Resource link 1:
http://nkutech4k12transformation.pbworks.com/w/page/21381468/Wiki Planning and Development Materials
Module Resource link 1:
http://blackboard.cuchicago.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1435469-dt-content-rid-5597031_2/courses/8249.201530/Week1-reading-DuFour-professional-learning-community-EDT6030-v14.pdf
Module Resource link 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyMgfR5m0_s
Peer Reviewed Article Link 1:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544210.pdf
Peer Reviewed Article Link 2:
Professional learning communities have moved from what do we
need to teach to how do we know students are learning (DuFour, 2004) . This requires teachers to
collaborate about what they are using their classrooms and the effect in which
it is having.
Professional learning communities can also occur online. If
you are a singleton teacher, the only person teaching a class, it can be
difficult to find someone to collaborate with. This is when online Professional
Learning Communities become useful. These are often times called Hybrid
professional learning communities (Blitz, 2013) .
Professional Learning Communities are designed for some type
of teacher learning. Making those professional learning communities available
online expands the amount of learning that can take place. Now the reach is
worldwide, and can give support, feedback and advice (Trust, 2012) .
Professional learning communities have barriers that occur
and stop a team from successful accomplishing their goals. Some of those
barriers include conflicting schedules, physical proximity, and access to
resources (Maddin, 2012) .
There are many online professional learning communities that
already exist for professionals. One is called The Teacher Learning Community.
It is a website that allows for learning programs, webinars, shared resources,
and collaboration among educators. These
resources can help you by using how-to videos or having live chat sessions with
experts in different fields (SimpleK12, 2011) .
Another online professional learning community available to
educators is Edmodo. Edmodo is considered a social media site for educators
that have a similar platform look to Facebook. There are conferences offered
though Edmodo as well as excess to shared educators libraries (Trust, 2012) .
All of these resources are great tools of using and creating
an online professional learning community, but to an extent they all can cost
money. If a teacher were looking for a free way to collaborate with other
professionals online and create a professional learning community of their own,
a Wiki would be a good choice.
Wiki’s help to
eliminate any geographical concerns as well as the other barriers listed above.
Using a wiki as a professional learning community will allow for you to show
how you have evolved and changed over time (Maddin, 2012) . This can be
helpful when keeping track on dates goals were written, or when data was
collected. Wiki’s can be edited by anyone, which also embraces the idea of
collaboration. Anyone using the Wiki can
also include videos, links, files, and comments.
The benefits of using an online professional learning
community over a traditional one include less disruption of class time, making
meetings more efficient, saving trees, and having access to this information
anytime you have Internet (Maddin, 2012) .
The resources specified not only provide you with information
on why having a professional learning community is important but how creating
one online can be effective. There are many resources available for creating
online professional learning communities but some of my suggestions based on my
research would be Edmodo or Wiki.
Bibliography
Blitz, C.
(2013). Can online learning communities achieve the goals of traditional
professional learning communities? What the literature says. Institute of
Education Sciences , 1-26.
DuFour, R. (2004, May). What Is A Professional Learning
Community? Educational Leadership , 6-11.
Maddin, E. (2012, May N/A). Wiki Planning and
Development Materials. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from Technology for
K-12 Transformation:
http://nkutech4k12transformation.pbworks.com/w/page/21381468/Wiki%20Planning%20and%20Development%20Materials
SimpleK12 (Director). (2011). Teacher Learning Community
- Teacher Professional Development [Motion Picture].
Trust, T. (2012). Professional Learning Networks Designed
for Teacher Learning. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education
, 133-138.
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