My Professional Masters of Education Learning Journey

 Why and What informed my PLC choice? The Higher Ed Learning Collective is a community of global educators (36 000 members and growing) that are working to build a more connected future. This is a community of educators that have been thrown into the current reality of education platforms through the pandemic. The goal of this community is to provide support to educators through the abrupt transition from a face-to-face learning to online and remote learning contexts. The community started in March of 2020 and continues to engage in the sharing of ideas and problem solving. From what I have learned as a new member, the community gathered with a short term intention, and over a year later, they are still actively engaged. This community is of interest to me due to one of my current responsibilities, serving as the Principal of our Division's online learning school. We have approximately 140 students, from Kindergarten to Grade 8, that are in this remote learning platform due t

 Online PLC's Do They Really Work? "For more than a decade practitioners have promoted professional learning communities (PLCs) as an effective structure for providing teachers with professional development" (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009; DuFour, Eaker, & DuFour, 2005 as cited by Blitz, C., 2013, p.1). Traditional face-to-fact professional learning communities maintain logic model characteristics of inputs, outputs and outcome, As noted in the reading by Blitz, "Notably missing from current work on online PLCs are logic models that can bridge the gap between the abstract theorizing that is characteristic of current work on online PLCs and the clear operationalization of their inputs, outputs, and outcomes" (Blitz, C., 2013, p.3). According to Blitz (2013), "the absence of logic models impedes not only the translation of ideas and goals into practice but also the ability of researchers and practitioners to rigorously evaluate online PLC

 What is the point? For this assignment we are asked to write about: why we selected the context of professional practice that you did what professional contributions you hope to make in that professional space how these spaces can contribute to your growth as a professional how they can serve as a place for you to provide leadership. Then we are asked to: think about what mode of communication best suits the space analyze the web site for clues as to the practice of the site’s participants Specifically; What type of curricular design commonly guides planning, instruction and evaluation? Then, we are asked to write out an analysis. I think I am developing a better understanding for the Why of this assignment....I would like to invite you to stay tuned :)

Finding a Good Fit PLC Yesterday I explored a variety of online PLC platforms to determine which might be of interest to me and connected to my context of practice. Through my search, I came across three PLC networks. The first PLC network of interest came from my Facebook account and is called, Higher Ed Learning Collective and in my LinkedIn account I noticed three additional PLC networks.  Today I received permission to join the Higher Ed Learning Collective and managed to draft my first post. The three PLC networks I requested access to via LinkedIn are: 21st Century Education, Teacher Training and Education, and Love for Learning: Motivation, Positive Psychology, Education, School Psychology.  I will share more about my post to Higher Ed Learning ongoing...  

Connecting to Professional Learning Communities (e-Journal & PLC interactions) The purpose of this module is to select a professional learning community that relates to my context of practice. We are to identify the professional contributions we hope to make in that professional space, and to indicate how these spaces can contribute to our own professional growth, and how they can serve as a place to provide leadership. I will try to collect information and insights from the members of my identified PLC related to the theoretical foundations in this course including, conceptions of curriculum, philosophical foundations, curricular designs, planning, instruction and assessment. This blog will be the place where I journal about my comments, responses or in places where I have initiated discussion.