Distributing Teaching Presence: Engaging Teachers of English to Young Learners in an International Virtual Community of Inquiry
J. Shin, and B. Bickel. Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators, 2, chapter 8, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC, (2008)
Abstract
The rapidly expanding international field of Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) needs trained and experienced TEYL teachers. Thus, professionals entering this emerging field are seeking new ways of acquiring knowledge and skills appropriate in their cultural and national contexts. Online courses can provide unique spaces for collaboration and learning for working teachers and can facilitate the creation of communities of inquiry locally, regionally and internationally. The key to creating successful virtual Communities of Practice (vCoPs) of TEYL teachers is to build sustainable networks of professionals who disseminate their learning locally and continue to work and reflect together internationally. This chapter describes how participants from across sixteen time zones joined an online distance teacher development course - offered in both 2004 and 2005 with funding by the U.S. State Department's Office of English Language Programs (OELP). Using Garrison, Anderson and Archer's (2000) community of inquiry model to conceptualize the interaction among participants in the course, the instructor drew on culturally inclusive pedagogies to equip all participants as co-facilitators of the creation of new knowledge. Participants developed social and professional connections through open and critical discussion of teaching challenges in diverse educational and cultural contexts. Examples from the course illustrate how strategies to foster critical engagement and social connections promoted a shift in teaching presence from instructor to participants that set the basis for their subsequent teaching, training, and professional collaborations. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research on Virtual Communities of Practice among English teachers.
%0 Book Section
%1 CLEE_2_8
%A Shin, Joan Kang
%A Bickel, Beverly
%B Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators
%C Charlotte, NC
%D 2008
%E Kimble, Chris
%E Hildreth, Paul
%I Information Age Publishing
%K Community_of_Inquiry Cultural_Pluralism Culturally_Inclusive_Pedagogy Culture On-line_Community_of_Practice PD Professional_Development TEFL TEYL Teaching_English_as_a_Foreign_Language Teaching_English_to_Young_Learners Virtual_Community_of_Practice vCoP
%P 149--178
%T Distributing Teaching Presence: Engaging Teachers of English to Young Learners in an International Virtual Community of Inquiry
%U http://www.chris-kimble.com/CLEE/Book_2/Chapters/Chapter_8.html
%V 2
%X The rapidly expanding international field of Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) needs trained and experienced TEYL teachers. Thus, professionals entering this emerging field are seeking new ways of acquiring knowledge and skills appropriate in their cultural and national contexts. Online courses can provide unique spaces for collaboration and learning for working teachers and can facilitate the creation of communities of inquiry locally, regionally and internationally. The key to creating successful virtual Communities of Practice (vCoPs) of TEYL teachers is to build sustainable networks of professionals who disseminate their learning locally and continue to work and reflect together internationally. This chapter describes how participants from across sixteen time zones joined an online distance teacher development course - offered in both 2004 and 2005 with funding by the U.S. State Department's Office of English Language Programs (OELP). Using Garrison, Anderson and Archer's (2000) community of inquiry model to conceptualize the interaction among participants in the course, the instructor drew on culturally inclusive pedagogies to equip all participants as co-facilitators of the creation of new knowledge. Participants developed social and professional connections through open and critical discussion of teaching challenges in diverse educational and cultural contexts. Examples from the course illustrate how strategies to foster critical engagement and social connections promoted a shift in teaching presence from instructor to participants that set the basis for their subsequent teaching, training, and professional collaborations. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research on Virtual Communities of Practice among English teachers.
%& 8
@incollection{CLEE_2_8,
abstract = {The rapidly expanding international field of Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) needs trained and experienced TEYL teachers. Thus, professionals entering this emerging field are seeking new ways of acquiring knowledge and skills appropriate in their cultural and national contexts. Online courses can provide unique spaces for collaboration and learning for working teachers and can facilitate the creation of communities of inquiry locally, regionally and internationally. The key to creating successful virtual Communities of Practice (vCoPs) of TEYL teachers is to build sustainable networks of professionals who disseminate their learning locally and continue to work and reflect together internationally. This chapter describes how participants from across sixteen time zones joined an online distance teacher development course - offered in both 2004 and 2005 with funding by the U.S. State Department's Office of English Language Programs (OELP). Using Garrison, Anderson and Archer's (2000) community of inquiry model to conceptualize the interaction among participants in the course, the instructor drew on culturally inclusive pedagogies to equip all participants as co-facilitators of the creation of new knowledge. Participants developed social and professional connections through open and critical discussion of teaching challenges in diverse educational and cultural contexts. Examples from the course illustrate how strategies to foster critical engagement and social connections promoted a shift in teaching presence from instructor to participants that set the basis for their subsequent teaching, training, and professional collaborations. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research on Virtual Communities of Practice among English teachers.},
added-at = {2008-04-12T22:06:45.000+0200},
address = {Charlotte, NC},
author = {Shin, Joan Kang and Bickel, Beverly},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2cfab5226047ba1f76d1f7b51b0d98aa1/xckuk},
booktitle = {Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators},
chapter = 8,
description = {CLEE},
editor = {Kimble, Chris and Hildreth, Paul},
interhash = {13845aab07228ab225d4520f3cc62c0c},
intrahash = {cfab5226047ba1f76d1f7b51b0d98aa1},
keywords = {Community_of_Inquiry Cultural_Pluralism Culturally_Inclusive_Pedagogy Culture On-line_Community_of_Practice PD Professional_Development TEFL TEYL Teaching_English_as_a_Foreign_Language Teaching_English_to_Young_Learners Virtual_Community_of_Practice vCoP},
pages = {149--178},
publisher = {Information Age Publishing},
timestamp = {2008-04-12T22:06:46.000+0200},
title = {Distributing Teaching Presence: Engaging Teachers of English to Young Learners in an International Virtual Community of Inquiry},
url = {http://www.chris-kimble.com/CLEE/Book_2/Chapters/Chapter_8.html},
volume = 2,
year = 2008
}