CHARACTERISTICS OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE IN INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

UNIVERSITY of Missouri; VIRTUAL communities; COMMUNITIES of practice; INSTRUCTIONAL systems design; NATURAL language processing; INFORMATION sharing; DESIGN services; ONLINE social networks

This research brief comprises three articles published in the three-article dissertation at the University of Missouri (MU) in February 2023. The three-article dissertation, "An Exploration of Online Information Spaces That Support Instructional Design and Teacher Professional Development," examined three online communities of practice (CoPs) in instructional design and technology (IDT) and teacher professional development (PD) using natural language processing (NLP) and usability testing. This research brief summarizes online CoPs' unique and shared characteristics, topic patterns, and work-related practical knowledge exchange patterns from an e-learning news outlet, four online CoPs on Facebook, and an online teacher PD CoP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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