Teachers' views of their involvement in an online community of practice project

Abstract

This paper reports on the initial stages involved in the development of a partnership model for online continuing professional development in selected Malaysian Smart Schools. Smart schools were chosen as teachers here have received some training and schools have received funding to improve their technology infrastructure. It is these teachers who are now facing the considerable challenges of implementing government policy without any ongoing support. Studies conducted by Siti Suria Salim and Sharifah Mohd Nor (2005), Hajar Mohd Nor (2005), Azizah Ya’acob et. al (2007), and Lee (2007) highlight the insufficient attention given to continuing professional development (CPD) in the Smart schools. This paper reports on the preliminary views of twenty (Science, Mathematics, and English) teachers from five Smart schools who were interviewed about their feelings and expectations about their involvement in the project. Questions on how ready they were for the use of ICT in sharing and learning were also included. Findings indicate that while teachers are apprehensive about their roles and levels of involvement in the project they are very aware that they can make strong contributions to classroom pedagogy and student performance. The findings further reveal that the five schools are generally well- equipped as far as ICT facilities are concerned. The teachers express willingness to embrace ICT, but they require more support in the form of a reduction in workload and physical and emotional support to participate more fully in an ICT-driven curriculum.