Enacted Professional Learning in Context: Case Studies of Professional Learning Experience Participants' Return to School Sites

• In Event: Professional Learning Communities, Collaboration, and Agency in Teacher Development

Abstract

This study investigates the contextual factors that influence teachers’ enactment of their professional learning. Using case study methodology (Yin, 2017), we documented teachers’ reported uptake of practices at three school sites following participation in a two-year professional learning experience (PLE). We apply communities of practice (Wenger, 1999) as a theoretical framework to illuminate how groups of teachers from each school enact their learning. We identified patterns of enactment shared across the three sites, as well as patterns unique to specific contexts. This study shows that navigating the boundaries of a community of practice and engaging with entities beyond those boundaries can either accommodate or inhibit enactments of learning. It holds implications for PLEs working with teachers from multiple sites.

Authors

• Liam Aiello, University of California - Davis

• Lynne Zummo, University of Utah

• Tammy Wu Moriarty, Stanford University

• Janet Carlson, Stanford University