Interaction and Collaboration are critical components for the success of a professional online learning community. (Palloff/Pratt 2007). Without the existence of social interaction, the framework of a community is obviously negated. Collaboration entails individuals interacting, working and learning together and from each other. Ongoing collaboration of individuals contributes fresh and new ideas, without which a community’s interaction may grow stale and lead to members leaving the community or its extinction.
When considering the contributions of individuals in an Online Learning Community, the authors of our text, Palloff/Pratt stated, “Transformative learning moves a student from someone who takes in information to a reflective practitioner involved with the creation of knowledge.” (2007). Having not heard the term or theory of transformative learning before, I went to the theory’s author and creator, Jack Mezirow for insights and verification.
Mezirow claims that transformative learning is developmental of autonomous thinking. (1991). “We must learn to make our own interpretations rather than act on the purposes, beliefs, judgements, and feelings of others” says Mezirow (1991). He observes that individuals develop a “frame of reference” based on previous knowledge, experiences, beliefs, and feelings. Mezirow states, “Adults have acquired a coherent body of experience - associations, concepts, values, feelings, conditioned responses - frames of reference that define their life world. Frames of reference are the structures of assumptions through which we understand our experiences”. (1991). These preconceived notions and predisposed habits can interfere with individuals’ ability to listen to others without bias, rather with an open and objective mind.
Individuals who feel free to express their genuine beliefs are more likely to contribute in a social network. The same individual in a forum with judgemental tendencies is less likely to contribute to discussions or participate in endeavors. Communities should stress environments where participants are encouraged to develop personal growth and transformation. (Palloff/Pratt 2007). It is in these types of environment that “transformative learners move toward a frame of reference that is more inclusive discriminating, self-reflective and integrative of experience.” (Mezirow 1991). Knowledge germinates in an environment of interaction amoungst online connections and relations free of prejudice, but loaded with open-minds and supportive collaboration.
References
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (Original work published 1997) http://www.iup.edu/assets/0/347/349/4951/4977/10251/AF0EAB12-C2CE-4D2C-B1A0-59B795415437.pdf
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: effective strategies for the virtual classroom (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
RSA #1: Implementing Learning Communities
Implementing Learning Communities
In a school environment, the education of teachers and staff is ongoing with technology continually evolving, information and methods continually developing and adapting. In the framework of school improvement, educators collaboratively work to identify and develop knowledge, goals, skills, and methods, enhancing the education of their students. In a learning community, “the dynamic interaction of shared practice and collective inquiry is perhaps the most essential aspect of a professional learning community.” (McREL, 2003).
Finding the key to desirable and effective learning communities is imperative. Nussbaum-Beach states that professional development that promotes reflection and relationship-building, “is visible in schools where the focus is on learning, rather than teaching, where teachers become co-learners in the learning process and traditional classrooms shift to become communities of practice”. Nussbaum-Beach (2009). In this practicum a different learning takes place. A learning that is serendipitous. The tools are in place, the goals and learning objectives determined, and the participants are in attendance. Here, both the student and the teacher, become the learners and the educators.
In a published article through Innovations in Education and Teaching International, the notion of keeping current with evolving technologies and teaching strategies through the practice of blending online communities of practice and face-to-face meetings is proposed. Catherine F. Brooks expresses, “Though faculty members’ needs and constraints vary, faculty support is increasingly necessary in an age of technological advancement that brings new educational tools that faculty members are being asked to learn about and use in their classrooms.” (2010). The technologies are constantly changing as well as the students’ use and understanding of these implements. Students are native to the technologies that many of us are unaccustomed to.
Blended learning communities, will provide flexibility, opportunities, and the infrastructure that will assist educators in developing technology skills and methodologies in student learning. “Once online forums for collegial interaction among faculty are implemented, researching the enactment of community online will bring about enhanced understandings of what it means to be a faculty member in contemporary times. As education continually evolves, so will the needs, questions, concerns, and stressors among faculty,” says Catherine F. Brooks (2010). The evolution of technology, the maturation of the next generation of students, the goals and methodologies of tomorrow secure the need for educators participation in today’s learning communities.
References
Catherine F. Brooks, C.F.B. (2010, August). Toward ‘hybridised’ faculty development for the twenty-first century: blending online communities of practice and face-to-face meetings in instructional and professional support programmes.
Nussbaum-Beach, SNB. (2009, December 06). Creating learning organizations. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2009/10/01/01nussbaum-beach.h03.html?qs=nussbaum-beach+creating+learning+organizations
Sustaining school improvement; professional learning community. (2003). Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, Retrieved from http://www.mcrel.org/zoom/search.asp?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=%22sustaining+school+improvement+professional+learning+community%22&zoom_per_page=10&zoom_and=0&zoom_cat[]=-1
http://web.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/results?hid=119&sid=ae66fde0-72d3-45e6-93aa-987b3f66da20%40sessionmgr113&vid=12&bquery=%28learning+AND+community+AND+hybridised+AND+faculty+AND+development%29&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCxjcGlkJmN1c3RpZD1zODQxOTIzOSZkYj1hcGgmdHlwZT0xJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d
In a school environment, the education of teachers and staff is ongoing with technology continually evolving, information and methods continually developing and adapting. In the framework of school improvement, educators collaboratively work to identify and develop knowledge, goals, skills, and methods, enhancing the education of their students. In a learning community, “the dynamic interaction of shared practice and collective inquiry is perhaps the most essential aspect of a professional learning community.” (McREL, 2003).
Finding the key to desirable and effective learning communities is imperative. Nussbaum-Beach states that professional development that promotes reflection and relationship-building, “is visible in schools where the focus is on learning, rather than teaching, where teachers become co-learners in the learning process and traditional classrooms shift to become communities of practice”. Nussbaum-Beach (2009). In this practicum a different learning takes place. A learning that is serendipitous. The tools are in place, the goals and learning objectives determined, and the participants are in attendance. Here, both the student and the teacher, become the learners and the educators.
In a published article through Innovations in Education and Teaching International, the notion of keeping current with evolving technologies and teaching strategies through the practice of blending online communities of practice and face-to-face meetings is proposed. Catherine F. Brooks expresses, “Though faculty members’ needs and constraints vary, faculty support is increasingly necessary in an age of technological advancement that brings new educational tools that faculty members are being asked to learn about and use in their classrooms.” (2010). The technologies are constantly changing as well as the students’ use and understanding of these implements. Students are native to the technologies that many of us are unaccustomed to.
Blended learning communities, will provide flexibility, opportunities, and the infrastructure that will assist educators in developing technology skills and methodologies in student learning. “Once online forums for collegial interaction among faculty are implemented, researching the enactment of community online will bring about enhanced understandings of what it means to be a faculty member in contemporary times. As education continually evolves, so will the needs, questions, concerns, and stressors among faculty,” says Catherine F. Brooks (2010). The evolution of technology, the maturation of the next generation of students, the goals and methodologies of tomorrow secure the need for educators participation in today’s learning communities.
References
Catherine F. Brooks, C.F.B. (2010, August). Toward ‘hybridised’ faculty development for the twenty-first century: blending online communities of practice and face-to-face meetings in instructional and professional support programmes.
Nussbaum-Beach, SNB. (2009, December 06). Creating learning organizations. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2009/10/01/01nussbaum-beach.h03.html?qs=nussbaum-beach+creating+learning+organizations
Sustaining school improvement; professional learning community. (2003). Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, Retrieved from http://www.mcrel.org/zoom/search.asp?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=%22sustaining+school+improvement+professional+learning+community%22&zoom_per_page=10&zoom_and=0&zoom_cat[]=-1
http://web.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/results?hid=119&sid=ae66fde0-72d3-45e6-93aa-987b3f66da20%40sessionmgr113&vid=12&bquery=%28learning+AND+community+AND+hybridised+AND+faculty+AND+development%29&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCxjcGlkJmN1c3RpZD1zODQxOTIzOSZkYj1hcGgmdHlwZT0xJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Just Getting Started
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. ~Albert Einstein
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
