Online communities of practice in education

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the importance in using online communities of practice (CoPs) as a model for teacher professional development, and in particular, to support teachers and educators in reflecting on their practice, in a collaborative and supportive learning environment. Unfortunately, while there is a wealth of literature in exploring the conceptual and theoretical issues related to CoPs, very few empirical studies have been undertaken to document how CoPs work and how they can be sustained in an educational community. The five articles included in this special issue have attempted to address some of the major issues in the design and implementation of online communities of practice, and have provided some much‐needed empirical evidence to document the nature of online communication in the CoPs, and how online interactions can be analyzed.