Webheads in Action
A Community of Practice Scaffolding Multiliteracies Skills in Teacher Professional Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v4i1.135Keywords:
online collaboration, community of practice, Internet, Web 2.0, personal learning networks, webheads, multiliteracies, teacher development, professional developmentAbstract
Webheads in Action is an online community of practice (CoP) comprising teachers and learners who, for well over a decade now, have engaged one another in frequent collaboration serving to enhance the learning and knowledge of all concerned. This is achieved through constant exchange of ideas not only about teaching but also on the use of the Internet to provide opportunities for learning through appropriate application of freely available Web 2.0 tools in personal learning networks (PLNs). This article introduces Webheads as a CoP and provides specific examples of how participants scaffold each other’s teaching of writing and development of multiliteracies skills.
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New London Group (1996) A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review 66(1): 60–92. Retrieved on 22 December 2010 from http://wwwstatic.kern.org/filer/blogWrite44ManilaWebsite/paul/articles/A_Pedagogy_of_Multiliteracies_Designing_Social_Futures.htm.
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Prensky, M. (2001) Digital natives, digital immigrants. In On the Horizon 9(5): 1–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816
Prensky, M. (2005) Engage me or enrage me. What today’s learners demand. Educause Review, September-October 2005, 40 (5): 60–65. Retrieved on 22 December 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf.
Selber, S. (2004) Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
Steele, J. (2002) Herding cats: A descriptive case study of a virtual language learning community. Unpublished PhD thesis, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved on 22 December 2010 from http://netdial.caribe.net/~jhsteele/cats.pdf.
Stevens, V. (2008) All I know about blogging and microblogging. Retrieved on 22 December 2010 from http://advanceducation.blogspot.com/2008/02/all-i-know-about-blogging-and.html
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, and E. Souberman (eds.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Wenger, E. (2006) Definitions. Etienne Wenger Website. Retrieved on 22 December 2010 from http://www.ewenger.com/theory.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R. and Snyder W. (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Wenger, E. and Nyrop, S. (2007) Communities of practice in an interconnected WORLD: New geographies of knowledge and identity. Keynote presentation at Webheads in Action Online Convergence (WiAOC 2007). Retrieved on 22 December 2010 from http://webheadsinaction.org/wiaoc2007/EtienneWenger.
Published
2012-07-02
Issue
Section
From the e-Sphere
How to Cite
Yılmaz, B. N., & Stevens, V. (2012). Webheads in Action: A Community of Practice Scaffolding Multiliteracies Skills in Teacher Professional Development. Writing and Pedagogy, 4(1), 135-146. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v4i1.135
