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Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities
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Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities



May 2013 | 120 pages | Corwin

Powerful collaborative learning—anytime, anyplace!

Online learning seems like a perfect solution for cost-conscious districts and busy teachers, but can these programs also deliver high-caliber professional learning? Using one district’s success story as a model, this timely book shows you how to combine well-designed online instruction with the energy of peer-to-peer collaboration. At the heart of this book is a model that supports powerful professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for every student.

Sonja Hollins-Alexander writes from her own experience building a successful online professional development (PD) program for a large urban district. Readers will find

  • Research-based support for online PD and the author’s original Learner-Learner model
  • A thorough planning guide and ten action steps for program development
  • Best practices for managing staffing and resources
  • Strategies for establishing a true community of learners online

Discover how to create a sustainable online PD program that promotes collaboration and growth!

“This book provides district and school leaders with a practical guide to shifting professional learning from more traditional ‘sit and get’ models to technology-enhanced models that foster collaboration and co-creation.”
—Catherine Huber, Principal
Northwood Elementary, West Seneca, NY

Watch Sonja Hollins-Alexander's webinar, Professional Learning Through Virtual Communities, hosted by Learning Forward


 
Preface: The Evolution of a Design
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
About the Contributors
 
1. The Learner-Learner Model
 
2. Getting It Started: A Planning Guide
 
3. 10 Action Steps to an Online Virtual Learning Community
 
4. The Process: Transitioning a Face-to-Face Professional Learning Community to an Online Virtual Learning Community
 
5. Getting It Done: What Structures Support the Implementation of a Virtual Learning Community?
 
6. Building Capacity and Sustainability: School-Based Virtual Learning Cohorts
 
7. Pitfalls Don't Hold You Back
 
8. Summary: My Reflections
 
References
 
Index

"This book provides district and school leaders with a practical guide to shifting professional learning from more traditional "sit and get" models to technology-enhanced models that foster collaboration and co-creation. Leaders charged with the work of transforming professional learning will benefit from this practical text."

Catherine Huber, Principal
Northwood Elementary, West Seneca, NY

"As educators, we need to rethink our designs of teaching and learning in order to prepare our students for a more advanced technological future. Using a virtual PLC model for professional development directly aligns districts with the type of learning students should be involved in. I envision Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities as a pioneer, forging the way for virtual PLC's all over the world."

Jennifer W. Ramamoorthi, Building Assistant
Community Consolidated School District 59, Mount Prospect, IL
Key features
  • Provides a cost-effective alternative to face-to-face professional learning that is much-needed at a time when PD budgets are tight and districts continue to increase in size.
  • A practical, hands-on guide to creating and sustaining Virtual Learning Communities that lead to enhanced teacher effectiveness and increased levels of student achievement.
  • Reality-based: tells the story of a successful initiative that was enacted across a large, complex urban school district.
  • Grounded in a social-constructivist framework for professional learning -- the Learner - Learner Model.
  • Includes an indispensable planning guide for use by districts as they begin to undertake similar initiatives.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1: The Learner-Learner Model

Preface


For instructors

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ISBN: 9781452276687

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