Understanding PLC's Online ~ PME 810 My e-Journal - Entry #7

 Understanding PLC’s Online

Most of the current literature reflects the understandings of PLC’s in their traditional, in-person, modality. There is no clear guidance on how to set up an effective online PLC and most recommendations come from the traditional forms and structures.

So… what are the benefits and challenges of the online professional learning community in comparison to the traditional in-person PLC?

PLC teams progress through phases, starter, developing, and mature (Blitz, C., 2013). In the early stages, the team will organize by defining roles and responsibilities. determining goals of the collaboration, and the data that will be collected to inform ongoing decision making. As the team matures, “they turn to issues related to learning results and best practices for effective PLCs, such as shared values and visions of learning, shared norms, and shared (or distributed) leadership” (Blitz, C., 2013, p.5).

The online PLC environment:

Advantages:

·Provides a flexible environment where participates can join when and from where is suits their needs.

·Promotes teachers’ self-reflection about learning and instructional practices, while providing a free and comfortable space to communicate and problem solve around challenges.

Challenges:

• Decreases motivation for teachers to engage and contribute with their peers in an ongoing basis.
• Increase in feelings of “professional isolation” (Hawkes & Good, 2000, as cited in Blitz, C., 2013, p.9).
•  Can raise the level of concern for teachers’ capacity to use and access the technology needed to support the learning environment.
•  Requires understanding and training with technology use.
• Can provide a large amount of material and information that is challenging to synthesize and understand.

As I reflect on my experience in joining the Higher Ed Learning Collective PLC I can personally relate and make connections to the above-mentioned advantages and challenges noted in the article,Can Online Learning Communities Achieve the Goals of Traditional Professional Learning Communities? What the Literature Says, (Blitz, C., 2013).

As an adult learner, I fully appreciate and value the flexibility of an online – asynchronous - platform. I work full time and have a family, and as such benefit from flexibility and options for accessing further learning and collaboration. I can also say that it creates space for professional self-reflection about learning and instructional practices with a like minded, and diverse group of educators.

Likewise, I have realized some of the challenges noted in the article by Blitz. Of note, I can understand how there might be a sense of professional isolation. It is difficult to connect with and collaborate with others when you really do not know who they are “in real time”. The size of this online PLC is very large, which really does not promote opportunities for cohesive, ongoing collaboration. The group has created a variety of hashtags to organize topics and discussions, but this can also be a very overwhelming amount of text to sort through and if you contribute and do not receive any comments or feedback, it can promote a dis-engagement with the group and a drop-off in participation.

In some ways, I feel like I am fishing for a “bite” to my discussion and hoping to hear back from someone in the community. I am a new member to this group so it will take some time to make deeper connections and for participants to even see me in the group.

I will attempt to initiate a discussion and let’s see where that goes! Stay tuned my friends…

Resources:

Blitz, C. L. (2013). Can Online Learning Communities Achieve the Goals of Traditional Professional Learning Communities? What the Literature Says. REL 2013-003. Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic.