Stimulating school leaders’ professional learning through an online networked learning community: the Hong Kong experience

Drawing on the perspective of knowledge processes across boundaries, this qualitative study examined how a structured, online, networked learning environment supports school leaders’ roles in implementing innovation and change. The study was conducted within a regional school leader development programme. Over the 15-month programme, participants reported and shared learning and experiences on the Moodle platform. The authors used digital ethnography to conduct online fieldwork as observers. Data were collected through Moodle activities that captured text-based interactions among 63 school leaders from 21 schools, as well as school leaders and 28 coaches (including 21 innovation coaches, five head innovation coaches, and two programme designers and lecturers). Findings indicated that school leaders established knowledge-sharing ties to facilitate knowledge movement, while coaches promoted knowledge translation across schools by constructing shared meaning and facilitating subsequent implementation. The study argues that a habit of sharing and learning, coaches’ facilitative behaviours, peers’ acknowledgement and support, and the task-driven environment fostered school leaders’ learning across knowledge boundaries. This study provides insights into the connected opportunities and coach-designed structures that enhance school leaders’ professional learning, enabling future designers and facilitators to understand, design, and support effective online learning platforms for school leaders.