ABSTRACT

During the last decade, the field of teachers' education has incorporated a new environment which deserved to be studied, in some of its aspects, in this research: educational sites developed by English teachers for English teachers. The study involved interviews with webmasters of eleven of these sites, which were chosen based on criteria such as content, range, and technical quality, and tried to determine, firstly, the reasons that lead a teacher into developing a site, thus becoming a "Teacher Dotcom." Additionally, the following aspects were discussed: quality criteria for teachers' sites, the possibilities of continued education for ESL/EFL teachers that are made possible through the Internet by the means of exchanges with other teachers, and the impact, in the teaching practice of webmasters, of building and keeping an educational site. Since it is extremely important for teachers to keep updated, teachers' sites have become, although still incipiently in Brazil, an alternative of formation and professional growth both for the users of these sites an their webmasters. Since the relationships that are established in the virtual field are based on sharing and exchanging, there is no definition of strict roles between a webmaster who teaches and a user who learns. Rather, there is usually a symbiosis that benefits both parts, since the webmaster is impelled to reflect upon the information he makes available on the site, and learns from the interaction with the users, who also bring a rich background of knowledge, experiences and opinions. Although the work in most sites does not represent a source of income to the webmasters interviewed, this research has demonstrated that the experience of building and keeping a site for teachers has an accelerating role in their personal and professional growth. Through the management routine of their sites, these teachers keep contact with colleagues from all over the world, research, share materials and information, keep updated and develop a more critical and reflective attitude towards their own teaching.