| This study examines some reasons why computer-mediated communication (CMC) has not lived up to public expectations and outlines a conceptual and methodological framework for characterizing interaction of experienced and novice teachers in informal network-based professional learning electronic- or e-communities. The study addresses three key research questions: (1) What properties characterize CMC engagement in professional learning e-comrnunities? (2) Why are some CMC groups more engaging than others? (3) How might the communicative structures of network-based CMC enhance or constrain the development of e-communities, and in turn, be relevant for CMC engagement? I argue that integrating dialogic voices/utterances (Bakhtin, 1986) and using texts as "thinking device[s]" for generating new meanings (Lotman, 1990; Wertsch, 1991) are essential for effectively engaging practitioners. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, longitudinal discourse data, questionnaires, and interview responses were collected from public school teachers' email communications and subjected to analyses from discourse analytic and ethnographic perspectives, resulting in a characterization of CMC engagement and a taxonomy of e-communities. Results suggest that CMC engagement plays an important role in evaluating the effectiveness of learning with larger e-communities. E-communities can be defined by CMC engagement in terms of discourse and structural aspects of interaction. Despite the infrequent high level CMC engagement, it proved to be a productive means for explaining the professional life of practitioners within informal professional e-communities. The culture established within the "High Engagement Communities" gives rise to dialogicality, using others' utterances as thinking devices, and reflective thinking from multiple perspectives. This, in turn, can help maintain sustained threads. Differences in engagement among participants based on experience level were also noted. These findings suggest that sustainable models of online professional development should be associated with deeper levels of collaborative learning through higher levels of engagement and reflection on pedagogy. Although a necessary variable, CMC engagement by itself is not sufficient to make generalizations about professional development. Additional attributes, namely the commitment of the participants, their high-quality participation, and social relationships must also be taken in consideration. Implications and recommendations were provided. Future research will be needed to determine the impact of teachers' online participation both on their own practices and students' achievement. |
