‘Finding your people’ in the ‘middle’ spaces: New views of teachers’ research and professional learning

Abstract

Through experiences of practicing teachers who graduated from an online, asynchronous curriculum and instruction master’s program, we examine how coursework across specializations affords opportunities for both context-specific connections and expansive networking across contexts. We forward teachers’ own inquiries through collaborative analysis and discussion of surveys, interviews, presentations, and course documents. Findings around professional learning as distinct from professional development (PD) and as rooted in practitioner research offer implications for practicing teachers, teacher educators, and teacher PD, especially relating to online coursework and educator networks.