Date of Award
Summer 2025
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Educational Studies
First Advisor
Ismahan Arslan-Ari
Abstract
The purpose of this action research was to explore the influence of cohort-based, online Community of Practice sessions on the sense of community and perceived professional learning of multigrade teachers in a faith-based, private school system in North America. Approximately 25% of teachers in the Seventh-day Adventist school system are multigrade elementary teachers and teach three or more grade levels in the same classroom. Multigrade teachers often have limited access to traditional professional development (PD) options because of distance, cost, and staffing limitations, but furthermore, traditional PD programs do not address the needs and realities of small, multigrade schools. Additionally, they are often the only teacher in their grade level or area of expertise, and because of geographical location, have few opportunities to network with colleagues, mentors, and other professionals. The following research questions were explored in this study: (1) How and to what extent does participation in cohort-based, online Community of Practice sessions influence the sense of community among multigrade teachers in a faith-based, private school system in North America? (2) How and to what extent does participation in cohort-based, online Community of Practice sessions influence perceived professional learning in multigrade teachers in a faith-based, private school system in North America?
A mixed methods design was used in this study, following a purposeful sampling method to select participants. Participants included 16 multigrade elementary teachers employed in the Seventh-day Adventist school system. The intervention was to implement cohort-based, online Community of Practice sessions for elementary multigrade teachers that took place over 12 weeks on the Adventist Learning Community platform, an online platform for professional development for the Adventist system. A combination of four data sources was used to address the research questions: (a) surveys, (b) focus group interviews, (c) observations, and (d) an electronic communication record.
Rights
© 2025, Paola Franco-Oudri
Recommended Citation
Franco-Oudri, P.(2025). Exploring the Sense of Community and Perceived Professional Learning of Multigrade Teachers in Cohort-Based Online Community of Practice Sessions: An Action Research. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8442