How Can Education Systems Structure Virtual Communities of Practice for Teachers Most Effectively?

The main challenges faced by VCoPs include lack of digital literacy and internet connectivity, poor quality content, low participation, lack of continuity over time, lack of trust and open sharing of teachers’ concerns, and the time involved in administering VCoPs. [...] While these studies alone do not provide rigorous evidence of the impact of these groups on student learning in the absence of a counterfactual (i.e., a credible comparison group to infer what would have happened in the absence of the VCoPs), they yield valuable lessons on what has worked, what has not, and what could work better in encouraging an active functioning of VCoPs. [...] A group moderator can also and religiously and politically polarizing set ground rules for the appropriate content to be information.”5 In another study the authors shared, and respectful style of communication. [...] Even in the absence of supervisors, it is An in-person workshop to initiate a VCoP can difficult to foster a culture of trust and honest help build the foundations of trust and the basic sharing in a virtual community since the interaction style of the group. [...] Scholars in Tanzania—Kihwele and Mgata— recruited two WhatsApp groups comprising of 54 mathematics teachers (Group 1 with 38 members and Group 2 with 16 members) who were currently teaching in different secondary schools in the country.11 The researchers then observed the interactions in the groups while attempting to answer the following questions: How do teachers use WhatsApp groups for CPD? Wha.