Facilitation strategies and the acquisition of higher order thinking skills in online learning communities: A study of theory development

This study used a qualitative research method, grounded theory, to verify a theory regarding the quality of discourse by Pre-K--12 educators who engaged in an online learning community. Previous studies have shown that the effectiveness of online professional development initiatives are measured through the use of participant responses concerning such topics as how well they liked the course or session rather than through measures that determine the acquisition of knowledge (American Society of Training and Development, 2000).; Data were collected and validated through triangulation of facilitator and member discourse within Laurillard's Conversation Framework (2002) and Flateby and Metzger's Cognitive Level And Quality Writing Assessment (CLAQWA) (2003) cognitive scale and member interviews. The facilitator and member discourse data demonstrate that: discourse in an online learning community reflects evidence of higher order thinking in accordance with Bloom's Taxonomy; facilitation strategies promote the higher quality discourse by Pre-K--12 educators; and that participation by individuals who were technologically proficient and perceived his or her engagement in a facilitated professional development online learning community as relevant yielded evidence of higher order thinking skills for Pre-K--12 educators.