Title: Online community of practice for teacher professional learning: a Chinese case study

Authors: Tao Feng; Lu Wang

Addresses: Department of Educational Technology, Capital Normal University, XiSanHuan North Road 105, HaiDian District, Beijing, 100048, China ' Department of Educational Technology, Capital Normal University, XiSanHuan North Road 105, HaiDian District, Beijing, 100048, China

Abstract: Teacher online community of practice (TOCoP) is composed of a group of teachers and facilitators for a common vision of professional development through network platform. TOCoP provides teachers with an ideal learning environment to achieve management and re-creation of practical knowledge. We develop a teacher professional learning framework based on TOCoP. It supports teacher professional learning from the aspects of technical environment, learning resources, learning support services, organisational systems and activity design so that teachers can achieve their goals of professional learning. In this paper, we present a Chinese case of teacher professional learning through TOCoP. One hundred and fifty teachers from different regions and schools took part in TOCoP, where teacher professional learning in TOCoP was fully supported by means of technological support, organisation of teacher groups, practical activities, service system and resource establishment.

Keywords: school teachers; online CoPs; communities of practice; professional learning; strategies; China; virtual communities; web based communities; case study; teacher training; professional development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2015.075897

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2015 Vol.6 No.3/4, pp.238 - 253

Received: 27 May 2015
Accepted: 14 Jul 2015
Published online: 12 Apr 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article