Talk:Unit 1: PLC Characteristics

Propper Comments for Developmental Tryout

Hi Jackie,

I love the focus of your mini-course, especially because PLCs are such a hot topic in education recently. And I love that you let us gather information straight from a scholarly article that focuses on PLCs.

One thing I found myself craving as I worked through your first unit - and this might fall under the "engagement and interaction" category in the evaluation criteria - was more of your voice as an instructor. The opening page for this unit seemed to raise a lot of questions without necessarily engaging me in a way that would motivate me to look for the answers - I didn't even know what PLC stood for until I clicked on the article.

Looking at the assessment, I was a little unclear on its scope. Was it asking participants to talk about experiences in their own schools? What if a participant was unemployed? Could your assessment connect more overtly to your article and the Prezi? This might benefit your "instructional sequencing."

I'm excited to see how your mini-course evolves!

Best, Ashley

Response to Ashley Propper -- Jackie Russell (talk) 22:42, 27 April 2015 (EDT)

Thank you, Ashley! I appreciate your feedback and find myself agreeing on every level. With the portfolio work and such it seems like I've been spewing the words Professional Learning Community, but your fresh eyes have helped to pull out the fact that the namely crucial area that is meant to be highly developed and informative is lacking. Do you think I could benefit from including additional readings? Do you think my target audience is too narrow? If a person was unemployed I'm not sure that PLC adoption would be their prime focus, though any suggestions to broaden my assessment is welcome and needed!!

Jackie

Thad's Comments

Hi Jackie,

I just finished the first lesson and I think you are tackling a very important topic. It's new to me, but it seems like a completely new way of organizing and conceptualizing instruction--very exciting! Since it was a new topic for me, I didn't know what I was reading about until the first page--you used PLC on the front (navigation) page, so I wonder if you could include a quick definition and/or description before we get started. This way, I could choose to view your course even if I don't know what a PLC is yet.

This topic is also very broad. You are in a tough spot because you need to relay a lot of information--or do you? Hmm...this is a mini-course, after all, and maybe you have license to pare this topic down to something more basic and easier to implement. I wonder what your vision of a "quick and dirty" PLC might be? A group of teachers who share a subject area? A working group who all teach the same particular, struggling student? This could help you identify some of that "need to know" information, with the trusting hope that teachers can continue to explore this topic on their own. For example, you could focus on the steps that can be taken all alone by the teacher, like identifying collaborators or forming a personal mission statement. You could then direct students through these interactive activities while injecting more of your voice (like Ashley mentioned above). Just a couple ideas...

BTW, was the Prezi supposed to be a video-style presentation? When I clicked in Google Chrome, it appeared to be stuck on "loading" each time and so I could only click through it myself for 60+ slides. Between this and the article you included, I wonder if you could find one to summarize for the learner. I think you could be forgiven for omitting a few of the details if you can get the information across more quickly. But then again, I'm impatient!

Your course is very well-organized and much more user-friendly than mine. I love how you used graphics to organize your work and not just to add interest--I wouldn't have thought to do this. I still have a lot of work to do on mine and you seem well on your way, so cheers to you! Looking forward to the next lesson :)

Thad

Response to Thad -- Jackie Russell (talk) 19:55, 1 May 2015 (EDT)

Thank you for your thoughtful review, Thad!

You've made a lot of great suggestions that I have full intention of acting on. I especially appreciate you letting me know about the issues with the Prezi through Chrome...that would be incredibly obnoxious to deal with as a learner.

I have a ton of resources that give a better overview of Professional Learning Communities that I could include and I will certainly develop an introductory paragraph to orient learners.

PLC's are a broad topic, you're right. My intention is to simplify instruction by presenting an overview of what a PLC is, how it functions, the benefits it yields, as well as the challenges that a team could potentially face.

I appreciate your help with my first unit!

Jackie

-- JRobinWard (talk) 15:47, 3 May 2015 (EDT)

Hi, Jackie.

You have an interesting and necessary topic, here. I think this is definitely one of those elements of education reform that seems to be getting away from people; the term "PLC" is applied to a wide range of groupings and activities and outcomes, and there's not really a consensus on what it means.

To that end, I think that perhaps the readings you include in this section might work better for a second lesson, and whether your first lesson might better be devoted to an introduction to terminology/acronyms and background. I know there were several acronyms in the Prezi that were unfamiliar to me. Also, perhaps you could separate out the readings into separate tasks, with questions specific to each one, to make each seem like a more manageable "chunk" of information.

Another couple of notes on the Prezi: I'm a big fan of Prezi, but as with any presentation media, its content needs to be tailored to its anticipated use. Including a lot of sentence fragments, bullet points, and stand-alone terms works fine when the Prezi is being used to support a face-to-face lecture (or when it has a voiceover/narration). When used in a stand-alone Prezi, these elements are confusing -- I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be getting from them. Also, while I love your use of multimedia, I'm not sure I see the point of the last video (of the young student addressing the district convocation); it's certainly enjoyable, but I'm not sure how it helps the learner understand what needs to be in a PLC. (That might just be me, though...I'm biased against "motivational" teacher videos as I think they tend to be misused by administrators.)

Again, I really think your topic is important, and look forward to seeing where you go next.

Response to Robin -- Jackie Russell (talk) 17:04, 3 May 2015 (EDT)

Thank you, Robin.

I appreciate your thoughtful feedback! I can understand your viewpoint on the confusion of acronyms, but given my needs assessment I feel fairly confident that my target audience (educators and administrators) should have prerequisite knowledge on such terms, with the exception of PLC's. This unit serves to introduce what a PLC is the framework of a group of teachers and/or educational staff, including admin.

I agree with you that effective questioning could be used to help learners reflect upon the readings and direct attention to the important ideas presented, especially in relating that information to the learners' own stance.

I was having a lot of the same issues with the Prezi as you have, Robin. I think I could find a way to present the big ideas surrounding PLCs more explicitly. I agree with you with regress to the video. I liked the ideas presented within the Prezi, but the videos, especially the last one you mentioned didn't accomplish much in terms of what I want learners to take away. Do I want my learners to understand that implementing PLCs can allow teachers to better serve their students and instill confidence through learning? YES! But on the other hand I don't feel that the boy's presentation is powerful in getting that point across. I do like the idea of motivation, but like you, only when it is aligned with the task at hand.

Message to all: I look forward to revising and polishing my mini-course. This activity has been extremely helpful and worthwhile. Thank you!

Instructor comments on your mini-course -- Jz833665 (talk) 12:29, 4 May 2015 (EDT)

Jackie,

I'm pleased to see your project coming to this phase successfully. Your mini-course is well structured and very informative.

You've got very good suggestions from your peers.

Here're a few I'm thinking about:

1) The following objectives are describing activities in the unit. You need to describe that the participants will get out of the activities. Unit 1 will provide you a with a detailed description of what a Professional Learning Community (PLC) is and the advantages to developing a PLC.

Objectives

Learners will read the articles provided

Learners will read and review the Prezi Presentation

Learners will complete the survey to gain insight on their own views regarding PLCs

2) You have provided a few good readings re. LC. In addition to the principles described, can you find some good specific examples/cases of LC, such videos of LC in action, teacher reflection on how they act in LC, etc? Such examples can come early before the more abstract videos, in order to better engage the learner.

3) Your survey is a good strategy. Your current questions focus on multiple choice. You may consider include one or two more thought-demanding, open questions, to report their existing practices, experiences, and reflections.