Understanding teacher professional learning through cyber research

Online professional learning websites provide a unique window into how teachers make self-directed choices about their own professional development. This study extends previous research on how teachers use online resource repositories to examine how teachers make choices about resource use on a professional learning website. The website, the Everyday Mathematics Virtual Learning Community, offers teachers two types of professional learning resources: (1) videos that can be played and (2) documents that can be downloaded. Each resource is presented with a wealth of information—such as user ratings, user comments, grade level designation, and a resource description—that could potentially influence teachers’ decisions about whether to use the resource. This study uses multiple regression to understand what information predicts whether teachers download a document or play a video. The results indicate that teachers are influenced by other users’ evaluations of resources, perceived practicality of resources, and brevity and accessibility of information about resources.