RSA #5 Transformative Learning

Online Resource #1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lATlzSQaNts&feature=related

Online Resource #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoRiCllMrdU&feature=related

By: Bridget Heenan

February 21, 2011

            Past practices in education have involved informative learning which can be seen in a traditional school setting.  In the age of technology, transformative learning is becoming the norm.  When hearing the term informative learning one may think of information being passed on to one another.  When hearing the term transformative learning one may think of what the word transforms means and conclude that transformative learning may mean to change how learning takes place.  One meaning of transformative learning is as follows, “transformative learning to refer to learning that is based on reflection and on the interpretation of the experiences, ideas, and assumptions gained through prior learning.” (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, p.185).  What I believe is being said by this quote is that one must be active member of their learning process by asking questions to further explore the concept at hand so that it becomes relevant to oneself.  Something becomes relevant to a person they have prior knowledge and or experiences involving the concept at hand. 

            When something becomes relevant to the learning a deeper level of learning has taken place, than just telling someone the information that they need to learn.  According to Cdub4086 he explains that informative learning’s field of study is a topic or subject area and the outcome of this type of learning is knowledge and transformative learning’s field of study is about human beings more specifically, you, whose outcome is power and freedom. (Cdub4086, 2009)  I think the main thing that Cdub4086 was trying to get across about transformative learning was that it is about the individual learner making the learning relevant to them; therefore, they gain power and freedom involving the given concept at hand.

            A running theme involving transformative learning is that it is about you, the individual learner.  One more online source confirms that for me.  Transformative learning takes place when one makes the learning process all about them, meaning you the individual learner.  Transformative learning can take place when you challenge yourself to learn, question, and understand the concept at hand at a deeper level.  Transformative learning takes place when you think about what you are learning, when you actively engage yourself in the learning experience, when you question what you are learning, and when you reflect on what you have learned and why you learned it. (Mason, 2010)  I believe that Mason’s four main aspects of transformative learning is to think, engage, question, and reflect on what you are learning. 

            Overall, all three resources have one main common theme and that is that transformative learning is all about you, the learner.  In order for the learning to be all about you, one must become active within their learning process.  In a World where technology and learning online is starting to become a norm people must become more active with their learning by using the internet resources to help ensure that transformative learning takes place instead of informative learning. 

References

Cdub4086. (2009, July 12).  Informative learning vs transformative learning [Video].  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lATlzSQaNts&feature=related.

Mason, Shane. (2010, April 29).  Transformational learning – My initial thoughts [Video].  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoRiCllMrdU&feature=related.

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2007).  Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Boss.

RSA #4 Blended Learning on the Rise

Online Resource:

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=1667

By: Bridget Heenan

February 7, 2011

Within the past decade K-12 online learning programs have evolved across the United States as well as in other countries.  “An extrapolation of these figures estimates that approximately 700,000 students for the entire population of 48,000,000 public school students were enrolled in online and blended learning courses.” (Picciano & Seaman, 2007, p.9)  The survey and research results conducted by Picciano and Seaman allowed for them to predict how many students were enrolled in online or distant learning programs based off of the percent of their sample population.  Therefore, this number is not one-hundred percent accurate but it does allow others to see a glimpse of roughly how many current public education students were enrolled in an online or distant learning course within the United States. 

As the number students enrolled in online and blended education it makes one wonder, “what is the educator’s role in this fairly new learning environment?”  Palloff and Pratt discuss the role of the instructor for online and blended learning environments.  The instructor becomes more of a facilitator that monitors the student’s progress as well as encourages the students through their discussion boards and emails.  Not only is the role of the instructor important once the class is in session but the instructors duties before the class starts is also crucial.  The instructor must create the syllabus with having the end in mind in order to create a good course.  The instructor should create the syllabus for the course by following four basic steps: “(1) defining outcomes and objectives, (2) choosing appropriate reading material, assignments, and tasks, (3) establishing a topic-driven course outline, and (4) developing and aligning assessment of activities with outcomes and objectives.” (Palloff&Pratt, 2007, p. 130)  Once the syllabus is developed the instructor should take that first week to describe the expectations of the course in detail so that there are no misunderstanding and most importantly remember that it is okay to include humor within the course.     

The number of teachers that have been trained to create a syllabus and set up an online or blended K-12 class as increased over the years.  In fact, online and blended education seems to be a growing trend within the last decade.  Picciano and Seaman mentioned in their article that Illinois is one of the few states that have a K-12 virtual education program.  Since Illinois has a virtual education program I decided to research the programs in Illinois.  I found this blog article that discusses Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS) and Youth Connection Charter School (YCCS) that discusses their approach as more of a student-centered approach where the teachers help monitor the student progress and help the students become aware of their learning styles.  (Palloff&Pratt, 2007)  Both of these schools use an online education program by K¹² Inc which involves a student-centered approach.  This company is one of the biggest curriculum providers for virtual education schools for grades K-12.  “CVCS is one of a growing number of schools that have adopted a blend of face-to-face and online instruction, an approach that appears to be paying off: Despite serving many poor and minority students, the school made Adequate Yearly Progress in 2008 and 2009 and has posted considerable gains in both reading and math, becoming one of the 147 public schools in Illinois to win an Academic Improvement Award.” (Ohler, 2011)  Those are tremendous accomplishments given the high demands of No Child Left Behind and schools having to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in which very few schools have made AYP within the last several years.  I believe for this particular blended online schooling program making AYP in 2009 says a lot for the rigor of the curriculum and the semi self-paced online learning environment.

Educators are not only concerned with AYP and finances but they are also concerned about their students’ progress.  Every educator essentially has the same goal and that is for their students to be successful academically and in their future.  However, sometimes in order for a student to be successful when it comes to academics they may need to take a less traditional route to be successful such as the K¹² online curriculum program.  Some students will never be successful in a traditional setting because they are too busy trying to keep their reputation.  This is where I see having the students work from home four days and meet their instructor face-to-face once a week on a college campus might be more beneficial.  As research has shown in both Picciano and Seaman’s survey results from across the United States as well as the reports from Ohler on CVCS and YCCS goes to show that online education programs are successful and increase throughout nation.         

            Overall, after reading, researching, and going through K¹²’s sample lesson plans I think that the blended online module could be the norm for K-12 education within ten years.

References

Ohler, J. (2011, January 21).  Blended learning on the rise. [Web log comment].  Retrieved from http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=1667

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2007).  Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Boss.

Picciano A. & Seaman J. (2007).  K-12 online learning: A survey of U.S. school district administrators.  Retrieved from http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/K-12_Online_Learning.pdf         

RSA #3 Building Social Presence

Online Resource 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VGM-G_7mQ0&feature=related

Online Resource 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUebJhGXKmo&feature=related

By: Bridget Heenan

2/3/2011

            Creating a social presence in an online learning environment is crucial in order for one to have a successful learning experience.  Social presence is when a person makes themselves seem “real” to others in the online learning community.  When a person establishes social presences within an online learning community they are not just interacting with the group by posting comments but they actually feel as if they are part of a community where others gain insight on one’s character (Palloff & Pratt, 2007).  It is not solely up to the student in the online learning community to create social presence but it is up to the instructor of the course to allow for an opportunity for students to create their social presence within the online learning environment.  The instructor can do this by allowing for an opportunity for students to introduce themselves online before the class starts as well as creating threaded discussion boards for all members to participate in.  The instructors have slightly different roles and duties when it comes to online courses. 

Instructors and facilitators should act as “playground monitors” or gentle guides while participants “play in the sandbox,” developing the norms and rules as they go.  Facilitators and participants must become equal partners in the development of an online community, as it is the participants who are the experts when it comes to their own learning. (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, p. 22-23)       

            If the instructors and the participants in the online learning community take on equal roles than the students will feel more open to share their thoughts with everyone online.  Instead of feeling as if they were being judged every time they posted something within the online learning environment. 

            Palloff and Pratt are not the only ones that support the instructor and the students to take on an equal partnership within the online learning community.  I found two videos on You Tube by 2turtlerun that supports the idea of equal partnership as well as making sure the instructor allows time for the students to create a social presence. 

            The two You Tube videos explicitly states how the instructor should or could set up their online class, so that students can establish social presence.  One of the suggestions on how to create social presence is to have a designated spot for student bibliographies where they can post pictures and other personal information that the students would like to share with their online learning community in order to establish a social presence. (2turtlerun, 2009 November)  In part II of the You Tube videos it discusses that the instructor should also share some personal information with the students to establish a positive social presence for all.  In order to make sure that the instructor is encouraging a positive social presence the instructor should participate in the discussion boards in a limited positive manner which was also suggested by Palloff and Pratt.  Part II of the video emphasizes that the instructors should also respond immediately to students emails and projects.  An instructor may provide feedback with humor as well; however, to let the student know that one is using humor the instructor should use smiley faces or LOL. 

            An online instructor does not want to use too much humor that the students do not take them serious; therefore, when giving feedback the instructor could also use a strategy suggested within the video called love sandwiches.  Love sandwiches allow for the instructor to start their feedback with a positive comment, then critique the student’s work giving positive constructive criticism, and then ending with another positive comment this allows for a positive social presence to be established between the instructor and the student.

     Overall establishing a positive social presence is one of the most important aspects of having a positive online learning community experience.  Palloff, Pratt, and 2turtlerun give many similar suggestions for creating a social presence on the student’s part as well as the instructor helping to facilitate that students have the opportunity to create a positive social presence within the online learning community.

References

2turtlerun. (2009, November 27).  Social presence: how to facilitate it, part I [Video].  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VGM-G_7mQ0&feature=related.

2turtlerun. (2009, December 03).  Social presence: how to facilitate it, part II [Video].  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUebJhGXKmo&feature=related.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007).  Building online learning communities: effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

RSA # 2 Learning Communities and What is a, “Professional Learning Community”? by Rick DuFour

Online Resource:  http://www.allthingsplc.info/pdf/articles/DuFourWhatIsAProfessionalLearningCommunity.pdf

By:  Bridget Heenan

1/29/2011

            The readings from this week focused on community outcomes by improving teaching, learning, understanding, and evaluating the growth and expertise of community members.  I am going to focus on summarizing improving teaching, learning, and understanding.  I will compare and contrast Martin-Kniep’s view of these topics with those of Rick DuFour.    

            Martin-Kniep discusses in chapter six, “Participants who focus on student learning delve deeper into curriculum, instruction, and assessment work related to students.” (Martin-Kniep, 2008, p.113).  The first thing that teachers of a PLC need to focus on when trying to improve student achievement is the curriculum.  Teachers want to discuss if their current curriculum is “good”.   If the teachers feel that they do not have a “good” curriculum then they need to discuss what they can do to make it a “good” curriculum for their students.  Once the teachers have discussed and created a “good” curriculum they are going to want to discuss their teaching strategies and assessment tools. 

            It is not good enough for the teachers in a PLC to say that their students have or have not mastered a concept instead they actually need to discuss and create a good assessment tool.  Martin-Kniep mentioned that some methods for assessment might involve creating templates, discussing criteria, and or creating rubrics.  It is important for the PLC to discuss specific components of a rubric and how it would be scored.  These methods of assessment will allow for a deeper understanding of what the students have mastered and allow for teacher reflection.

            Martin-Kniep is not the only one that thinks that professional learning communities should focus on student achievement, so does Rick DuFour.  “When teacher teams develop common formative assessment throughout the school year, each teacher can identify how his or her students performed on each skill compared with other students….Each teacher has access to the ideas, materials, strategies, and talents of the entire team.”  (DuFour, 2004, p. 10)  DuFour is discussing common assessment and using a method to check student success.  DuFour does not give specific methods for grading the students work like Martin-Kniep suggested using a rubric.  A common grading rubric would also help in my opinion along with the discussion of the teaching strategies used from each member of the team.  “Teachers work in teams, engaging in an ongoing cycle of questions that promote deep team learning.  This process, in turn, leads to higher levels of student achievement.” (DuFour, 2004, p.9).  It is important to see where the students made mistakes and their level of mastery but it is also important be able to discuss and question the content covered and the teaching tactics used by all members.  If the concepts that were missed were crucial to the curriculum then it would be worth re-teaching using one of the other team member’s strategies perhaps.   

            Collaborating with a team of teachers about student achievement is crucial in the education field if all educators are serious about helping all students learn.  Two of the most important concepts that I took from both readings was that teachers need to be willing to discuss their teaching strategies as well as the results from the common assessments.  Creating a “good” curriculum that allows for teachers to develop common assessments that can be used as a reflection tool for the teachers will help student achievement.  The teachers can reflect on how many students mastered a concept, what teacher had the greatest success rate with their student’s achievement, and what teaching strategies were successful.  All of the previously stated components allow for teacher improvement as well as increasing student achievement. 

References

Martin-Kniep, G. (2008).  Communities that Learn, Lead, and Last.  San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

DuFour, R. (2004).  What is a “Professional Learning Community”?  Educational Leadership.  Retrieved from http://www.allthingsplc.info/pdf/articles/DuFourWhatIsAProfessionalLearningCommunity.pdf

RSA #1 Implementing PLC's and Rick DuFour Groups vs Teams

Online Resource:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hV65KIItlE

By:  Bridget Heenan

1/22/2011

            The readings from this week focused on the main components of starting a Professional Learning Community (PLC) and how to assess the PLC’s standing with their goals along with how to facilitate the PLC so that the Professional Learning Community will last.  Since there were three main topics discussed within the textbook and the online assigned reading I decided to focus on just one part to the reading and that is the formation of the teams.

            In the textbook reading the author discusses how to form the PLC team as well as what the role of members within the team should entail.  The following are just small pieces of what Martin-Kniep discussed about PLC teams being formed and the members roles.  “Holds all members accountable for what they know and for what they are trying to understand.”  “They can share questions, ideas to be tested, and projects in the making.  In other words, the professional learning community is a place to belong.”  “Each member sees himself or herself not only as a professional, rigorously investigating his or her own practice, but also as a colleague helping others document and refine their practice.” (Martin-Kniep, 2008)

            In the online reading Professional Learning Communities: Sustaining School Improvement discusses the so called, “key elements” for a professional learning community.  I would like to focus on what the key elements of the PLC are according to this article because it relates to implementing the PLC.  “In a professional learning community, teachers and administrators (1) share a vision focused on student learning, (2) share leadership and decision making, and (3) work and learn together as they continually examine instructional practices – all of which are supported by strong personal and professional relationships, time for collaboration, and good communication.”  (Professional Learning Community: Sustaining School Improvement, 2003).

            If felt that both of these readings focused on people working together to accomplish the same goal so I decided to research some youtube videos on PLC’s and some of the founders of PLC’s that were listed in Martin-Kniep’s book.  I found a video by Rick DuFour who was one of the Founders of Professional Learning Communities at Stevenson High School and within the education field.  Rick DuFour discusses the difference between being in a group and being in a team.  Rick DuFour uses a sports analogy to express the difference between groups and teams. 

            After reading the textbook and the online article and watching the Rick DuFour video on groups vs teams I think that Rick DuFour describes being part of PLC in a more meaningful way than the two readings.  There are difference in the sense that Martin-Kniep says that PLC allows for people to feel a sense of belonging and Rick DuFour mentions that just belong to something does not mean you are part of a team that is working together to accomplish the same goal.  I felt that the online article was more on the same page as Rick DuFour. I agree with Rick DuFour that if you really want to see results then the PLC’s needs to take on the roles and responsibilities of team and not a group.

                       

References

Martin-Kniep, G. (2008).  Communities that Learn, Lead, and Last (77-110).  San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL).(2003). Sustaining school improvement: Professional learning community, 1 – 4. Retrieved from http://www.mcrel.org/PDF/LeadershipOrganizationDevelopment/5031TG_proflrncommfolio.pdf

DuFour, R (Creator).  Solution Tree (Poster) (2009, October 9).  Solution Tree: Rick DuFour on Groups vs. Teams [Video] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hV65KIItlE

Solution Tree: Rick DuFour on Groups vs. Teams

Four Blocks of a Professional Learning Community