Preservice Teachers and Twitter: Engaging in Professional Learning Community Discourse

• In Event: Roundtable Session 55
  In Roundtable Session: Teachers' Perspectives on Technology Integration

Abstract

This paper describes a study examining the use of Twitter with pre-service teachers to promote engagement in online discourse that parallels Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). The data suggests students successfully began the transition from acting like pre-service students to thinking and interacting like in-service teachers. Four themes emerged from the data analysis: questioning, instructional ideas, sharing resources, and connecting to other content areas. While using Twitter to promote professional conversations between students was largely successful, instructors interested in incorporating microblogging into their teacher preparation courses should consider two issues. First, instructors should avoid assumptions that students already know how to repurpose Twitter for educational use. Second, it is vital that instructors model professional tweeting and discourse for their students.

Author

• Michael Patrick Cook, Millikin University