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.