Introduction/Context Georgia Tech was awarded the NASA CAN for ePDN (Electronic Professional Development Network) in early 2009. The purpose of NASA ePDN is to develop effective professional development courses for middle school STEM teachers. The three Georgia Tech partners involved in ePDN are the Distance Learning and Professional Education (DLPE) unit, the Center of Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) and ORBIT Education, Inc, a NASA-themed educational service provider. These partners collaborate with scientists and engineers from NASA, from Georgia Tech, and from industry to bring STEM content to teachers through modular‐based electronic professional development courses. Courses and workshops are designed to emphasize best practices, incorporating inquiry learning, case‐based scenarios, and data analysis actively into the programs. They are also designed to promote teachers' use of new communication tools such as video sharing, podcasting, visualizations, virtual worlds, and social networking. The NASA ePDN courses are divided into 4 certificates and consist of a combination of synchronous and asynchronous components. These certificates consist of 52 hours of work by each participant over the course of 4 or 5 weeks. Each certificate consists of four or five modules, with introductory information on the types of virtual learning tools that would be used in the course and tutorials on how to use them. Teachers who successfully complete 52 hours of professional development, either from one certificate or a combination of courses chosen from different certificates, would receive Continuing Education Credits and a non‐credit certificate from Georgia Tech that can be used by school systems to award local professional learning units (PLU) or credits. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of online collaborative spaces on participant learning. Collaboration is an integral part of the NASA ePDN courses. Participants are asked to sign up for a group. The purpose of this is to create an online learning community and a feeling of belonging. To foster this, participants are asked to post their bios online. They also have to post a picture of themselves. Problem Collaborative learning requires that learners enroll in a common unit of study for training, continuing professional development, or the pursuit of an academic degree, to work together online in order to solve complex problems and complete authentic tasks. Online collaborative learning has not yet reached the goals set out before it. In reality, most online course still require participants to spend the 45-50 hours of academics contact required in traditional three credit hour semester long courses. Moreover, most online courses we see today are only available through commercial course management systems such as Blackboard and WebCT, which merely affords the instructors the ability to conveniently and efficiently replicate traditional classroom instructional practices. However, participants perceive WebCT to be frustrating and incapable of supporting their learning more directly (Herrington, Oliver, Reeves, 2003). The main problem with current online coursework is that faculty and instructional designers are not able to think outside of the box. Well developed online learning requires more than just a simple shift from one medium to another. Rather than making online courses an extension and/or substitute of traditional classes, these individuals should perform a large scale online simulation in which a single authentic task or project becomes the focus of the learning environment Another innovative model for online courses that takes advantage of the pedagogical affordances of online learning and advances in situated learning theory, is the construction of virtual, collaborative spaces, referred to as "knowledge rooms" where learners are provided the space for deep learning (Herrington, Oliver, Reeves, 2003). In this case study, collaborative learning was tied in with the assignments. Participants had to post their assignments on the discussion boards and they were required to respond to and interact with each other within groups. Sometimes the interactions were synchronous and at other times the interactions were asynchronous. The participants received course credit for completing these assignments. This was also a place for them to discuss individual assignments within groups. Methodology/Approach This study will focus on in-depth understandings of participants' online collaboration using case study methodology. According to Merriam (2001) a case study is an intensive, detailed description and analysis of a particular individual, group, or event. The purpose of descriptive case studies is to present basic information about areas of education where little research has been conducted (Merriam, 2001). Case study is the most appropriate qualitative method for this study because the case will be bounded by each ePDN course. Results Data analysis is ongoing. The impact of online collaborative spaces will be discussed in terms of participant learning in an online environment. A model of online collaborative learning will be proposed based on the data in the forum discussions. References Herrington, J., Oliver, R. and Reeves, T. C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic onlinelearning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 59-71. Merriam, S. B. (2001). Qualitative research and case study applications in education: Revised and expanded from case study research in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
