Investing in Digitalization for Sustaining School Improvement: The Experience of the TAMAM Professional Network

• In Event: Capacity Building, Collaboration, and Educator Pathways in a Global Context

Proposal

Professional learning networks (PLN) became vital to support educators in rethinking their own practice, creating evidence-informed innovations, and sharing their emerging practices and learning with others to lead school self-renewal and improvement (Alwafi, 2021; Brown & Flood, 2020). These networks are intricate and adaptable systems comprising people, organizations, space, and digital tools that support continuous learning and professional growth (Trust et al., 2018; Krutka et al., 2017). They have been also prominent in providing improvement, solidarity, and support for educators to respond to educational challenges. PLNs with aid of digital tools and online social networking allow participants to retrieve information at any time and space and engage with other educators from different parts of the world enhancing innovation and establishing a supportive learning community of like-minded individuals (Poortman & Brown, 2017; Poth, 2020). Modern technology enhanced connectivity among individuals facilitating networking that aims at improvement through fostering creativity and enabling adaptation to our rapidly changing world (Nadrljanski et al, 2022). When communities are digitally empowered, they are better positioned to be more aware, interconnected, collaborative, and agentic in promoting inclusive and sustainable growth for themselves, their institutions, and broader society (Bhutani & Paliwal, 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic along with digital transformation accompanying it brought concept of borderless networking to the forefront as a means for supporting educators to engage in collaborative learning and find solutions to common problems from available and new knowledge and expertise to improve education.
The purpose of this presentation is to showcase the experience of TAMAM professional network (TPN) in leveraging digital tools to strengthen the formation of a learning community that fosters continuous professional growth and collaboration for leading sustainable school improvement. TAMAM is an educational movement in the Arab region that emerged from a research and development school-university partnership that received long-term funding at the Department of Education at the American University of Beirut. TAMAM promotes transforming schools into self-renewing institutions with broad-based leadership capacity for change. It operates as a research lab adopting emancipatory collaborative action research to produce practical knowledge that can inform and refine process of leading sustainable school-based improvement towards schools that are proactively engaged in their community. Throughout its 17 years (2007-2024), TAMAM Steering Team’s (TST) approach to capacity building facilitated emergence and expansion of a professional network of educators representing different educational stakeholders from different Arab countries. TPN is a dynamic network of educators who aspire to be agents for educational transformative change. It is a vibrant learning community that fosters continuous professional growth and collaboration and promotes ongoing initiatives for leading sustainable school improvement. In 2024, TPN spans nine Arab countries comprising more than 1000 practitioners (teachers, academic coordinators, and principals) in 70 educational institutions, 42 coaches, researchers from six regional and international universities, and numerous policymakers from ministries of education and private educational institutions. Despite their different roles and their multiple socio-cultural contexts, they all serve collaboratively as both agents and advocates for change, leveraging their varied expertise to focus their energy, interests, and resources on addressing educational needs of their community through leading sustainable school improvement and systemic educational reforms. Since March 2020, worldwide lockdown changed priorities of TST and brought focus on sustaining the network through leveraging digitization. An initiative titled “Ensuring Continuous Communication and Strengthening TPN” was launched in July 2020. It included activating TAMAM virtual communication platforms including updating and improving TAMAM website, WhatsApp groups, YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Key activities towards this goal took place on TAMAM WhatsApp whole community group "TAMAM AL-ARAB" and consisted of posting videos, conducting regular Zoom sessions, sharing success stories and educational resources, as well as announcing useful regional and international conferences and webinars. Between 2020 and 2022, around 30 resourceful videos were prepared and shared with members and over 30 Zoom sessions were conducted. These sessions enhanced members' capacity to lead through crises and maintain their commitment to self-renewal. They also involved exchange of innovative practices and experiences to promote professional growth and collaboration and sustain ongoing innovative initiatives for leading school improvemen. Digital tools have also emerged as integral components in project planning and execution of its strategic goals. Digital tools and virtual social networking enabled TST to adopt a collaborative approach while planning and preparing for TAMAM 12th gathering which took place in February 2024 after a six-year absence from in-person events. A preparatory committee consisting of 32 members from six Arab countries was formed to plan this event. Four Zoom sessions spanning over a year (2022-2023) were held engaging members in conceptualizing, planning, and coordinating the delivery of gathering activities. Digital platforms facilitated coordination activities before, during, and after gathering. Approximately 30 members from various positions and roles, served as keynote speakers, session moderators, or contributors in panel discussions. Additionally, all school teams had the opportunity to participate in poster session featuring 75 posters from schools and collaborating institutions. The gathering also involved use of live streaming and hybrid sessions allowing members from different parts of the world to participate and engage in gathering activities. TST currently utilizes a diverse array of online platforms to support its capacity-building activities. These include virtual visits, workshops, and Zoom webinars to sustain offering dynamic professional learning and coaching. These platforms enable consultations from TST and professional experts, interactive discussions, sharing resources as well as invitations to useful regional and international conferences and webinars that are beneficial for improving school practices. TST is also now working on renovating the website to include a "community" portal. This portal aims to transition interactions from TAMAM Al-Arab WhatsApp group to a professional interactive platform where members can share and access resources and engage in specific research interest groups for mutual learning. These groups can also enable future potential networking opportunities among members and their schools. The presentation; hence, illustrates how the project has embraced digital technology as a strategic investment to strengthen its network and establish a professional learning community that sustains and supports the project’s vision of leading sustainable and innovative school improvement.

Authors

• Rayan Mohamad Rabih Katerji, American University of Beirut

• Rima Karami, American University of Beirut

• Rola Ramez Katerji, American University of Beirut

• Diana Ali Sarieddine, American University of Beirut