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Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how elementary teachers use different social media platforms to connect with other teachers for informal professional learning. The researcher sought to understand how elementary teachers decide which platform(s) to use and how their expectations vary among different social media platforms. Current research often focuses on subject specialists such as middle school and high school teachers or single platforms such as Twitter or Facebook. However, few studies have focused on elementary teachers or looked at how teachers use a combination of social media platforms. This qualitative netnography used questionnaire data from 287 elementary teachers in the United States and semi-structured interviews with six participants to explore teacher preferences among the available social media platforms. The study also examined the types of information presented on each platform and how different platforms may or may not fulfill different learning needs for elementary teachers. Questionnaire data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analysis. Participants were also given the option of participating in analysis of their publicly accessible social media data and to participate in a follow-up semi-structured interview. Thirty-four teachers agreed, and six teachers participated in interviews. Two teachers participated in synchronous online interviews and four teachers participated in asynchronous video interviews.
The finding illustrated that elementary school teachers are multi-platform social media users, with some teachers creating multiple accounts on a single platform to protect privacy and balance personal and professional needs. The elementary school teachers participating in this study were purpose-driven when selecting which platform would meet their specific informal professional learning needs, and their preferences varied based on the objective. While teachers were concerned with several aspects of social media use, they saw these informal learning opportunities as beneficial overall. Further research is needed in the analysis of the types information shared online and how schools can promote productive use of social media for informal learning.