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RSA 4: Building and maintaining

Link:  http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/7012

Discussion:This module continues to focus on the importance of learning communities and how technology can really foster stronger conversations and help to maintain solid learning communities as well.  A learning community is essential to professional development in addition to integral to instructional improvement.  Technology and online communities help to maintain conversations among professionals, offer a variety of time allowances for participation, and provide a central location to record and keep information.

In “Building and maintaining an online professional learning community,” Linton reinforces much of what was discussed in this and previous modules.  She reaffirms that a professional learning community has a lasting impact on teaching as opposed to a workshop.  The article also mentions several resources for helping to maintain online PLCs, such as Wikispaces, Twitter, Ning, and Google Docs.  While all these resources could be helpful, it is the job of each individual PLC to determine their own goals and structure and which resource would be most beneficial to maintain those goals and that structure.  By creating online collaboration, teachers can be given the “time and space to learn together and work toward common goals” (Linton, 2012).

This article completely reaffirms the information throughout our readings and the current module.  Linton also sites from the Learning By Doing book and simply offers other technology resources to use in order to foster online communities.  While she does not offer any new information, seeing a source that confirms much of what we have been reading in the course is helpful, especially since I found this source through an Internet search as opposed to the Concordia search engine.  It clearly shows that numerous educators believe in the power of the professional learning community model.

References:
Linton, Jayme. (2012). Building and maintaining an online professional learning community.  Learn NC. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/7012

RSA 3: Teachers Making Connections

Link:   http://web.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c3e231f5-f673-481d-a68f-3bc9cd25565c%40sessionmgr15&vid=2&hid=14


Discussion:

This module focuses on creating online professional learning communities.  The Internet provides a gateway for a larger number of teachers and professionals to communicate, voice concerns, and actively engage in a discussion to improve student learning.  Online learning communities function best when all participates are engaged and consistently contributing to the online conversation.  Also, according to Palloff and Pratt (2007), a successful participant within an online learning community must be “open-minded about sharing life, work, and educational experiences as part of the learning process; able to communicate through writing; self-motivated and self-disciplined” and many other attributes to be the most effective (p. 8).  Essentially, online communities necessitate dedicated professionals willing to work with others to develop as learners and teachers.

The article by Jennifer Duncan-Howell promotes online communities as a great location for professional development to occur.  She recognizes that often full day workshops or after school meetings do not create the lasting effects on teachers that ongoing online communication can.  Duncan-Howell (2010) ascertains that “for professional learning to be sustained and not limited to short programs, the mode of delivery needs to suit teacher conditions and be sympathetic to their specific needs as learners” (p. 325). Therefore, an online professional community is a great solution for teachers to engage with other professionals in collaboration, conversation, and suggestion as far as learning and teaching is concerned. 

While this article reinforces the positives regarding online communication for educators, Duncan-Howell is promoting various websites that teachers can access in conjunction with their subject areas rather than one continuous professional learning community as Palloff and Pratt discuss.  Duncan-Howell does, however, endorse the need for a community to allow access for all participates in a social forum where professionals can discuss new ideas, experiment with new lessons, and share those results.  The online communities mentioned in both readings mention how with easy access, like through the Internet, typical time constraints are eliminated and the communities almost cater to the needs of each individual teacher.

References:Duncan-Howell, J. (2010). Teachers making connections: Online communities as a source of professional learning. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 41(2), 324-340.

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom, (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

RSA 2: Maximizing the Power of Formative Assessments

Link:

http://web.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=992f56b5-36a5-4397-9468-d72b9b925741%40sessionmgr114&vid=5&hid=123

Discussion:

The current learning module continues to focus on the elements of a professional learning community to ensure student learning at high levels.  The focus during this module is assessment.  Learning by Doing (2006) encourages teachers to create assessments to determine student ability levels and to also use data accumulated from assessments to modify instruction and measure student performance.  Accumulating data is not enough though, according to DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many (2006), teachers need to not only just assess students, but give students “(1) feedback – the more timely, frequent, and precise the better – and (2) ongoing support as they attempt to implement new practices” (p. 184).  Essentially, visiting, revisiting, and creating collaborative clear goals and assessments make for an effective professional learning community as well as a classroom conducive to student learning.

In the article “Maximizing the Power of Formative Assessments,” Stiggins and DuFour (2009) completely reinforce the ideas of the module.  This is an article written, in part, by one of the co-authors of the textbook, so clearly he is not challenging what he wrote earlier.  The article offers an excellent explanation of the three types of formative assessments needed to promote student and teacher success: “To be truly productive, a local district assessment system must provide different kinds of information to various decision makers in different forms and at different times” (p. 641).  According to Stiggins and DuFour (2009), classroom assessments provide teachers and students with information regarding the progress of a student towards proficiency (p. 641).  School-level assessments allow the teachers and administration to note how teaching can improve as well as the program itself and the level of particular students in relation to the school (p. 641).   Institutional-level assessments, such as the ACT, PSAE, and various standardized testing, reveal the efficacy of particular schools (p. 642).  The article concludes that through collaboration among educators in addition to abiding by several essential conditions for the assessments, common formative assessments can be indispensable tools for teaching, instruction, and assuring student progress.

The article completely agrees and reinforces the ideas stated in the module.  Establishing specific standards, creating measurable goals, using assessments for instruction, and re-evaluating the skills taught are key components to professional learning communities.  Formative and common assessments clearly promote student achievement when written, used and shared for the right purposes.

References:

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T. (2010).  Learning by doing: A handbook for
professional learning communities at work (2nd ed., pp. 59-154). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Stiggins, R. (2009). Maximizing the Power of Formative Assessments. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(9), 640.

RSA1: Creating Professional Learning Communitites

http://www.informaworld.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/openurl?genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/00405840802329276

This learning module focuses on what a professional learning community works to establish and the need to have a community of individuals committed to the learning of each student no matter what ability level exists in every classroom.  The team of professionals must agree that learning is the fundamental purpose of any PLC and, essentially, the school and district.

The article “Creating Professional Learning Communities: The Work of Professional Development School” argues that to create effective partnerships and successful communities significant time needs to be allowed and set aside initially in order to “establish ground rules, clarify the tasks to be undertaken, identify supports required for successful implantation, and ensure that a shared vision and mission exists between partners” (Doolittle, Sudeck, &Rattigan, 2008, p. 303).  The partnership referenced in the article is not just a community within a school but a partnership with a university that works with different schools to maintain focus and keep the groups on task with the emphasis on student learning.  While the article clearly elaborates on the process of initiating and sustaining PLCs, there is the different element of bringing in university professionals as unbiased listeners and maintenance staff for a school’s PLC.  Doolittle, Sudeck, and Rattigan (2008) acknowledge the difficulty with maintaining on task, successful learning communities due to numerous other mandates from the government, state, and districts which drain the time and energy of staff to keep attention on student learning (p.306).  Many schools resist change and struggle with PLCs due to established privacy and isolation in many educational environments.  By creating a Professional Development School partnership with a university in addition to the staff members of a school, the group can be sure that all members have equal say and ownership, rather than allowing a top-down mandate (p. 306).  In a sense, the university professionals act as mediators. 

While the article provides many similar definitions and examples as to how PLCs can be effective and a lasting necessity to instill change and learning for all students, the major contrast is the recommendation of creating Professional Development School partnerships rather than keeping the focus within the school.  A clear argument for such an affiliation is established, but too many opinions may require more time to reach decisions within a group. The major positive of such a combined effort would be to maintain all individuals as equal members with a clear goal, rather than an administrator’s decision acted upon by the teaching staff.

Doolittle, G., Sudeck, M., & Rattigan, P. (2008). Creating Professional Learning Communities: The Work of Professional Development Schools. Theory Into Practice, 47(4), 303-310.

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