What is CoP (Community of Practice)

This chapter introduces a practical model for teacher educators concerned with designing online courses for inservice teachers' technological knowledge learning and its implementation in their teaching. A double-layered CoP model has been developed and repeatedly applied in the teacher professional development (TPD) context using a design-based research (DBR) approach. DBR provides an iterative cycle of design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of the design. This chapter includes a detailed description of the design context of the model including design considerations and theoretical frameworks upon which the model is based. The chapter also demonstrates how the model works in practice referencing important issues in current teacher education practices and offering suggestions for how DBR can guide teacher educators' teaching and research practices. Four course participants' learning experiences are presented as case studies to illustrate more clearly the way the model seems to be facilitating teachers' learning processes.