Increasing General Education Teachers' Knowledge of ESL Practices Through Online Communities of Practice

• In Event: How In-Service Teachers Improve Their Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms

Abstract

In this paper, the authors present data related to an online professional development course used to increase knowledge and self-efficacy for teachers working with English language learners. In this professional development course, participants created a community of practice in which they problem-solved and worked together to design solutions to real-life issues they faced. Using a single-case study method, the authors move through the implementation of the model, highlighting one subject’s journey. This model is presented as a possible method of providing much needed professional development to rural communities where such communities of practice would be untenable.

Authors

• Eleni N. Pappamihiel, University of North Carolina - Wilmington

• Amy E. Garrett Dikkers, University of North Carolina - Wilmington