Collaborative learning in virtual space and learning in the physical workplace: the case of in-service public-school teachers in India

Abstract

The existing approach to in-service teachers’ professional development in the Indian public-school education system has often been criticized on grounds of ineffectiveness. In recent years, peer-driven, technology-mediated online communities of government school teachers built around their common interests have emerged as an alternative avenue to engage with peers. In these communities, teachers themselves drive their learning and professional development in a bottom-up manner by focusing on finding solutions to problems specific to their contexts.

In this study, the emergence of such decentralized, peer-driven, technology-mediated communities of learners was examined. The focus was on understanding the ways in which teachers learn within these congregations, and how they ‘re-contextualize’ the knowledge thus gained to reflect the realities of their physical workplaces for implementation within classrooms. Another question concerned the nature of communities that emerged when these teachers from geographically distributed schools came together in virtual spaces.

The interpretive case study was used as the primary methodological approach. Data from three different virtual groups of teachers was analyzed and seventeen teachers belonging to these groups were interviewed in order to understand their experiences in the virtual groups, as well as the utility of the groups for discharging their responsibilities as a teacher. The respondents for the study were selected through purposive and snowball sampling.

The data revealed that the virtual groups acted more as problem-solving or information sharing platforms and in-depth discussions were absent. The physical communities played a significant role in lives of teachers despite the wide prevalence of and participation in virtual groups. Broader social factors influenced the opportunities, as well as the nature of participation in the virtual and physical groups. These factors are delineated, and their impact on participation and learning are explicated. The ‘recontextualization’ of learning for application in physical context was not found to be a separate activity but an inherent part of the teacher’s participation in virtual spaces.

The implications for policy and practice, as well as for the existing understanding of learning of teachers within virtual spaces in a situation where the community members (in-service teachers) are located within geographically distributed workplaces are discussed.