Cycle 2 Report
Examining peer to peer professional development.
Teacher peer-to-peer professional development is grounded in the belief that teachers working everyday in the classroom are the experts of their domain: the classroom. At the heart of it lies the assumption that when teachers (classroom experts) share what they know with each other they may increase their teaching knowledge, grow professionally and improve their practice. The ways in which teacher relationships with their peers impact their motivation has strong implications for how knowledge can be shared in schools amongst educational professionals. This social interaction leads to questions of identity, that is, how teachers see themselves in terms of their role as a member of a community of educators. Gee (2001) explained that knowledge and identity shaped through social experience, impact the ways we interpret ourselves. He describes identity as being developed through a connection to a particular community.
My action research proposes that when teachers view themselves as experts sharing knowledge with each other, they will be motivated to learn from and share what they know with each other. I designed cycle 2 to gain greater insight into teacher perception of peer-to-peer professional development as a means to understand how to design a teacher centered collaborative professional development program at my school. Teachers during this cycle attended a peer-to-peer “unconference”. An unconference is a participant-driven peer-to-peer professional development event. The agenda is created by the attendees. Attendees propose sessions and gather according to their learning interest and/or area of expertise to learn from and with each other. An intended outcome of unconferences like Edcamp is that teachers collectively view themselves as a community of knowledge sharing experts invested in each other’s success.
This unconference was being organized by EdcampLA. Edcamps are nationally coordinated locally organized peer-to-peer professional development opportunities that: promote organic, participant driven professional development for K-12 educators. There mission is to: reclaim professional development. Unconferences provide and open format for participants to engage with each other, rather than a “sage on the stage” traditional PD model. The agenda is created by the attendees. Attendees gather according to their learning interest and/or area of expertise. They then break out into organized groups.
The event was held on a Saturday. Ten (10) teachers from my school agreed to participate in this cycle. Attendance was completely voluntary, and there were no expectations from administrators at the school that teachers would share what they learned following the conference. I attended as well. We collaborated via Twitter to document our learning and experiences (intellectual, social, and otherwise) at the conference. The tweets were then archived and distributed to the school via an online social media tool called Storify that was used to curate the tweets into stories outlining their day.
Cycle 2 Question: If I gather quantitative and qualitative data about teachers’ perceptions/ opinions before and after a peer-to-peer professional development event, what insights will I gain into the reasons why teachers are motivated to engage and participate in peer-to-peer professional development?
Teachers and administrators that attended Edcamp a year prior (at a different school) raved about it. They enjoyed the experience so much that school officials offered to make the campus available to Edcamp organizers and host it for free this year. I expected that those teachers who attended this year’s event would also have a positive and meaningful experience.
Teacher peer-to-peer professional development is grounded in the belief that teachers working everyday in the classroom are the experts of their domain: the classroom. At the heart of it lies the assumption that when teachers (classroom experts) share what they know with each other they may increase their teaching knowledge, grow professionally and improve their practice. The ways in which teacher relationships with their peers impact their motivation has strong implications for how knowledge can be shared in schools amongst educational professionals. This social interaction leads to questions of identity, that is, how teachers see themselves in terms of their role as a member of a community of educators. Gee (2001) explained that knowledge and identity shaped through social experience, impact the ways we interpret ourselves. He describes identity as being developed through a connection to a particular community.
My action research proposes that when teachers view themselves as experts sharing knowledge with each other, they will be motivated to learn from and share what they know with each other. I designed cycle 2 to gain greater insight into teacher perception of peer-to-peer professional development as a means to understand how to design a teacher centered collaborative professional development program at my school. Teachers during this cycle attended a peer-to-peer “unconference”. An unconference is a participant-driven peer-to-peer professional development event. The agenda is created by the attendees. Attendees propose sessions and gather according to their learning interest and/or area of expertise to learn from and with each other. An intended outcome of unconferences like Edcamp is that teachers collectively view themselves as a community of knowledge sharing experts invested in each other’s success.
This unconference was being organized by EdcampLA. Edcamps are nationally coordinated locally organized peer-to-peer professional development opportunities that: promote organic, participant driven professional development for K-12 educators. There mission is to: reclaim professional development. Unconferences provide and open format for participants to engage with each other, rather than a “sage on the stage” traditional PD model. The agenda is created by the attendees. Attendees gather according to their learning interest and/or area of expertise. They then break out into organized groups.
The event was held on a Saturday. Ten (10) teachers from my school agreed to participate in this cycle. Attendance was completely voluntary, and there were no expectations from administrators at the school that teachers would share what they learned following the conference. I attended as well. We collaborated via Twitter to document our learning and experiences (intellectual, social, and otherwise) at the conference. The tweets were then archived and distributed to the school via an online social media tool called Storify that was used to curate the tweets into stories outlining their day.
Cycle 2 Question: If I gather quantitative and qualitative data about teachers’ perceptions/ opinions before and after a peer-to-peer professional development event, what insights will I gain into the reasons why teachers are motivated to engage and participate in peer-to-peer professional development?
Teachers and administrators that attended Edcamp a year prior (at a different school) raved about it. They enjoyed the experience so much that school officials offered to make the campus available to Edcamp organizers and host it for free this year. I expected that those teachers who attended this year’s event would also have a positive and meaningful experience.
Cycle 2 Evaluation.
Research suggests that teachers will commit themselves to the peer-to-peer professional development that considers social-motivational theory to positively impact their experience. It also suggests that this teacher-centered approach to professional development will empower teachers to take ownership for developing their technical expertise and in turn empower them to integrate educational technology and best practices into their classroom. The data and my analysis of it confirm this. Motivation entails “emotion.” Hur & Brush (2009) argue that an individual’s emotion plays a significant and meaningful role in the ways that the individual will then act and that “emotion includes several different components, including appraisal and subjective experiences… (p. 282).” Thus, emotion plays a role in a teacher’s decision to participate in professional development and to share knowledge.
I collected the following evidence during this cycle: responses to pre and post conference questionnaires and a video of our final meeting. Teachers were completely unaware that the focus of my action research was the study of teacher motivation. This was disclosed to them at our subsequent follow up meeting after the event. The questionnaire data was analyzed by coding their responses. Our final meeting was captured on video then transcribed by an independent transcription service then analyzed through an exploratory approach to qualitative analysis. Teachers that participated in this cycle were completely unaware that I was studying teacher motivation.
Appraisal. In phase 1, teachers were asked to complete an initial questionnaire that was distributed before the event. The questionnaire was designed to help characterize participants’ perception of peer-to-peer professional development and knowledge sharing to ascertain:
All 10 participants completed the initial questionnaire.
An analysis of the questionnaire data from phase one (1) shows that seventy percent (70%) of teachers decided to attend Edcamp mainly to learn new skills and adopt new approaches offered by other educators. Ninety percent (90%) saw value in learning from other educators. Respondents described peer to peer professional development as: an untapped resource; the best way to go; frequent one-on-one support and coaching; information sharing; interactive, mutually beneficial, informal and approachable; sharing experiences, stories, etc.; a wonderful way to acquire an understanding of new strategies; and authentic and valuable. Thirty percent (30%) of them had already attended an Edcamp prior to attending this one.
When asked how frequently participants engaged in knowledge sharing with educators outside of our school over the last three (3) months ten percent (10%) did so very frequently, ten percent (10%) did so frequently, sixty percent (60%) did so occasionally, and twenty percent (20%) did so rarely. The data also shows that fifty percent (50%) of participants believed that all of attendees would share their knowledge and the other fifty percent (50%) believed that many of them would. When asked to consider whether or not they intended to share knowledge with other attendees, seventy percent (70%) strongly agreed that they did and ninety percent (90%) strongly agreed with the fact that sharing knowledge with other educators would make them feel good about themselves. None of them felt that knowledge sharing would somehow be a disadvantage to them.
Ninety percent (90%) of respondents say they enjoy sharing knowledge with other educators. Most also agreed that the knowledge sharing would be expected of them and reciprocated. Eighty percent (80%) of respondents strongly agreed that they would learn new knowledge and skills if they shared their knowledge. A majority of them, sixty percent (60%), thought that other attendees would expect them to share what they know. When asked if they intended to use what they learned at Edcamp to develop their teaching practice, ninety percent (90%) strongly agreed.
Experiences. In phase 2, Six (6) teachers also agreed to meet after the event for a semi-structured interview and discussion. Open ended questions were asked to determine respondents’ views about the peer-to-peer professional development and their perception about how the social aspects of the event contributed to their level of engagement, excitement and learning.
All of the feedback was positive. The teachers in attendance were enthusiastic and shared stories about the positive experiences they had. They taught teachers, teachers taught them, and some even ran sessions themselves. They described how the social aspects, sharing knowledge at Edcamp, impacted their motivation to participate in and collaborate with their colleagues. One teacher’s comment summarized the group’s perspective when she described why she was compelled to attend:
Research suggests that teachers will commit themselves to the peer-to-peer professional development that considers social-motivational theory to positively impact their experience. It also suggests that this teacher-centered approach to professional development will empower teachers to take ownership for developing their technical expertise and in turn empower them to integrate educational technology and best practices into their classroom. The data and my analysis of it confirm this. Motivation entails “emotion.” Hur & Brush (2009) argue that an individual’s emotion plays a significant and meaningful role in the ways that the individual will then act and that “emotion includes several different components, including appraisal and subjective experiences… (p. 282).” Thus, emotion plays a role in a teacher’s decision to participate in professional development and to share knowledge.
I collected the following evidence during this cycle: responses to pre and post conference questionnaires and a video of our final meeting. Teachers were completely unaware that the focus of my action research was the study of teacher motivation. This was disclosed to them at our subsequent follow up meeting after the event. The questionnaire data was analyzed by coding their responses. Our final meeting was captured on video then transcribed by an independent transcription service then analyzed through an exploratory approach to qualitative analysis. Teachers that participated in this cycle were completely unaware that I was studying teacher motivation.
Appraisal. In phase 1, teachers were asked to complete an initial questionnaire that was distributed before the event. The questionnaire was designed to help characterize participants’ perception of peer-to-peer professional development and knowledge sharing to ascertain:
- The reasons they decided to attend the event
- Their perception of P2P PD
- The current degree to which they engage in knowledge sharing
- Their knowledge sharing expectations of themselves and of other attendees
- Their expected feelings about the process of sharing knowledge at the event
- Whether they felt that that they would use what they learned there
All 10 participants completed the initial questionnaire.
An analysis of the questionnaire data from phase one (1) shows that seventy percent (70%) of teachers decided to attend Edcamp mainly to learn new skills and adopt new approaches offered by other educators. Ninety percent (90%) saw value in learning from other educators. Respondents described peer to peer professional development as: an untapped resource; the best way to go; frequent one-on-one support and coaching; information sharing; interactive, mutually beneficial, informal and approachable; sharing experiences, stories, etc.; a wonderful way to acquire an understanding of new strategies; and authentic and valuable. Thirty percent (30%) of them had already attended an Edcamp prior to attending this one.
When asked how frequently participants engaged in knowledge sharing with educators outside of our school over the last three (3) months ten percent (10%) did so very frequently, ten percent (10%) did so frequently, sixty percent (60%) did so occasionally, and twenty percent (20%) did so rarely. The data also shows that fifty percent (50%) of participants believed that all of attendees would share their knowledge and the other fifty percent (50%) believed that many of them would. When asked to consider whether or not they intended to share knowledge with other attendees, seventy percent (70%) strongly agreed that they did and ninety percent (90%) strongly agreed with the fact that sharing knowledge with other educators would make them feel good about themselves. None of them felt that knowledge sharing would somehow be a disadvantage to them.
Ninety percent (90%) of respondents say they enjoy sharing knowledge with other educators. Most also agreed that the knowledge sharing would be expected of them and reciprocated. Eighty percent (80%) of respondents strongly agreed that they would learn new knowledge and skills if they shared their knowledge. A majority of them, sixty percent (60%), thought that other attendees would expect them to share what they know. When asked if they intended to use what they learned at Edcamp to develop their teaching practice, ninety percent (90%) strongly agreed.
Experiences. In phase 2, Six (6) teachers also agreed to meet after the event for a semi-structured interview and discussion. Open ended questions were asked to determine respondents’ views about the peer-to-peer professional development and their perception about how the social aspects of the event contributed to their level of engagement, excitement and learning.
All of the feedback was positive. The teachers in attendance were enthusiastic and shared stories about the positive experiences they had. They taught teachers, teachers taught them, and some even ran sessions themselves. They described how the social aspects, sharing knowledge at Edcamp, impacted their motivation to participate in and collaborate with their colleagues. One teacher’s comment summarized the group’s perspective when she described why she was compelled to attend:
It was this ‘unconference’ so I knew I wasn’t going to be sitting in one room all day- one person bestowing all of their knowledge upon us. Rather, it would be the vote with your feet kind of idea (where you are encouraged to move between sessions at any time) and that the sessions would be decided on the spot and you could really just go with what spoke to you. So, I think that really compelled me to participate in that. I knew that it was coming from us, you know, the teachers. It wasn’t coming from, some higher power deciding what we should talk about.
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A second questionnaire was also sent after the event to participants. (The questionnaire was completed before we spoke as a group.) The questions were designed to solicit a better understanding of the reasons why participants choose to engage in knowledge sharing with attendees at the event. To establish whether they would engage in peer-to-peer professional development in the future, teachers were asked to respond to questions regarding:
Five participants completed the follow-up questionnaire, representing half of the original group.
An analysis of the questionnaire data from phase two (2) shows that all the teachers enjoyed Edcamp and found value in learning from educators at the event. All five (5) teachers said that they would recommend attending an unconference to their colleagues in the future. Four (4) teachers described their experience at Edcamp as: Exhilarating, amazing educators sharing what they know; lots of great ideas being shared and connections being made; wonderful, enjoyed the format immensely; an amazing experience. One teacher experienced some enjoyment, but generally enjoyed spending time with colleagues outside of work.
When asked to comment on what they saw as the most appealing aspects of peer-to-peer professional development at Edcamp, teachers responded:
All of the teachers shared their knowledge with others at the event, were pleased when they did and enjoyed it. Most felt a strong obligation to do so, but thought ultimately that it was a personal decision. None of them thought they were at a disadvantage because of it. Sixty percent (60%) agreed strongly that other educators reciprocated and shared knowledge with them, forty percent (40%) agreed somewhat. All of them strongly agreed that they would use what they learned at Edcamp in their own practice.
- Their overall experience at the unconference and what aspects were most appealing.
- Whether they generally shared knowledge with other attendees.
- How they felt if they did share knowledge.
- Whether other attendees generally shared knowledge with them.
- Whether they intended to use what they learn in their own practice.
Five participants completed the follow-up questionnaire, representing half of the original group.
An analysis of the questionnaire data from phase two (2) shows that all the teachers enjoyed Edcamp and found value in learning from educators at the event. All five (5) teachers said that they would recommend attending an unconference to their colleagues in the future. Four (4) teachers described their experience at Edcamp as: Exhilarating, amazing educators sharing what they know; lots of great ideas being shared and connections being made; wonderful, enjoyed the format immensely; an amazing experience. One teacher experienced some enjoyment, but generally enjoyed spending time with colleagues outside of work.
When asked to comment on what they saw as the most appealing aspects of peer-to-peer professional development at Edcamp, teachers responded:
- No put downs felt… accepting everyone’s contributions and questions.
- The constant flow of ideas is energizing.
- Building a network of people interested in the same things.
- Discussions in sessions were rich… they did not have any boundaries and took a variety of directions.
- Hearing about applications and sharing ones they used.
All of the teachers shared their knowledge with others at the event, were pleased when they did and enjoyed it. Most felt a strong obligation to do so, but thought ultimately that it was a personal decision. None of them thought they were at a disadvantage because of it. Sixty percent (60%) agreed strongly that other educators reciprocated and shared knowledge with them, forty percent (40%) agreed somewhat. All of them strongly agreed that they would use what they learned at Edcamp in their own practice.
Cycle 2 Reflection.
By all accounts, the event was a success. Teachers raved about it and were excited to have participated in this self-directed differentiated learning opportunity where their expertise was being utilized to support their colleagues. They had willingly sacrificed part of their weekend to attend, yet talked extensively about how much they enjoyed it. I was surprised by not only how much I learned from the unconference, but also how veryone else did as well.
When discussing technology integration, a teacher at the event confessed that he “wanted to stop being a curator and wanted to be a creator instead. This quote became a topic of conversation at our follow up meeting with one of my colleagues elaborating on the point:
By all accounts, the event was a success. Teachers raved about it and were excited to have participated in this self-directed differentiated learning opportunity where their expertise was being utilized to support their colleagues. They had willingly sacrificed part of their weekend to attend, yet talked extensively about how much they enjoyed it. I was surprised by not only how much I learned from the unconference, but also how veryone else did as well.
When discussing technology integration, a teacher at the event confessed that he “wanted to stop being a curator and wanted to be a creator instead. This quote became a topic of conversation at our follow up meeting with one of my colleagues elaborating on the point:
I am tired of gathering information and people sending information on what to teach and how to teach. I want to use what I already have and start creating really great lessons with my colleagues. I mean there’s like too much. I just want to do something, use my own creativity… like I just want to go through that process of creating and sharing with students or other teachers or whatever. And that’s hard because I’m the kind of person that is always looking for a better way to do stuff and so its kinda hard for me to get past that and ignore that somebody out there online probably did it better than I would do it. But there’s a lot of value in doing it yourself.
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I agreed with his statements and added that:
You end up learning a lot more through the process because, I think, for me it’s not just about learning how to use a tool but it’s learning, as you go through the process, you start to get inspired and you start to think of better and cooler ways to engage kids. That won’t happen from just looking at somebody’s lesson plan and redoing it.
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As the meeting came to a close, another colleague stated that: This should be the model for professional development (at our school) absolutely, it makes such a difference and I mean I’ve been to almost 22 years of stuff here. In fact, it has. Their feedback was so persuading and encouraging, that the two administrators who attended Edcamp sent emails out the following Monday asking teachers that attended to help organize a similarly structured format for our next staff meeting the same day. This new technology professional development format was well received by faculty and has since become the standard means for technology professional development at the school.