Examining 'enunciative space' in an online community of practice

The way in which the role of teacher is characterized has significant implications. If the teacher is characterized as discerner, with the ability to "transform understanding, performance skills, or desired attitudes or values into pedagogical representations and actions" (Shulman, 1986, p. 4) then teacher knowledge (of content, students, and pedagogy) is of paramount importance. If, however, teacher is characterized as disseminator, charged simply with carrying out the dictates of others, then complex forms of knowledge are not necessary. The former casts the teacher as a professional, entailing a need for professional development that informs, enriches and extends teacher knowledge. The latter implies teachers are technicians, and suggests that training in new materials is sufficient.;The theoretical framework that guided the research was rooted in social constructivism. I examined the ways in which an online course can permit teachers to engage with current research in relation to both their personal contexts and each other in ways that lead many to transformational changes to their practice (Palloff & Pratt, 1999; Skolnick, 2000). I examined the ways in which learning evolved into a community of practice, thereby providing an 'enunciative space' (Smyth, 2001) where teachers may be free to live their stories of practice (Connelly & Clandinin, 1999, 2000). As they tell stories about their own learning experiences, those of their children and those from their classrooms, the participants seemed to get a much deeper sense of why the teaching of reading is so important and how critical they can be to this process. This 'inside-out' positioning was significant as it sits in a dialectical context that fosters 'outside-in' reform.;Qualitative data derived from the text of participants' dialogues in an online Reading Additional Qualifications Course, field notes, the online course content and support materials, and researcher's journal were presented using a case study methodology and analysed through critical narrative inquiry methods.;The author concluded that the online environment studied supported and fostered a critical complex epistemolgy (Kincheloe, 2004), wherein teachers were active discerners as opposed to disseminators, and where they developed a mutual respect for each other as professionals. The potential for transformative practice is promising given the teacher's commitment to their learning in this setting. In addition, the role of the instructor and the design of the course structure emerged as critical to the development of both community and discernment. Suggestions for further course design modifications to further enhance the professional development process are offered.;Current curricular conditions combined with a plethora of supplemental 'teacher-proof' materials seems to support and perpetuate the characterization of teacher-as-disseminator. Such reductionist views have in part led to models of 'professional development' commonly known as train-the-trainer . Such models provide systematic training in recently released documents, programs or materials to a select group of people. The newly 'trained' are expected to re-inscribe larger groups in exactly the same fashion.