Davis Kerry
Newton Public School District , Newton, MA , USA.
Disabil Rehabil. 2015;37(17):1551-8. doi: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052576. Epub 2015 Jun 1.
The aim of this study was to determine how school teachers in the United States (US) perceived using Twitter as a means for professional development, engagement in communities of practice, and any benefits or drawbacks to participating in Twitter.
This qualitative research utilized an embedded case design with three sources of data: (a) three consecutive months of tweet data from late 2011 archived on the host website, relating to #EdChat, a weekly online chat in Twitter about education issues; (b) interviews with 19 school teachers in the US who participated in the #EdChat online discussions in Twitter; and (c) Twitter bio and Tweet data of the 19 teachers interviewed. All data were entered into NVIVO (QSR International Pty. Ltd., Doncaster, Australia) for content thematic coding, and The Communities of Practice and Connectivist Conceptual Framework was used to inform this analysis. The researchers' interpretations were verified with participants, and data triangulated across all sources to strengthen confidence in the results.
Five main themes and 17 subthemes emerged from the data across all sources. The main themes were teachers' perceptions of sharing knowledge and resources, Twitter promoting a sense of belonging, Twitter providing meaningful professional development, and teachers' views on the technical benefits and drawbacks of using Twitter.
Regardless of years teaching, subject area, or age, educators perceived Twitter as providing an online forum to reflect upon practice, exchange knowledge and experience, and be in the presence of supportive colleagues. While participants experienced the pace and volume of information as being overwhelming at times, educators developed skills to managing this and perceived discussions to be learner-centered and supportive. Teachers valued the sense of community and learning that they reported were not otherwise available in their own physical workplace. Overall, participants perceived that the benefits of participation in online Twitter chats for learning outweighed any drawbacks experienced. This article includes implications for future research and how social network sites may be used as a supportive venue for educators, therapists, and students, including individuals with disabilities.
本研究旨在确定美国的学校教师如何看待将推特作为专业发展、参与实践社区的一种方式，以及参与推特的任何益处或弊端。
这项定性研究采用了嵌入式案例设计，有三个数据来源：(a) 2011年末主机网站存档的连续三个月的推文数据，与#EdChat有关，#EdChat是推特上每周一次关于教育问题的在线聊天；(b) 对19名参与推特上#EdChat在线讨论的美国学校教师的访谈；(c) 19名受访教师的推特简介和推文数据。所有数据都输入到NVIVO（QSR国际私人有限公司，澳大利亚唐卡斯特）进行内容主题编码，并使用实践社区和连接主义概念框架为该分析提供信息。研究人员的解释与参与者进行了核实，并对所有来源的数据进行三角测量，以增强对结果的信心。
所有来源的数据中出现了五个主要主题和17个子主题。主要主题包括教师对分享知识和资源的看法、推特促进归属感、推特提供有意义的专业发展，以及教师对使用推特的技术利弊的看法。
无论教龄、学科领域或年龄如何，教育工作者都认为推特提供了一个在线论坛，用于反思实践、交流知识和经验，并与支持性的同事相处。虽然参与者有时会觉得信息的速度和数量压倒性，但教育工作者培养了管理这些信息的技能，并认为讨论是以学习者为中心且具有支持性的。教师重视他们报告中在自己实际工作场所无法获得的社区感和学习体验。总体而言，参与者认为参与推特在线聊天进行学习的好处超过了所经历的任何弊端。本文包括对未来研究的启示，以及社交网站如何可以用作教育工作者、治疗师和学生（包括残疾人士）的支持性场所。
