Starved For Time: Leave the Pencil and Paper Behind
By Philip Bogendyment
Philip teaches 4th grade at an elementary school in San Jacinto, CA and is presently completing his Masters of Education at California State University East Bay. He is convinced that online teaching and learning is effective and schools should put more effort into developing online programs not just for students, but also for professional development.
Introduction
PLC (Professional Learning Community) is not a new concept, but until recently it was an obscure idea and not well known among educators. PLC is a professional development paradigm shift where the focus is on learning, rather than teaching. In order for the community to have a central focus and strategy, the members need to collaborate, reflect, share weaknesses and strengths, and willingly provide support to one another. PLC demands a great deal of effort from each individual if the PLC is to thrive and succeed. This effort requires a large investment of time, which unfortunately is a commodity that teachers have little to spare. Time to collaborate is one factor for an effective and sustainable PLC, yet it is also a major barrier.
Research shows that effective PLCs increase student learning. So, how do we break the time barrier to help ensure that we develop an effective PLC that endures? As educators, we need to look beyond the traditions of our institution and start embracing technology. Let us put the paper and pencil away, give the face-to-face meeting a break, and join the digital age. By utilizing an online community within our PLC, we can leave the time barrier behind and have an effective and sustainable PLC.
What is a PLC?
According to DuFour (2204), there are three big ideas that comprise a sustainable Professional Learning Community.
1. Ensuring That Students Learn
2. A Culture of Collaboration
3. Focus on Results
The idea behind PLC is that everyone – who has contact with the students in an educational context – work together to support the students and help them master their learning. Gone are the days of autocratic teachers teaching in isolation behind closed doors.
God didn’t create self-contained classrooms. We did, because we find working alone safer than working together (DuFour, 2004).
A Personal Experience
It is Friday afternoon and I sit in another teacher’s classroom. The students have gone home and we are having one of our bi-monthly PLC collaborations. My mind is wandering, reflecting on the day that just passed with my students. I quickly jot down tasks that I need to take care of before I go home. Let’s see, I must turn the tests in to be scanned, I need to reflect on the week’s worth of lessons that we did and whether the students were successful in reaching the objectives. Oh yeah, do not forget to call the parent regarding the incident on the playground. “Philip, Philip it is your turn to share!†This is a real example of how collaboration takes place in my PLC.
A PLC’s collaboration needs to be ongoing, rather than contrived such as when the school bell rings twice a month. In addition, a learning community must be allowed to go through several stages before it can become effective and satisfy the group’s purpose (National Staff Development Council, 2008). The individuals must get to know each other, feel supported, mutually respected and accepted by the community. The community needs to establish guidelines, and implement procedures that address how to resolve conflicts that will occur.
The Reality is a Barrier
My experience is not unique, and this scene plays out in schools and districts across the country. We have not been given the time to develop a culture of collaboration, but are expected to do so effectively. According to DuFour (2004), the time factor is a barrier to the success and sustainability of a PLC. This barrier needs to be overcome in order for our PLCs to be effective, yet we are allotted three days a month with only one hour to collaborate each session. Teachers at my site want to collaborate, but unless we are given the tools that will afford us the opportunity to do so on our schedule, it is virtually impossible. Collaboration must happen on a consistent basis for a PLC to be effective.
Change is not easy for anyone, and teachers are no exception. If teachers can see the benefit of shifting paradigms through the success of students, they will be more likely to accept change and become active individuals in their professional learning community. The strength of the learning community is dependent on whether the individuals choose to participate (National Staff Development Council, 2008).
Breaking Down the Barrier With Technology
Upper level administrators need to take a long and hard look at why they implemented PLCs in their district. If it is for fluff and they are on the bandwagon today but only believe that “This too shall pass†(DuFour, 2004), then their PLCs will not be effective, nor will they last. However, if the desire is to create effective and sustainable PLCs, they need to rely more on technology for implementing these communities online.
In a nutshell, the individuals of an online community go through the same stages that the National Staff Development Council say is required for PLCs to succeed. They will earn the requisite social capital and develop a social network that will foster participation in their PLC. “Connectivity, reciprocity, trust and warmth, characteristics common in face-to-face teamwork, now have another level of uniqueness when embraced by technology†(Kaur, 2008). An important element in effective online learning communities and PLCs is that the leadership is centralized. The communities need to be facilitated, but top-down leadership will not help foster effective collaboration. The community itself needs to develop the values and vision for it to be effective.
How do Online Communities Break the Barrier?
Day-to-day professional dialogue is the “hallmark of effective learning communities†and community members need to meet on a daily basis (National Staff Development Council, 2008). This is an impossible task to accomplish for many schools using the current design of face-to-face collaboration. It is difficult for teachers to coordinate time every day to meet face-to-face, let alone enough time to have meaningful conversations. However, by setting up an online community, members have access to the community 24/7.
24/7 access is not a daunting task when a content management system (CMS) is used. A CMS will provide all of the necessary tools for creating online communities. If districts would be willing to invest in a CMS, and there are plenty to choose from, they would be providing the teachers with an opportunity to develop an effective and lasting PLC. Quite simply, by using a CMS, members of the community can network, file-share, publish, and collaborate through threaded discussions (Hobgood, 2008).
Threaded discussions are a type of asynchronous communication where there is time between responses. Community members must read and reflect before responding. When facilitated correctly and individuals follow community guidelines, asynchronous discussions foster levels of critical dialogue often not found in face-to-face meetings. This means teachers can read a message or post, think about it throughout the day and reflect on how they will respond. The emphasis here is on quality and critical dialogue, an important element of any learning community looking to succeed. Instead, what we have now are limited blocks of time to collaborate, which only leads to superfluous conversation. An online community will not only give teachers the flexibility to respond on their time, but also at their own place of convenience.
Conclusion
Giving teachers the tools to develop an online community is a smart idea. It breaks the time barrier, blurs the geographical boundaries, and is an effective way to develop a positive and lasting community. This will help teachers to choose to participate instead of feeling forced, and help foster an effective and sustainable PLC.
References
DuFour, R. (2004, May 1). What is a “Professional learning community?” [Schools as Learning Communities]. Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6-11. Retrieved July 18, 2008, from http://www.siprep.org/prodev/documents/PLC.pdf.
Hobgood, B. (2008, June 5). A professional learning community for online learning. In Learning community. Retrieved July 18, 2008, from http://nclearningonline.learnnc.org/index.php/articles/46?task=view.
Kaur, D. (2008, July 1). Unit 2 lecture. In Social capital (CSUEB Edui 6707 Unit 2 Lecture). Retrieved July 1, 2008, from http://bb.csueastbay.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_146247_1&frame=top.
National Staff Development Council. (2008). Collaboration skills. Retrieved July 23, 2008, from http://www.nsdc.org/standards/collaborationskills.cfm.
National Staff Development Council. (2008). Learning communities. Retrieved July 23, 2008, from http://www.nsdc.org/standards/learningcommunities.cfm.