Online Learning Communities: The Key to Successful Teacher Collaboration

Today we live in a bigger, faster, more knowledgeable world, where people have to collaborate with others in order to reach their best potential. Teachers are no exception. Fortunately, current technology enables teachers to use strategies and tools with one another and out side sources in ways that will increase their effectiveness and productivity (NSDC, 2005). The only way to teach your students to work and live in such an environment is to lead by example. "Teachers who work in collaborative settings and who take the initiative to affect their teaching environment create the same settings for their students-collaborative work and student-initiated activity." (Slowinski, Anderson, & Reinhart, 2001). This means that today's teacher has to collaborate with others in order to provide the best education to his or her students. The best ways to do this is with access to web-based Learning Communities.

The most effective and efficient way to collaborate with other teachers is to use Online School Wide Learning Communities. An Online Learning Community is a place that provides a central location for staff to post information on websites, online discussions, scheduling material, chat, and many other collaborative activities. Organized groups, such as learning communities, provide the support and motivation to solve the problem of meeting today's standards for lesson planning, grading, and presentation (NSDS, 2005). It will create the best learning atmosphere possible for today's student because the teachers are a cohesive, unified group instead of the traditional individual teaching methods. Online Learning Communities also provide a place where staff can post about upcoming conferences, updates on discussions on listservs, detailed information on websites, software reviews, and more (Shultz & Cuthbert , 2005). Learning communities provide feedback to teachers and help clarify ideas (Shultz & Cuthbert , 2005). It is less burdensome for teachers to create and plan everything, since they have peers to consult and share lessons with. The speed and ease of use will facilitate an increase of communication as well as to ensure those ideas, lessons, and collaborative works are more seamless and fluid. Teachers within a building create a community feel with the expansion of sharing ideas and collaborative teaching. Teachers can create a school-wide database of knowledge that others can access at their convenience, instead of waiting for a time that is mutually available. Teachers that are absent from a meeting can still find the information online and not miss important information or dates.

The data shows that teachers that work together create a more seamless and continuous spectrum of learning that is more likely to hit the instructional goals of the school. Virginia's Field based Master Program places emphasis on devising ways for teachers to meet state standards in math and reading using technology. The results were a lesson places developed using technology, incorporating software or technology into existing lessons, promotion of engaged learning, and effective use of the Internet. Teachers that used these resources for brainstorming and research report an increased usage of technology use in their classrooms. Teachers stated that they had "meaningful engagement with colleagues and materials, it was effective in increasing their ability to appropriately use educational technologies within teaching" (O'Shea, P & Curry-Corocran, 2000).

Even though the teachers are the ones doing the communication at these schools, students benefited. "Teachers who work in collaborative settings and who take the initiative to affect their teaching environment create the same settings for their students-collaborative work and student-initiated activity." (Slowinski, Anderson, and Reinhart, 2001). The more extensively involved teachers were in professional activities, such as collaboration with others and involvement in online learning communities, the more likely they were to use computers in varying ways. These teachers have more effective computer involvement with their students' activity than teachers who fail to participate within their professional community. That said, with access to current technology, teachers that are more active in their school environment are in a position to help other teachers become more accomplished in the area of using computer technology in their teaching (Becker & Reil, 2000).

In addition, 'support' teachers (Special Education Teachers, Reading Specialists, Technology Education Teachers, Physical Education Teachers, and others) can access curriculum and adapt their lessons to make them complimentary to those being taught in the general education classroom. Special Education teachers have long had to collaborate with others for Multidisciplinary and Individualized Education Teams- there is a strong need for a different type of collaboration. For example, Special Education teachers are now facing an increased demand to have content expertise in areas such as math and science. ( Salyer , 2002). The nature of diverse school populations , growing thrust for integrated curriculum, and increasing numbers of identified disabilities require expertise across traditional boundaries. (Salyer, 2002). The use of Online Learning Communities can help 'support' teachers learn and gather information from their peers on how to have effective collaboration in all areas of the curriculum.

Online learning community software and their accompanying tools are also an important part of the collaborative experience and imperative for its success. Common learning environments and web-based tools include: Moodle, Blackboard, Tapped-In, Teacher web and Think.com ( Sky-McIlvian, E. ,2004) .Many of these provide a place for collaboration between teachers and have a variety of options available for school-wide use. Some require purchasing software and come with web components, while others can be downloaded from the Internet. In addition to what is available from Microsoft and Macintosh, email distribution software available includes Moose, Eudora, and Hotmail. Poll and survey software can also play a part in communication in a school environment. Common poll software available is Pulsepoll.com, PollMonkey.com, and www.questionpro.com/poll-software.html. The use of online polls and surveys can quickly lead to a group consensus among staff members, students, community members, or parents without having to gather everyone in a single location and particular time.

San Diego State University researched the effects of technology on student teachers and school-wide collaboration. They found that future teachers also benefit from the use of technology enhanced collaboration during their student teaching. In addition, it was discovered that both the student teacher and the mentor teachers experienced a higher level of competency and efficiency in using technology as an instructional tool (Pohan & Dieokmani, 2005). It was determined that Web-based collaboration at the student teaching level has the potential to better future educational practices at the K-12 level. Another result of the project was that the teachers and student teachers developed a bond and extended their learning beyond the boundaries of the project for the sake of learning from each other (Pohan & Dieokmani, 2005).

Another example of an Online Learning Community that benefits the students from the teacher education level is the partnership between NASA and Math Methods Faculty. NASA offers partnerships for PK-12 teachers that involve access to NASA's real world application into math methods coursework that can be applied by the teachers in their classrooms. Through the collaboration that can arise between Pre-K-12 education environments the possibilities toward supporting NCTMs principal of the use of technology in teaching and learning (Crawford, 2002). NASA provides several Online Learning Environments developed by scientists, educators, engineers , and other professionals with the goal of supporting education that helps students learn how to apply mathematics taught in classrooms PrK- 12 to the real world (Crawford, 2002) .

Yet, the biggest question to making Online Learning Communities accessible to all teachers is a lack of available technology. School systems and the surrounding communities need to make it a priority to make sure that technology is available and updated for their teachers. Many teachers are not aware of the value of Online Learning Communities or others know that they exist, but are unable to access them due to in adequate tools and resources. It is imperative that local businesses, school systems, large corporations, and the community as a whole work together to make sure that technology is available for teachers to use , those who benefit most are our future leaders: our students.

Teachers within a school infrastructure need a way to developing their practices and curriculum that allow them to take advantage of collaborative computing so that the curriculum and technology co-evolve in a productive manner (Dunlap, Neale, & Carroll, 2000). "The move from paper to technology based communication is perhaps the most evolutionary step yet for school entering the 21^st Century (Sky-McIlvian, 2004)". Our students need to be prepared for that step and, as teachers; it is our responsibility to make sure that we are leading the way by example since it is imperative that today's student can use the technology around them to communicate and collaborate- their teachers should be leading the way.

References

Becker, J, Reil, M. (2000) Constructivist-Compatible Computer Use, Teaching, Learning, and Computing: 1998 Survey. Report #7, http://www.crito.uci.edu/tlc/findings.html

Crawford, C. Brown, E., Chilelli, C. (2002) Mathematical Treat from the Stars: I Integrating Curricular Elements through Partnerships between NASA and Math Methods Faculty International Conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, March 18-23 , 2002

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/80/27/c4/da.pdf

Dunlap, R Neale, D., Carroll, J (2000) Teacher Collaboration in a Networked Community. Educational Technology &Society Vol. 3 No.3 from http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2000/f02.html

National Staff Development Council, NSDC Standards: Collaborationskills from http://www.nsdc.org/standards/collaborationskills.cfm

O'Shea, P. & Curry-Corcoran, (2000) D. ACTT Now: A collaboration Reshaping Teacher Technology Training, TechTrends, Vol 47. Issue 3 pg 16-19

Pohan, C., Dieokmani, J. (2005) Preservice Partnerships Create Classroom Leaders Learning and Leading with Technology Vol. 33 no.2 pg 22-24

Salyer, B. , Curran, c., Thyfault.A (2003) No Child Left Behind :The vital role of Rural Schools. Annual National Conference on Rural Special Education . (ACRES) March 7-9 2002 http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/80/0d/d2/9c.pdf

Shultz, G., Cuthbert, A. ,(n.d.) Teacher Professional Development & Online Learning Communities. Berkley University Center for the Study of Critical Transitions website, http://kie.berekley.edu/transitions/teacherPD.html

Sky-McIlvian, E. (2004) E-paper or plastic?: A review of tools for Teacher-Created Web Pages Retrieved On Jan 19^th,2005 from http://www.leastern.com/workshops/butnotleast/OnlineTools/webcontentcompare.html

Slowinski, J, Anderson T., and Reinhart J. (2001) Can web based collaboration Reform Education? Technos Quarterly Vol. 10 ,No.3 http://www.teachnos.net/tq_10/3slowinski.htm