Living and Learning in a Global Community Innovative Schools Virtual University

How will education be different tomorrow because of our meeting today? How will you contextualize and mobilize what you learn? How will you leverage, how will you enable your faculty to leverage- collective intelligence?

“Direction-not intention-determines our destination.” Andy Stanley Are your daily choices as a 21 st Century Administrator taking you and your school in the direction you want to go? Principle of the Path

Community is the New Professional Development Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999a) describe three ways of knowing and constructing knowledge that align closely with PLP's philosophy and are worth mentioning here. Knowledge for Practice is often reflected in traditional PD efforts when a trainer shares with teachers information produced by educational researchers. This knowledge presumes a commonly accepted degree of correctness about what is being shared. The learner is typically passive in this kind of "sit and get" experience. This kind of knowledge is difficult for teachers to transfer to classrooms without support and follow through. After a workshop, much of what was useful gets lost in the daily grind, pressures and isolation of teaching. Knowledge in Practice recognizes the importance of teacher experience and practical knowledge in improving classroom practice. As a teacher tests out new strategies and assimilates them into teaching routines they construct knowledge in practice. They learn by doing. This knowledge is strengthened when teachers reflect and share with one another lessons learned during specific teaching sessions and describe the tacit knowledge embedded in their experiences.

Community is the New Professional Development Knowledge of Practice believes that systematic inquiry where teachers create knowledge as they focus on raising questions about and systematically studying their own classroom teaching practices collaboratively, allows educators to construct knowledge of practice in ways that move beyond the basics of classroom practice to a more systemic view of learning. I believe that by attending to the development of knowledge for, in and of practice, we can enhance professional growth that leads to real change. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S.L. (1999a). Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teaching learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24,

Knowledge of Practice always begins with deeply, reflective community of practice.

Define Community Define Networks

A Definition of Community Communities are quite simply, collections of individuals who are bound together by natural will and a set of shared ideas and ideals. “A system in which people can enter into relations that are determined by problems or shared ambitions rather than by rules or structure.” (Heckscher, 1994, p. 24). The process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations. (Wikipedia)

A Definition of Networks From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Networks are created through publishing and sharing ideas and connecting with others who share passions around those ideas who learn from each other. Networked learning is a process of developing and maintaining connections with people and information, and communicating in such a way so as to support one another's learning. Connectivism (theory of learning in networks) is the use of a network with nodes and connections as a central metaphor for learning. In this metaphor, a node is anything that can be connected to another node: information, data, feelings, images. Learning is the process of creating connections and developing a network.

PD of the 21 st Century will be— teacher directed through: Connections (PLNs, PLCs & CoP)

WHAT IS A PLC?

The Power of Professional Learning Communities The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community. The path to change in the classroom lies within and through professional learning communities. Milbrey McLaughlin Professor of Education - Stanford University

Need for a Collaborative Culture Throughout our ten-year study, whenever we found an effective school or an effective department within a school, without exception that school or department has been a part of a collaborative professional learning community. Milbrey McLaughlin

Need for a Collaborative Culture If schools want to enhance their capacity to boost student learning, they should work on building a collaborative culture…When groups, rather than individuals, are seen as the main units for implementing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, they facilitate development of shared purposes for student learning and collective responsibility to achieve it. Fred Newman

The driving engine of the collaborative culture of a PLC is the team. They work together in an ongoing effort to discover best practices and to expand their professional expertise. PLCs are our best hope for reculturing schools. We want to focus on shifting from a culture of teacher isolation to a culture of deep and meaningful collaboration. Professional Learning Communities FOCUS: Local, F2F, Job-embedded- in Real Time

Communities Building capacity in both individuals and groups Self efficacy and collective efficacy Global citizenship within a local context

Communities of Practice FOCUS: Situated, Synchronous, Asynchronous- Online and Walled Garden

“Some online communities emerge out of nowhere, are totally unplanned and blossom. But these are the minority. There is a good deal of evidence to suggest that careful planning is essential to the success of an online community” (Australian Flexible Learning Framework, What are the characteristics of effective online learning communities? pg 7, 2003)

Personal Learning Networks FOCUS: Individual, Connecting to Learning Objects, Resources and People – Social Network Driven

Rethinking Leading and Learning 1. Relationships first & capacity building 2. Understand shift, movement and nature of change itself 3.Power of mobilized collaboration and communication 4. Community and social fabric 5. Teacher as action researcher 6. Transparency, transparency, transparency

Bus- Stop Please share your ideas re Social Presence What do you see as the purpose of a global online community? How will you create a culture where collaboration is valued ? How will we promote collaboration online? Please share your ideas related to: Teaching Presence Who should be responsible for facilitating/moderating this environment? What roles should an online community have to support learning? Please share your ideas re Cognitive Presence What content will you include in your online community? participants adding their ideas to the three stops: Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence in NING