RSA #4: Virtual Warrensburg: Using Cooperative Learning and the Internet in the Social Studies Classroom

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            When an instructor creates a class either online or in a classroom, active engagement is the goal in the learning process.  One way to increase active engagement is to increase collaborative learning.  To have this concept become a reality, students according to Palloff and Pratt (2007) must be “clear from the beginning … that we’re all in this together” (p. 159).  One cannot assume that the students simply understand, but instead, they must be guided to the end goal.  A system needs to be created that allows the students to discuss ideas and concepts.  This can be done through a technology tool that allows for collaboration such as a wiki site.  In addition, instructors must establish guidelines that create team member responsibilities and ask for inclusion of real life examples and experiences related to the topic of instruction.  This process also must include feedback between instructor-student and student-student interaction.  These guidelines will help students grow both individually and as a group.

As instructors explore ways to create more engaged learners to meet the goals of skills needed for the workforce, including listening, cooperation, and the ability to make compromises to achieve a common goal, the use of the Internet comes to mind with small group activities and research topics. Scott Scheuerell (2010) suggests, “the use of cooperative learning activities integrated with technology in the social studies classroom to help students develop those skills (p. 195). Making cooperative learning a required component for completion creates an atmosphere of collaboration.  In addition, increasing Internet usage for research and communication will help the students in gaining new information, better research skills and peer collaboration/communication through various technology tools.

With increased use of the Internet and the idea of cooperative group learning to create more engaged learners, certain steps must be followed.  It is a learned process that must have clear and concise guidelines with modeling to help explain for visual learners what is being asked. Also, include team responsibilities that define the role of each person in the group.  If the goal is to increase skills such as listening, the ability to compromise to achieve the common goal, and incorporate the use of technology, create an environment that is conducive to incorporating technology and requires people to be successful with all members of the group working together collaborating and communicating throughout the program.  Create the program so that it cannot be completed without all persons executing their role in the group.

References

Palloff, R., Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. (2^nded.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Scheuerell. S. (2010). Virtual Warrensburg: Using Cooperative Learning and the Internet in the Social Studies Classroom. The Social Studies, 101 (5), 194-199. doi: 10.1080/00377990903493861

RSA #3: A Student’s Guide to Strengthening an Online Community

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When an online community is being created, Palloff and Pratt (2007) state “the development of community as part of the learning process helps create a learning experience that is empowering and rich” (p. 23).  An online course has the opportunity to be an unforgettable experience if the program is created in a way that allows for a social connection between the students and the instructor.  This connection is created when the instructor becomes a facilitator rather than a presenter of information.  In addition, it’s the responsibility of the participants to actively pursue the desired goals and outcomes through peer discussion and collaboration.  This active pursuance results in a deeper, richer understanding of the information being presented in the online class. Another reason for ensuring community development is it’s the “people who are using the machinery that makes the courses go” (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 64).  Without any social interaction, the online course will falter and fail.

            Richard West (2010) states, “Students usually have plenty of experience with online social technologies, but they lack understanding about how to use these tools and methods for course learning” (p. 69). To increase this understanding, students help in the development of an online community by being active collaborators. This will help overcome feelings isolation and helplessness and increase higher order/critical thinking skills.  How does this happen? According to West (2010), what is needed is “learner-learner interaction, learner-content interaction, learner-teacher interaction, and learner-tool interaction” (p. 70).  These interactions promote an online community through facilitated discussions and social interaction between participants.

            Online classes and their advertisements are found throughout the United States: on college campuses, in emails and on television.  The course provides an effective form of instruction that helps students with the issues of driving to campus and time management between work and school.  What the classes do not provide is automatically created online community.   Remember, to create an effective online learning community, students have to be active participants, and the instructor a facilitator of information and guided instruction rather than a director.  These actions done by the students and the instructor help the collaboration grow through the different forms of online interaction, the rules of netiquette, and most of all through the social interactions of being human.

References

Palloff, R., Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: effective strategies for the virtual classroom. (2^nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

West, R. (2010). A student’s guide to strengthening an online community. 54 (5), 69-75. doi: 10.1007/s11528-010-0439-7

RSA#2 Creative leadership: a challenge of our times

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RSA#2 Creative leadership: a challenge of our times

To be a successful PLC, leadership is essential.  The leadership needed, according to Dufour and DuFour, Eaker, and Many (2010), has to “understand that deep reform will require support and pressure” (p. 253).  To gain support, one must realize that leadership is not a solo act.  Widespread leadership is essential for it fosters active involvement and the support of many.   The active involvement allows educators to feel confident to try new ideas and if it fails, they can learn from it rather than feel penalized.  Pressure is also used because leadership must be “flexible on implementation and firm on the essence of the initiative” (p. 256).  One must be receptive to ideas and variations, yet keep the group focused on the goal of increased student learning. A way to keep the group focused is through creative leadership.

Stoll and Temperley state “creative leadership is an imaginative and thought-through response to opportunities and to challenging issues that inhibit learning at all levels.” This allows for “culture and structures, including resources, to help open up possibilities for thinking about things in different ways” (p. 2). This culture of growth is obtained through risk taking, empowerment, confidence, and a sense of urgency.  Risk taking involves a fear of failure.  Failure should not be feared but embraced for it can be learned from.  The resulting lack of fear increases confidence and leads to empowerment and the generation of new ideas and processes.  In turn, this creates more active involvement and “widespread leadership.”

            A PLC is only as good as its leadership.  Without creative leadership, battle lines are drawn and nothing gets accomplished. Creative leadership is needed in all schools for there is a sense of urgency to get the education system to a level where learning can take place for all students.  To accomplish this goal, the educator must learn as well.  The best way to do this is to “learn by doing” (p.266).  Teachers need to take a proactive role and not wait to be asked or assume someone else will do what is needed.  Take the necessary steps and become a creative leader at their level: classroom teacher, grade level team leader, or department head.

References

Dufour, D., Dufour, R, Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work. (2^nd ed.). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

Stoll, L., Temperley, J. (2009). Creative leadership: A challenge of our times. School Leadership & Management, 29 (1), 65-78. doi: 10.1080/13632430802646404

RSA#1: A PLC and Changing School Culture: Using Documentation to Support Collaborative Inquiry

RSA#1: A PLC and Changing School Culture: Using Documentation to Support Collaborative Inquiry

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            A PLC has one purpose: increase student learning by improving educator performance.  There are different arguments on how to achieve this common goal.  One way is for educators to collaborate, and in the book Learning By Doing, Richard and Rebecca Dufour, Robert Eaker, and Thomas Many (2010), stated “the fact that teachers collaborate will do nothing to improve a school (p.119).  The group must be focused on goals they may work as a team and not as a group.  Educators must “work interdependently to achieve a common goal for which members are mutually accountable [or] they are not a team” (p. 153).   The article chosen helps support that collaboration is good and to how make it work.

                The article discusses the use of collaboration to improve student learning by providing guidance to educators through documentation.  According to Heidi Given, Lisa Kuh, Debbie LeeKeenan, Ben Mardell, Susan Redditt, and Susan Twombly (2010), “teachers who engage in collaborative inquiry often struggle with questions about how to define their work, share power, and validate their process.” (p. 2).  The article explains through examples of organized collaboration the use of documentation fixes this problem. In addition to providing the examples it also addresses the “tensions and shifts teachers experience in collaborative work” (p. 3).

            The concept of a PLC has been around for a long time, yet for many schools the implementation seems to be an issue.  Learning By Doing and Changing School Culture helps explain how to deal with the issues and tensions that arise from collaborative processes.  In order to create an environment conducive to learning and to achieve a shared mission and vision, “a collective purpose . . . cannot be accomplished by working alone” (p.139) An organized collaborative system with well defined goals is not an end but a beginning.

Work Cited

Dufour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many T. (2010). Learning By Doing (2^nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Given, H., Kuh, L., LeeKeenan, D.,  Mardell, B.,  Redditt, S., &  Twombly, S. (2010). Changing School Culture: Using Documentation to Support Collaborative Inquiry. Theory Into Practice, Vol. 49 Issue 1, 36-46.  DOI: 10.1080/00405840903435733