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Week 9 Post 1: Teacher Support Communities

 Thoughts on Article: What do teachers share within socialized knowledge communities: A case of Pinterest. 

One of the articles that caught my attention this week was the one about teachers sharing knowledge on the Pinterest platform (article title above). I was a little surprised that teachers are using social media in general to share information, knowledge, and expertise outside of an academic platform. Now, the notion of social media being "unprofessional" is still somewhat common and I understand why some people would argue against using it. However, this article was a good read as it focused on teachers using Pinterest strategically to share knowledge on mathematics. 

Besides my surprise that Pinterest was the chosen media, due to its heavy imagery-based content, the topic of math is not one that would be expected on that platform. With math being such a complex topic, depending on its type, there are varying solutions and methods for teaching it appropriately. I was always under the assumption that teachers used whatever sources provided to them by their school's districts and used them strictly when teaching. So I was a little perplexed learning that some teachers are relying on informal sources like Pinterest to explore additional resources. 

Teacher interactions are usually found in regular professional settings like schools. The idea of building a community on social media seems to be a great idea in support of universal education especially when sharing resources with each other. Social media is showing to be supportive in helping educators build networks, share ideas, and better their teaching. So it is great to learn that these types on online communities are being formed to support education. 


Reference

Hu, S., Torphy, K. T., Opperman, A., Jansen, K., & Lo, Y. (2018). What do teachers share within socialized knowledge communities: A case of Pinterest. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 3(2), 97-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpcc-11-2017-0025

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