Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities

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

Table of Contents:
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

About the Author :
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.

Review :
"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." "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."