Co-constructing a self-regulated professional learning plan in a community of practice

Abstract

This Action Research study explores the implementation of self-regulated professional learning in an online Community of Practice with teachers with a view to empower the self and others. The objective of the study was the co-construction of a Self-regulated Professional Learning Plan in the Educator Community of Practice, with the researcher facilitating the process. Action Research was used as methodological approach. In the online Community of Practice, five teachers and the researcher as the facilitator together progressed through an adapted 3P self-regulated learning model of planning, processing and producing the product. During the four Community of Practice sessions, qualitative data was collected by semi-structured informal interview discussions, feedback questionnaires, observations of own practice, the keeping of a reflective journal and collective visual evidence. The data was collected over a period of four weeks and l innovated my practice while observing data sources. Our semi-structured informal interview discussions focused on the Miro app, which is an online interactive whiteboard that allowed participants and the facilitator to interact with one another. The data pertaining to my practice as a Community of Practice facilitator was collected before, during and after the online sessions. The outcome of my study was the co-construction of a Self-Regulated Professional Learning Plan and the meaning constructed during the implementation of Action Research in my practice. In general, professional development plans for educators can be enriched by using a socio-constructivist approach.