Education focused pracademics on twitter: building democratic fora

Abstract

PurposeThis paper explores the features of pracademic practice within online spaces where pracademics, academics and teachers interact.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses autoethnographic case studies to showcase the boundary-spanning thinking of two pracademics, one a practicing teacher, the other an early career researcher, to provide an overview of how pracademics are engaging with research and the profession online in Australia, in 2021.FindingsThe paper describes five key features that are central to the development of pracademic practice. They are rigour and depth, discussion beyond immediate cultural context, accessibility, knowledge creation and collaboration.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is focused on the teacher and early career researcher perspectives on pracademia, due to the extant literature focusing on the well-established academic perspective primarily. It focuses on fora within the Twitter social media platform and the #edureading group specifically. The authors propose that the use of Twitter fora, as those outlined, provides a legitimate form of professional development, and does contribute to the development of pracademics.Originality/valueThis piece itself is an output of pracademia; through the writing of this paper, the authors show that pracademia is possible through teacher and researcher collaboration. The focus on online spaces, pracademic teachers and a coverage of what's occurring provide a new agenda for further research and consideration.