392 Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2009 Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Seeking an online community for professional development discourse: a content analysis of teachers’ blogs Tatyana G. Pashnyak* and Vanessa P. Dennen Florida State University 307 Stone, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA E-mail: tpashnyak@fsu.edu E-mail: vdennen@fsu.edu *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper presents a content analysis of a sample of blogs from one blog community of classroom teachers. It offers a glimpse into both the personal and professional aspects of teachers’ lives and identifies the ways classroom teachers are using blogs to cope in an increasingly challenging profession. The findings show that at least some teachers find blogs to be a useful technology for communicating with other teachers. They can share ideas, ask questions, offer and find solutions, share stories and experiences or simply socialise with other classroom teachers, thus providing informal support to each other via a virtual community of practice. Keywords: teachers; blogging; community of practice; virtual community. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Pashnyak, T.G. and Dennen, V.P. (2009) ‘Seeking an online community for professional development discourse: a content analysis of teachers’ blogs’, Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp.392–406. Biographical notes: Tatyana G. Pashnyak is a Doctoral candidate in Instructional Systems at the Florida State University, USA. She has earned a BS in Middle Grades Education and an MEd in Business Education, both from the University of West Georgia. Her professional experience includes over seven years of teaching at the community college level (currently employed as an Assistant Professor of Administrative Office Technology at Bainbridge College) and four years of teaching at the middle school level. Her research interests include online communities of practice, peer collaboration and online learning. Vanessa P. Dennen is an Associate Professor of Instructional Systems at the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems of Florida State University, USA. She earned a PhD in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University and was a faculty member at San Diego State University. Her research focuses on online discourse, cognitive apprenticeship and online communities of practice.