a Means of Professional Development

Abstract

This paper examines Greek EFL Coordinators’ involvement in online ELTeachers Communities of Practice (CoPs) and its impact on their own and their trainees’/teachers’ professional development. The study focuses on four (4) Greek EFL School Advisors who acted as Coordinators of four online CoPs training fourty-nine (49) EFL teachers using an online platform named 2gather developed by the University of Athens in the context of a national in-service professional development project in Greece. Founded on the theory of situated learning, CoPs have been defined as “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger et al., 2002). The study involved monitoring the development of four online ELTeachers CoPs and their respective Coordinators’ patterns of involvement and response using a mixed-methods approach which combined quantitative data and qualitative research of collective case studies (Dornyei, 2007) of the four groups of teachers. A comparison of the Coordinators’ implementation of meaningful professional development (Franke et al., 2001) activities “before” and “after” their involvement in the online CoPs was carried out. Findings delineate the extent of the Coordinators’ “reformed” training practice in terms of professional development activities provided to the teachers “before” and “after” their CoP involvement as well as their report on their teachers’ and their own perceived benefit. Results also highlight the role of the Coordinators’ attitude towards the innovative model of teacher education for its feasibility and viability in Greece and contribute to furthering our understanding of effective implementation of online CoPs in the context of continuing professional development.

Critical Factors that Enhance the Effectiveness of Online Communities of Practice: EFL Coordinators’ Patterns of Involvement - The Greek EL Teachers Cops Professional Development Paradigm

“…Little reference is made to the methodological procedures followed for the realization of the goals set or provision of guidelines on the mode of training to be adopted. Because the current teacher education practice in Greece is neither aligned with the international official bodies' adult and teacher education policy recommendations nor with the current international literature on effective adult and teacher education, the proposal put forward is for the identification of design principles and conditions for a more meaningful and promising form of adult and teacher professional development (Kourkouli, 2018b).…”

“…Coordinators' knowledge of cultural, social and organizational issues (Gray, 2004), their ability to build alliances and foster trust (Bourhis et al, 2005) as well as intellectual and technological skills (Gairin-Salan et al, 2010) have also been recognized as important agents of success. Booth's study (2012) underscores the importance of effective moderation in online CoPs while Kourkouli (2018b) showcases that Coordinators engage in "reformed" training practice themselves as a result of their involvement in ELTeachers online CoPs, providing teachers with more meaningful professional development activities than in the traditional teacher training models. In addition, Coordinators report their own perceived benefits such as gaining useful insights into their trainees' teaching practices and overcoming time, place and sharing constraints.…”

“…Participants: 49 EFL state school teachers working in the primary education who participated voluntarily throughout the training period, in their authentic contexts, fulfilled the criteria in terms of workload and projects submitted specified by the CoP program and answered the "after" questionnaire (16 teachers for A' CoP, 15 for C' CoP, 12 for K' CoP and 6 for I' CoP). (Kourkouli, 2018b).…”

“…Online CoPs have proved to be effective vehicles of collective learning, knowledge creation and reconstruction of trainees' beliefs and practices within different organizations (Ardichvili et al, 2003;Vestal, 2006;Kourkouli, 2018a). More and more systematic studies have been aiming at measuring the effectiveness as well as identifying a number of principles and conditions and factors for designing and implementing effective online CoPs as delineated above (Ardichvili, 2008;Kourkouli, 2018a;Kourkouli, 2018b). While it is important to recognize that every organization and community is different, the truth is that online CoPs can accommodate adult training in any line of business.…”

“…Further research has also confirmed that ELTeachers online CoPs constitute a teacher training model that empowers teacher trainers themselves to engage in "reformed" training practice. It has also showcased the key role of the Coordinators'/teacher trainers' attitude toward the innovative model of teacher education for its feasibility and viability in Greece (Kourkouli, 2018b). Therefore, it is the purpose of this paper to complement the current research on design principles for effective online CoP teacher education implementation.…”