Finding a Silver Lining in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Teachers’ Online Community in Georgia

Following the COVID-19 emergency, a forced, massive and rapid transition to educational technologies became unprecedented around the world. Many teachers had to start experimenting with digital tools with little previous experience. In the light of the clear urgency for the reorganization of teaching and learning processes, synchronous emergency remote teaching became the leading paradigm in response to the sudden transformational need. It is important to understand how teachers found support for their professional development needs. This chapter reports on a case study that analyses one Facebook group activity in Georgia, shedding light on its aims, discussion patterns, and peer learning opportunities which it enabled, from a participant-observer perspective. The study reveals that the teachers mostly had questions on digital tools. This paper contributes to understanding the Georgian context, including the most pressing matters for the teachers’ online community during the pandemic, and can serve as a unit of comparison with similar professional communities in different countries.