K–12 Teacher Professional Development and Social Media: Examining Teacher Learning in a Post-Truth Era

• In Event: 67.068 - MTCC Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: 67.068-4 - Examining the Impact of Digital Learning Environments on Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

The valuation of emotion over facts is a hallmark of our post-truth era. K-12 teachers are at the forefront of efforts to educate an informed citizenry that can distinguish fact from emotion. Despite teachers’ use of ubiquitous social media for professional learning activities that can inform this pedagogy, we know little of teacher professional development within social media spaces. This paper offers a systematic review of a decade of research on K-12 teachers’ professional learning with social media. Rigorous methods surfaced 40 empirical articles that were qualitatively analyzed to reveal four major themes: emotional needs, knowledge acquisition, application of knowledge, and participation levels. This first-of-its-kind review reveals the affordances and drawbacks of social media learning environment for teacher education today.

Authors

• Diana Brandon, Charleston Southern University

• Sarah Galvin, Michigan State University

• Christine M. Greenhow, Michigan State University

• Emilia Askari, Michigan State University