IRB+Page

Here is the IRB Form

=PI= Dr. Christine Greenhow, Dr. Joseph McCaleb

Student Investigators
Thor Gibbins, Elizabeth Singleton, Margaret Peterson

Project Title
Social Networking In Communities of Practice: ??

Exemption
Yes- Categories 1 and 5:This project should be exempt because it will focus will take place in a common professional development program and focus on the benefits of social networking for this service agency.

1. Abstract
Writing Project Fellows' participation in social networking practices as they relate to community based professional development will be studied in this research in order to more fully understand how communities of practice may be constructed through virtual and online technologies. Participants within a professional development program through the University of Maryland Writing Project, a chapter of the National Writing Project, will, through this proposed research, be surveyed and interviewed to better describe their digital literacy practices and how they may extend to their teaching practices. The methods of "virtual ethnography" will be used to more clearly elucidate this community of practice. The methods utilized will include personal and virtual interview, discourse analysis, as well quantitative analysis of digital artifacts. Participants will also complete a pre-program and a post-program survey in order to gauge their perceptions and patterns of use of digital literacy practices as they relate to professional development and teaching practice. Before the beginning of the study, participants will receive a consent form that describes the study in detail and will be asked to consent to video taping of their conversation and tracking of their online participation. Throughout the study all participants will be encouraged to ask questions concerning the research and will be given opportunities to do so via varied modes of communication, and will be advised that they can leave the study for any reason, at any time.

2. Subject Selection
a. Perspective participants are all teachers and/or graduate students who have applied and been accepted to the 2011 Maryland Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute. All of the Summer Institute students will be invited to take part in the study and will be asked to consent to be interviewed, surveyed and to have their online practices evaluated. Through the consent process, participants will sign forms indicating their knowledge that participation in this study is optional and will in no way affect their course grade. b. Participants will not be chosen on the basis of gender, age, race, religion or any social or economic qualifications, but will be volunteers who are enrolled and admitted to the Invitational Summer Institute. c. Because of our interest in studying Writing Project Fellows' participation in social networking practices as they relate to community based professional development, these participants are of particular import to our work. These participants are ideal because of their interest in seeking extended, communal, professional development opportunities as demonstrated through their intent to participate in the National Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute. This teacher led professional development program allows participants a reflective space to consider their teaching practices amongst peers, so the nature of the program allows for research to better describe the aspects of a virtual professional development spaces. d. All participants in the University of Maryland Writing Project Summer Institute will be invited to participate, approximately 30 participants are expected to attend, all volunteers will be included in the study. **3. Procedures** Participants will be asked to complete two surveys, each survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Each particpant will be interviewed in a focus-group setting on one occasion which will occur at a mutually agreed upon time by the participants and the researchers. Focus-group discussions will last for one hour. Participants will engage and evaluate in a social networking site dedicated to professional development in a social setting. Participants own habits of use will dictate the amount of time and activity they may engage in during the Summer Institute. (We need two surveys and the focus group questions attached) **4. Risks** Risks to the participants include the possibility of discomfort from describing their own teaching and learning practices, as well as privacy concerns that may arise from their perceptions of online security. Additionally the proposed participants may worry about disclosure of video and other representations of their ideas and practices. Additional risks may include feeling compelled to participate due to the group's expectations for reflective practice.

** 5. Benefits **
To attempt to reduce these risks, only volunteer participants will be interviewed. Benefits include a more thorough understanding of the ways in which engagement in a group online professional development may enhance teaching practices. Benefits for participants may also include a clearer articulation of instructional craft as well as an enhanced sense of support from like minded peers who are also committed to education and professional development opportunities. **6. Confidentiality** In order to protect the confidentiality of the participants, pseudonyms may be employed if the participants prefer not to have their identity revealed. The specific site name for The University of Maryland Writing Project will be revealed and names of participants will be used only with their express written permission. No personal information about participants will be divulged without express written permission. Data, including video recordings of interviews, will be stored in the researcher's personal computer in password-protected files and in the locked file cabinet in the office of the researchers. Only the researchers will have access to the data and personal information related to the study. The data will remain in the company of Christine Greenhow, the principal researcher for 10 years time, at which point it will be destroyed

7. Consent process
** 1. **On the first day of the Summer Institute perspective participants will receive written informed consent form, an information sheet, will hear information about the study from the researchers and will be encouraged to ask questions about the research at that time and throughout the duration of the study. Informed consent will be collected directly following the question and answer period of the first day of the Summer Institute. All participants will retain a copy of the consent form for their records and will be. Participant privacy will be protected during the consent process, they will be asked to disperse for lunch and when they return may anonymously drop forms in a spot away from the group. No part of the study involves deception of any sort. **8. 8. Conflict of Interest**

N/A

Consent Form
Then we will need to work with this consent template

Use this guide for cutting and pasting key phrases