Annotated Bib 2: electric boogaloo (1st 5)

Vrasidas, Charalambos, and Michalinos Zembylas. “Online Professional Development: Lessons From the Field.” Education + Training 46.6/7 (2004) : 326-334.

This article starts with the theoretical approaches to online professional development by first looking at how interaction occurs online and breaking that down into three dimensions of interactions that happen online, Personal and social constructivism, situated and distributed cognition/knowledge, and local and non-local communities of practice. The article then goes on to give examples of e-learning projects that were put together and one of the main issues it raises from that is the importance of collaboration in an online environment and connection to practical things that teachers and
students are doing in their classes.

Brazelton, Jessica, and Anthony Gorry. “Creating a Knowledge-Sharing Community: If you Build It, Will They Come?” Communications of the ACM 46.2 (2003) : 23-25.

The strongest part of this idea is their creation of a title called “knowledge stewards.” These are the people that are both interested in using technology and have a good deal of knowledge about a particular area that they frequently share with the community. These stewards are the ones that drive the online community as others look to them for information. It also stresses the importance of face to face interaction amongst the learners in order for them to learn more about the technology and for them also to learn more about each other.

Barab, Sasha, James MaKinster, and Rebecca Scheckler. “Designing System Dualities: Characterizing An Online Professional Development Community.” Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning. Ed. Barab, S.A., Kling, R., & Gray, J. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

This book chapter gives a strong layout on how an online community was laid out for pre-service mathematics and science teachers. The commuity was designed to allow them to share, improve, and create new lesson ideas and teaching methods. This chapter shares some of the struggles and the success that came from putting his project together. The main issue that the chapter comes back to is the importance of creating an online space that is minimalist and allows for personal touches. It also deals with the struggles between developers and teachers on how those spaces are created.


Gibson, Susan, and Bonnie Skaalid. “Teacher Professional Development to Promote Constructivist Uses of the Internet: A Study of One Graduate-Level Course.” Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 12.4 (2004) : 577-592.

This article focuses mainly on how teachers in a graduate level class were trained in different ways on how to merge constructivist teaching methods and internet websites into their classrooms. I think the strongest part for me comes from a teacher who said that she was beginning to look at the internet in a new way and that the class changed how she viewed using the internet in her class. She stressed that she learned how important it is for her to be clear about how she is using the internet and making sure her objectives for what she wants her students to do is clear.

Finley, Laura, and David Hartman. “Institutional Change and Resistance: Teacher Preparatory Faculty and Technology Integration.” Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 12.3 (2004) : 319-337.

This was an outstanding article that dealt with issues facing colleges as they try and get their departments to include more technology in their classroom environments. The article feels that one of the issues that teachers have about technology is that its being pushed on them without any connection to pedagogy. Teachers are being told to use technology in their classrooms but they are not being told how or why. Another issue that was raised by teachers is that schools tend to focus on the “cool” technologies and not functional ones. The suggestions are that the increase in technology is directly tied into content-specific purposes. It also suggests that teacher preparation in technology not be limited to “one shot sessions” (329) but a more detailed and ongoing program of technology professional development be created. It also suggested like many other readings I have come across that one on one sessions that allow for more personal interaction be available.