Carpenter publishes comparative research on educator social media use in three countries

Jeffrey Carpenter and his co-authors published the article in the journal "British Journal of Educational Technology."

Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education faculty member Jeffrey Carpenter recently published research in a peer-reviewed journal.

Carpenter collaborated with Hege Emma Rimmereide and Keith Turvey of the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, and Brighton University, England, respectively. Their article, “Exploring and comparing teachers’ X/Twitter use in three countries: Purposes, benefits, challenges and changes,” is available open access online.

The abstract reads as follows:

In recent years, social media platforms have become key elements in many teachers’ professional lives. In particular, teacher professional activities on X (formerly Twitter) have received attention from scholars. However, research has rarely explored X/Twitter use with attention to the diverse national contexts in which teachers work. To address this literature gap, this qualitative study collected data via individual and focus group interviews with teachers (Nā€‰=ā€‰29) in three countries: England, Norway and the United States of America. Inductive analysis yielded findings related to purposes for, changes in and benefits and challenges of K-12 teachers’ X/Twitter use. Participants from all three contexts described professional learning activities that included sharing and/or acquiring knowledge and resources, and building professional networks and/or communities via X/Twitter. Multiple participants across contexts also referred to similar challenges such as avoiding negativity from other users. However, differences in X/Twitter use were also noted across teachers from the three national settings, such as only Norwegian participants speaking about using X/Twitter to find collaboration partners for teaching and learning projects. We discuss our findings in relation to literature, theory and practice around teacher professional learning in an era of widespread social media.”