Belonging and becoming: exploring communities of practice for novice teachers in an online teacher preparation program

This qualitative case study investigated how novice teachers enrolled in an online teacher preparation program experienced a purposefully integrated community of practice. Grounded in Wenger’s (1998, 2002) foundations of Community of Practice Theory and Garrison et al.’s (2000) Community of Inquiry Framework, the study explored the intersection of belonging and teaching presence. Data sources included pre- and post-surveys, five weeks of recorded community of practice meetings, and semi-structured interviews with five randomly selected case study participants who were identified as novice teachers. The analysis followed an inductive coding process guided by a living codebook, with themes identified through constant comparison and second-cycle coding. Three themes emerged: 1) Participation in the community of practice fostered a stronger sense of belonging to both the graduate program and the teaching profession, 2) opportunities to receive and reflect on feedback and advice from peers strengthened participants’ teaching presence, and 3) exposure to a range of peer teaching practices supported self-perceived pedagogical growth and identity formation. Findings suggest that thoughtfully structured and integrated communities of practice can mitigate feelings of isolation often associated with virtual learning environments and offer meaningful spaces for collaborative inquiry, reflection, and support for new teachers. Implications for the design of online teacher preparation programs are discussed, with particular attention to the intentional integration of community of practice structures to promote affinity, feedback, resource sharing, and professional learning.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Frederick, Tyra

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kalantzis , Mary
• Cope, William
• Xhu, Xinran
• You, Yu-Ling

• Teacher preparation
• communities of practice
• communities of inquiry
• belonging
• teacher presence

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Tyra Frederick

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132563

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132563