Understanding Social Nature of an Online Community of Practice for Learning to Teach

This study is aimed to explore the social nature of membership in an online community of practice (NETwork, Nurturing Elementary Teachers’ work) whose purpose is to support pre-service and in-service teachers with a collaborative virtual space for learning how to teach. Path analysis was employed to explore the relationships among social constructs: perceived ease of use and usefulness, social ability, sense of community, satisfaction with NETwork experience, and effectiveness of NETwork for Teaching. The results show members’ satisfaction was the only direct factor impacting members’ perceptions of effectiveness; several social constructs have direct impact on members’ satisfaction; and technology acceptance influences members’ social ability, sense of community, and learning satisfaction.