Educators’ perspectives on and motivations for using TeachersPayTeachers.com

Abstract

TeachersPayTeachers.com (TpT) is an influential online education resource marketplace where users download, buy, and sell education content. How and why educators use platforms like TpT has received only limited scholarly attention. This research therefore addresses a gap in the literature by exploring educators’ (N = 1359) self-reported uses and perceptions of TpT. Participants reported intensive and multifaceted TpT use, in particular to address curriculum gaps and time pressures. Most respondents perceived TpT content to be of high quality, but many also noted challenges with TpT. We discuss implications related to education resource production, distribution, and consumption in a digital era.

Keywords:

• Online marketplace
• education marketplace
• instructional materials
• curriculum
• teacher planning
• technology

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Lauren Mitchell for her assistance with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis.

Disclosure statement

The first author has never been a seller on TpT. The second author brought to this study first-hand experience with the TpT platform as a seller on the site.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey P. Carpenter

Jeffrey P. Carpenter, Ph.D., is a Professor of Education at Elon University and Director of the Elon Teaching Fellows Program. He was a high school English and ESOL teacher for 10 years in various countries before moving into teacher education. His research focuses on educators’ self-directed professional learning via social media platforms and in other learning spaces. Follow him on Twitter @jeffpcarpenter.

Catharyn C. Shelton

Catharyn C. Shelton, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of educational technology at Northern Arizona University. She brings a background as a K-12 teacher, and currently teaches undergraduate and graduate educational technology courses at NAU. In her teaching and research, Catharyn explores how online technologies can help or hinder teacher learning, networking, and agency, while considering how teachers’ digital practices offer opportunities and challenges for centering educational equity and justice.