Abstract: This empirical study examined teacher self-reported participation (using or not using) and engagement (posting or lurking) in the online Advanced Placement (AP) Teacher Communities (APTC) coinciding with the redesigned AP Biology, Chemistry, and Physics exams and curricula. Prior analyses indicated that APTC participation has positive, direct associations towards teacher practice and students’ scores, motivating further exploration. Based on teacher self-reported data, this analysis suggested that significant differences in teacher, teaching, and school characteristics predicted whether a a teacher was using or not using the APTC. However, there were not substantive differences in most characteristics between the types of engagement, such as lurking and posting. Insights about teacher learning from online peer communities in this study might generalize to other national shifts in curriculum and assessment, such as the Next Generation Science Standards or Common Core State Standards.
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Non-Users, Lurkers, and Posters in the Online AP Teacher Community: Comparing Characteristics Determining Online Engagement.
This empirical study explored participation patterns of 1,733 Advanced Placement (AP) Physics teachers in the online AP teacher community (APTC) following the redesigned AP science examinations in the United States. We identified profiles of teachers with different levels of engagement in this peer-based online learning community. Our results provide insight into underrepresented user groups and the development of more personalized online teacher support systems. Our analysis suggested that teachers’ knowledge and experience, the enactment of AP practices, challenges with the AP redesign, and AP workload were all significantly associated with changes in the probability of teachers becoming APTC users. This indicated that the APTC attracted a non-representative population sample of all AP physics teachers. However, most teacher, teaching, and school characteristics provided no indication as to whether APTC users were posters or lurkers.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1221861
- PAR ID:
- 10067589
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning
- Volume:
- 39B
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 253-261
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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