Teacher relationships in online communities of practice for developing TPACK in future education crises

This study investigated the strengths of teachers’ relationships within their online Communities of Practice (CoPs) as they developed technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is grounded on the Strong and Weak Tie Theory introduced by Granovetter (Am J Sociol 78(6), 1360–1380, 1973), the TPACK model developed by Mishra and Koehler (Teachers College Record 108(6), 1017–1054, 2006), and the CoP social learning theory by Wenger (Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity, 1st ed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998). The study employed a qualitative research methodology, involving a group of 12 teachers who participated in open-ended survey questionnaires and one-on-one semi-structured interviews. This research revealed that, to a limited extent, teachers developed connections during the COVID-19 pandemic’s school closures and partial reopening in the Western Cape province of South Africa, resulting in teachers exchanging information and offering one another emotional support in their online CoPs. The study’s findings suggest no significant difference in the quality of the relationships formed by these teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, given that participant teachers reported acquiring more knowledge (CK, TK, and PK) in their CoPs through bridging than through bonding, bonding resulted in learning only CK and TK. In the context of TPACK growth during crises, evaluating the online relationship between strong and weak relationships and their impact on knowledge transfer may provide insights into the dynamics of social interactions and their effects on teachers’ learning outcomes.