School leadership for professional development: the role of social media and networks

The purpose of this study was to describe and examine how school leaders in the United States used social media and networking (SMN) for professional development (PD), and to determine which SMN platforms school leaders perceived as most useful for PD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six school leaders who used SMN for PD to provide the qualitative data for this multi-participant case study. This study's main finding indicated these school leaders included SMN in a multifaceted approach to PD, primarily via Twitter, to provide teachers with opportunities for growth. Continued and future use might depend on the ability of school leaders to grant PD credit or hours to teachers who participate in SMN for PD. The need to explore how other school leaders use SMN for PD on a larger scale is needed to better understand whether this strategy changes teacher practice to improve educational outcomes. In practice, school leaders should consider using Twitter for their own PD and professional learning, as well as for teacher PD. This study contributes to the school leadership for PD knowledge base by describing and examining experiences of school leaders who regularly used SMN as a part of the leadership agendas.