Online community building in classrooms and schools: Using the internet to extend teachers’ face-to-face community practices

Abstract

Using a digital inequality approach, this study analyses the introduction of the internet into teachers’ daily activity in order to support and enhance community building in classrooms and schools. From a representative sample of 350 schools offering compulsory and postcompulsory education in Catalonia (Spain), 2,163 teachers were surveyed. After controlling for school and socio-demographic characteristics, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the effects of face-to-face community building and digital literacy. The article analyses their main and interaction effects and discusses the implications of the observed patterns in relation to the introduction of the internet in order to extend and reinforce teachers’ face-to-face teaching and professional practices. Going beyond the technological promise, our findings suggest the opportunity to encourage agreement between teachers, school administrators, and policy makers on the importance of a community approach that recognises the value of communication and collaboration as a successful means of addressing the educational challenges of schooling.

Keywords

• Internet
• social interaction and community involvement
• teaching and professional practices
• digital inequality
• digital literacy