The purpose of this study was to determine how self-regulated learning within an informal blogging community supports professional growth for the tenure-track professors that participate in the community. Using a naturalistic case study design, six tenure-track bloggers were interviewed and their blogs and corresponding comments were examined in order to develop an understanding of the bloggers and their professional growth experiences and opportunities. Findings indicate that these professors were creating their own personalized professional growth opportunities within this blogging community of practice. Four conditions that fostered self-regulated learning in this community emerged: trust, support, reciprocity, and identity. The most common self-regulated learning strategies and processes that occurred in this study among these bloggers were goal setting, performance monitoring, and self-reflection. The bloggers actively engaged and participated in the community of practice and in activities such as knowledge brokering and sharing of advice, experiences, and support, which led to an increase in professional knowledge for each of the bloggers. As members of this community, the bloggers also gained new and valuable perspectives on the tenure process, often outside of their disciplines and universities, and it provided them with a unique way to participate in professional growth. These findings provide evidence that a subset of some tenure-track professors is finding just-in-time support, knowledge, and professional growth opportunities via this community-driven yet individualized approach. Although this study focused on individual bloggers rather than on the community of practice, the bloggers were examined within the context of the community, and it was because of their community involvement that learning occurred. The outcome of engaging in self-regulated learning and participating in this blogging community of practice was personalized professional growth opportunities for these bloggers. Tenure-track professors must seek and choose the professional growth opportunities that best meet their needs, and highly personalized professional growth can work in certain instances such as this. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2013. / November 5, 2012. / community of practice, informal learning, professional development,
professional growth, self-regulated learning, tenure-track professors / Includes bibliographical references. / Vanessa P. Dennen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stacey Rutledge, University Representative; Robert Reiser, Committee Member; Linda Schrader, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183839 |
| Contributors | Myers, Jennifer B., 1980- (authoraut), Dennen, Vanessa P. (professor directing dissertation), Rutledge, Stacey (university representative), Reiser, Robert (committee member), Schrader, Linda (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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