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Although the use of social networks, especially Facebook, has become a common practice among educational communities in Egypt, studies have yet to explore the online practices of in-service (language) teachers as part of Continuing Professional Development (hereafter CPD). Therefore, this study investigated English language teachers' informal online professional development that may include some types of language learning for improving their pedagogical content knowledge. It also explored differences between teachers' perceived use of Facebook as a venue of CPD. This study employed a mixed-method design, collecting qualitative and quantitative data via content analysis and a questionnaire. The participants were 180 English-language Egyptian in-service teachers. The qualitative analysis of teacher's posts demonstrates that CPD informal groups, as maintained by Egyptian EFL teachers, display different aspects of professional knowledge. Results showed that the data yielded seven main categories: General Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Content Knowledge (CK), L2 Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Knowledge of L2 Learners, Knowledge of Educational context and Knowledge of (professional) self and miscellaneous topics. Besides, ANOVA's Welch test indicated significant differences in the means of the sum scores of the questionnaire as well as two sub-domains (PK and CK) among primary, preparatory and secondary teachers in some aspects, such as pronunciation and vocabulary. This study concludes that CPD Facebook groups provide wide options and spaces for continuous learning and informal study for EFL teachers. Pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research were suggested. [This paper was published in "CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education" v87 2024.]

In recent years, children's video viewing has shifted from television to online streaming platforms like YouTube. While such platforms include many educational videos for children, we know little about the educational value of the content in these videos. To understand the learning opportunities available to children when they watch videos online, this paper describes the quality, duration, and popularity of a sample of 1,198 YouTube videos focused on early literacy and math topics. We found that while most of these videos use concrete examples to illustrate learning content, only about half directly address the audience or involve characters, and very few integrate learning content into the narrative. Further, videos in our sample that directly addressed the audience were less popular, as measured by views and likes, as were videos that included a greater variety of math topics. We discuss important ways that user-generated educational videos may differ from educational television programs, including decreased reliance on narratives and characters as compared to educational television programs. Our findings also hint at novel influences on the content and quality of online videos, such as the likelihood that the algorithm will recommend a video or that a viewer will like it. Finally, we discuss implications for parents, content creators, and researchers.

The article focuses on concerns about potential harms to minors on the internet, especially on social media platforms, and discusses various age verification methods used by website operators. Topics include the methods such as self-identification, documentation, and consumer data analysis, along with policy considerations for legislation, potential congressional actions, and trade-offs associated with different verification methods.