Welcome to my blog!

Teaching mathematics is my passion, something I love to do. When I am not in the classroom, I am yelling plays from the bench during volleyball games. My students and players keep me going. I don't know what I would be doing if I didn't have the opportunity to teach and coach such amazing, wonderful kids. I feel blessed everyday.

I wear my teacher and coach hats with pride and have recently added a new fancy hat, one of a student. Yes, I am back in school. This blog comes as an assignment, but something I hope to maintain well after this course is over.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Resource Sharing Week 6 - Building an Online Learning Community

“The development of a learning community in the distance education process involves developing new approaches to education and new skill in its delivery (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, p. 231).  Developing community in distance education keeps a focus on student learning, what is essential for student growth.  Learning together in this capacity creates a new level of excitement in learning and in education reform.  Attending a course anytime from anywhere, student centered instruction, 24 hour a day access, and obtaining knowledge previously not available in textbooks, are some of the reasons why students enjoy online learning (Coleman, 2005).  All of the participants in an online learning environment make up the community of learners.  Grimes- Viort (2010) outlines steps necessary to build a successful, sustainable online community: 
1.      Ask the right questions – Why?  Identify the needs you are trying to fulfill by offering an online space for interaction.  Decide what resources you are going to allocate to support your project
2.      Invite participation – Reach out to potential members
3.      Don’t obsess about the platform – Focus on the purpose of the online community rather than the actual platform being used
4.      Nurture early, release later – Major involvement towards beginning, guiding the group through example
5.      Taking things offline – By putting participants in a room together, you are providing a platform for them to have more meaningful and effective interactions
6.      Big up your members – When one of your community participants achieves, celebrate it
7.      Allow for granulation – At the beginning the community space will address a particular topic or activity.  Let your community naturally split itself up; forced sub-groups are bad, organic ones are good.
8.      Involve your community – Reach out and invite your growing community to take part in the operations to develop loyalty.
9.      Be firm but fair – Set the tone, provide guidelines for behavior
10.  Commercialize carefully – Leverage your growing community

References
Coleman, S. (2005).  Why Do Students Like Online Learning?  Retrieved from http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm

Grimes-Viort, B. (2010).  10 Steps to Building Successful Online Communities.  Retrieved from http://blaisegv.com/community-management/10-steps-building-successful-online-social-media-communities/

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K.  (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Resource Sharing Week 5 - Synchronous or Asynchronous, Blended or Online

Many considerations are necessary when forming online learning communities.  Will the time needed to work collaboratively in a learning community be a concern for participants?  What is the cost for this type of learning and how will those costs change with an increase in the number of participants?  Will the learning community be solely online or will it be a blended community?  Will asynchronous or synchronous technologies be utilized?  Based on Palloff and Pratt’s experiences with online teaching, an asynchronous environment is preferred.  “The asynchronous environment allows participants to log on to the class or discussion at any time, think about what is being discussed, and post their own responses when they wish” (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, p. 68).  The ability to read, process, and reflect on other participant’s ideas and formulate an original response is essential to the individual’s learning development.  Asynchronous technologies afford the time necessary for this individual growth, but are there disadvantages to these technologies?  If e-learners seldom meet face-to-face and teachers mainly rely on asynchronous e-learning, students might feel isolated and not part of learning communities, which is essential for collaboration and learning” (Hrastinski, 2008, para. 12).
There are many synchronous and asynchronous technologies and tools that can be utilized in classroom situations as well as learning communities (blended or online).  By accessing Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication Tools, one will learn advantages and disadvantages of both types of technologies as well as examples of each.  This is helpful for classroom collaboration as well as building learning communities because it lists the tools as well as the uses and drawbacks of each tool.  Information of this nature allows for purposeful planning and execution.  There are many articles available within Education Week’s special report on Emerging Policy Debates in Virtual Education.  There are resources connected to factoring online learning into daily work, delivery of information, expansion of online learning, sustainable funding for online learning and the many shapes and sizes of online learning.  
One responsibility of an educator is to help develop and enhance the skills that will make students viable participants in today’s society.  Exposure to both types of technology in K-12 classrooms as well as future courses and learning communities is essential for professional growth and development.

References
Ashley, J. Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication Tools. Retrieved from http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13572
Education Week. (2010, April 28). A Special Report on the Emerging Policy Debates in Virtual Education (supplement). Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/media/educationweek_e-learning_2010_specialreport.pdf
Hrastinski, S. (2008). Asynchronous and Synchronous E-learning. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 31(4). Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE%2BQuarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/AsynchronousandSynchronousELea/163445
Palloff, R. & Pratt, K.  (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Resource Sharing Week 4 - Online Learning Communities

Teaching and learning has made a shift from the classroom to online communities. Universities are looking to online and blended courses to engage learners in communication and dialogue that does not always involve face-to-face interactions. In order to move a cohort to a community, Misanchuk and Anderson suggest “encouraging interaction at three levels: communication, cooperation, and collaboration” (para. 16). Palloff and Pratt (2007) discuss the changes students experience in an online community, including “greater availability and accessibility or information, engagement of different learning styles, and promotion of increased responsibility for teaching and learning” (p. 4). If the benefits from this style of learning are so apparent, why are distance learning schools or programs not as prevalent?

One possible answer can be found in the development of online learning communities. In Creating Collaborative Communities, Dr. Soren Kaplan discusses the participants, group processes and technology that are needed to build and run successful online communities. When working with those involved in a particular online community, it is important to clearly define the roles of the participants, create sub-groups focused on certain topics or areas important to the whole community, and support the individuality of the participants. Establishing behaviors for the group, developing trust, and creating a relationship with smaller groups to share work and ideas are ways in which the online community can grow and develop successful interactions. In terms of technology usage, “The goal should be to serve the community through its transparency - learners' time should be spent learning about the topic at hand, not about how to use a given technology” (Kaplan, 2001-10, para. 20).

As the years continue, our students are going to have increased access to technology and the role of the classroom will change dramatically during our tenure as teachers. Not only will we be expected to participate in online learning communities in a professional manner, but soon we will be engaged in student centered online learning communities in which our role as instructor will turn to facilitator.

References

Kaplan, S. (2001-10). Creating Collaborative Communities. Retrieved from
http://www.icohere.com/CollaborativeLearning.htm

Misanchuk, M. & Anderson, T. Building community in an online learning environment: communication, cooperation and collaboration. Retrieved from http://frank.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed01/19.html

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Resource Sharing Week 3 - Learning Community Outcomes

This week's resource sharing assignment was submitted via blackboard and instructor email.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Resource Sharing Week 2 - Learning Communities – Implementing, Assessing and Sustaining

Martin-Kniep acknowledges that idea that professional learning communities (PLCs) not only benefit the students, but also the teachers. It is also discussed that conversations between teachers are necessary for growth of the profession as well as students’ learning. “Now more than ever before, teaching requires collegial structures that enable teachers to articulate, refine, negotiate, question, and share their expertise and practice so that they can benefit students” (Martin-Kniep, p. 11). Implementation of PLCs is the first step in the process of developing collaboration between teachers and honing the skills necessary to increase student understanding and achievement.




The above video explains the beginning stages of implementing a PLC model for teachers. West Valley High School just implemented PLCs in which teachers meet once a week for 40 minutes. The principal at West Valley believes that work in a PLC helps growth. Teachers often become isolated in their classrooms and PLCs increase collaboration around their discipline, what will be taught, how it can be taught, and what is essential for students to know and master when they leave the classroom. Core concepts are developed within each discipline, but PLC meeting time is used to determine essential skills necessary in a particular discipline. Together teacher discuss what are the essential skills, concepts and ideas that every single student should know when they leave that particular class. Teachers at West Valley are also able to compare student performance and trade ideas about teaching practices. They believe this PLC practice could take years to implement, but they will follow some basic steps that they deem essential when thinking about the role that their practice plays in the classroom.

Step One: Develop Essential Learnings
Step Two: Implement Essential Learnings in the classroom
Step Three: Collect Data - How are students doing?
Step Four: Aggregate the data and analyze – Where are students succeeding? What strategies are
being used that promote this understanding (share teaching strategies)? Where are students not excelling? What can we do to provide opportunities for growth in those areas?

Ultimately, collaboration between teachers can and will affect learning outcomes in the classroom. “Among the benefits of collaboration, the teachers stated that they had gained insights into curriculum development, classroom management, motivation, and learning disabilities. They declared strong group efficacy, explaining that team members had created and fostered empathy, stress relief, and complementary strengths for one another. They also noted that by working together, team members had solved problems collectively, saved time and energy, and benefited from constructive criticism” (Elbousty & Bratt, p. 7).

References

Elbousty, Y., & Bratt, K. (2010, Spring). Team Strategies for School Improvement: The Ongoing Development of the Professional Learning Community. MASCD. Retrieved September 10, 2010, from http://www.mascd.org/17311071491435113/lib/17311071491435113/Perspectives%20sp_2010%20Elbousty3.pdf

Martin-Kniep, G. O. (2008). Communities That Learn, Lead, and Last: Building and sustaining Educational Expertise. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

West Valley High School, Fairbanks. (2010, February 17). Professional Learning Communities. Retrieved
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68H7tEDFxW8

Wednesday, September 8, 2010