“What’s happening?” Assessing the Sustainability of Virtual Professional Learning Communities on Social Media: A Quantitative Study of ‘Sense of Community’

While research has highlighted the multifaceted benefits of Twitter as an informal professional learning resource, there remains a lack of literature that adequately teases apart the dynamic underpinnings of these types of informal professional learning communities (Thacker, 2017; Visser et al., 2014). Greenhow & Gleason (2012) posited that there is a need to better understand Twitter’s place within the education profession, as well as “how participants understand their experiences and place within the Twitter community and beyond” (p. 473).

Grounded in ‘sense of community’ theory, this study examined ‘sense of community’ as a construct supporting the #SSChat community’s sustainability. Additionally, I endeavored to determine whether a statistically significant correlation existed between perceived SOC and sustainability of #SSChat community participants, and whether statistically significant correlations existed between each of the four independent SOC tenets and sustainability.

Findings from this study produced implications to inform future strategic planning efforts to strengthen the #SSChat community on Twitter. Moreover, they support the #SSChat as a viable form of social studies education professional development and have implications for similar social media-based informal professional learning communities, as well as the field of social studies education in general.