How Faculty Use Online Social Spaces to Develop Their Teaching Practices: An Ethnographic Study of The #Ungrading Online Community

In higher education, faculty often teach in isolation, wondering if their practices reach and inspire students. If their institutions have teaching and learning centers, faculty might engage in discussions with colleagues within and beyond their disciplines, complemented by programming that builds their pedagogical knowledge. But many faculty members either do not have access to such programming because their institution lacks it, their schedule does not allow for it, or the programming does not connect with their interests and needs. Some faculty turn to online spaces such as social networking sites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) to listen to and connect with other faculty, exchange teaching ideas, and refine practices accordingly. My study analyzed the conditions in which online teaching-based communities thrive and the experiences of faculty within them, focusing on two questions: how do faculty develop their teaching practices and identities in online communities of practice and personal learning networks, and why do they engage in this teaching development in online spaces. This digital ethnography observed an active Twitter-based conversation on ungrading, the practice of minimizing, eliminating, and critically examining grading constructs. Complemented with observing a related book club’s activities and analyzing faculty’s personal blogs, publications, and presentations, this dissertation described the culture of “Teaching Twitter” generally and #ungrading specifically. Results found that faculty on Twitter valued participating on the periphery of these communities, sometimes engaging more in these spaces over time and other times using Twitter as a starting point to engage in smaller communities of practice. They gravitated toward Twitter to find other teaching-centered faculty practicing ungrading, as such faculty can be difficult to find at one’s institution alone. Twitter and related online spaces provided faculty the autonomy and flexibility they need in teaching-related professional development. Faculty and faculty developers can apply the results of this study to create more online, social opportunities for teaching development.