An Enactivist Study into the Practices of a Facilitator in Synchronous Online Professional Development of Teachers of Mathematics

Abstract

This enactivist study examines the practices of a facilitator in synchronous online professional development (PD) of mathematics teachers, focusing on interaction, facilitator roles, and discussion following the use of breakout rooms. Between 2020 and 2022, I facilitated five cohorts of an online course aimed at supporting teachers of A level Mathematics to develop their pedagogy. Through Zoom, approximately 70 hours of video data and accompanying audio transcriptions were recorded. To select specific sections for detailed analysis, I employed a mixed-methods approach, plotting graphs of facilitator and participant contributions to represent data visually. The selected sections, all following breakout room tasks, capture facilitator-participant interactions as participants rejoin the main session.

The study addresses two research questions: (1) What are my practices as a facilitator of an online mathematics teacher PD course? and (2) How do ways of working get established in an online PD setting? A bricolage approach to analysis helped to reveal how facilitation involves a negotiation of roles of both the facilitator and the participants as well as highlighting how the online environment, including shared screens and annotation tools, helped to support complex, collaborative engagement. By applying van Es et al.’s framework of facilitation moves, I was able to expose new and innovative aspects of my practices and describe them in terms of facilitator purposes.

These findings contribute to the literature on research into the professional development of teachers by exploring the relationship between the online environment and facilitator practices, introducing a collection of facilitator purposes, such as collecting contributions, managing ambiguity, and provoking difference of opinion. Methodologically, the study offers a novel approach to data representation and selection, using R to navigate large datasets and identify key moments systematically.

Date of Award	4 Feb 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Alf T Coles (Supervisor), Tracy Helliwell (Supervisor) & Laurinda C Brown (Supervisor)