Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities

By: Sonja Hollins-Alexander

Based on the experiences of a large, urban district, this guide shows how to build an effective online professional development program that incorporates peer-to-peer learning.

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781452276663
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2013
Page Count: 120
Publication date: May 15, 2013

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Description

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

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 ofa successful initiative that was enacted across a large, complex urban school district.
Grounded in a social-constructivistframework forprofessional learning -- the Learner - Learner Model.
Includes an indispensable planning guide for use by districts as they begin to undertake similar initiatives.

Author(s)

Sonja Hollins-Alexander

Sonja Hollins-Alexander is the associate vice president, content advisor, and scholar for Corwin Publishing. She has been in the field of education and publishing for thirty years with sixteen of those being in educational leadership at the school, district, and higher education levels, and eight of those being in educational consulting and publishing. During this time, she has served as a school social worker, teacher, assistant principal, principal, coordinator, director of professional learning, and chief of staff, serving in two Metro Atlanta, Georgia, school districts. She continued her profession beyond K–12 as a senior consultant for professional development firms and independently. She has also served on numerous United Way nonprofit boards and served as the board president for Learning Forward Georgia and as a member of the National Affiliate Leadership Council for Learning Forward.

Through her professional journey, she has had experiences in strategic planning, policy development, stakeholder communication and engagement, instructional and curriculum design, facilitation of adult learning strategy, executive leadership coaching, and conference fFacilitation and design, and has served on numerous quality assurance teams with Cognia school accreditation and certification organization. She is a Corwin author of Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities and coauthor of Collective Equity.

Sonja holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in social work, a teaching certificate in middle grades language arts, a specialist’s degree in educational administration and leadership, and a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction. She is committed to partner engagement and implementation of evidence-informed sustained professional learning services that positively impact teaching and learning—not by chance but by design.

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

Reviews

"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