Designing a Cross-Country Collaborative Meta-Space for Teacher Professional Development for Knowledge-Building Practice

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Synergy in Action: Collaborative Knowledge-Building in Education (Table 33)

Abstract

Abstract: This study examined cross-community teacher collaboration for professional development in developing knowledge-building practice. We designed a teacher collaborative metaspace using an online Knowledge Forum (KF), connecting 30 teachers from Singapore and China for idea cross-fertilization, boundary-crossing interaction, and collective inquiry. The design included online KB teacher stories, scaffolds for reflection, cross-community space, and virtual meetings. The analysis of online writing showed how the meta-space design provided boundary objects supporting teacher collaboration highlighting (a) centrality of principle-based practice (b) problem posing for interaction (c) analytics for idea development and (d) cross-disciplinary designs, and teacher interviews showed their understanding of roles of community interactions. Theoretical and design implications of meta-space connecting different communities for teacher knowledge building and professional development are discussed.

Authors

• Guangji Yuan, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Carol K. Chan, University of Hong Kong

• Chew Lee Teo, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Xueqi Feng, Southern University of Science and Technology

• Aloysius Ong, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Yuyao Tong, Guangzhou University