Online Professional Learning Communities
Online Professional Learning Communities for 200 Five-Unit Mathematics Teachers
Online Professional Learning Communities for 200 Five-Unit Mathematics Teachers
As five-unit mathematics classes become larger and more diverse, mathematics teaching is shifting to attempt to address the abilities and difficulties of each student. At present, a growing number of teachers are seeking tools and methods based on analyzing student understanding, that will enable them to be able to respond to the needs of every student.
In the last few years the foundation has supported the development of diagnostic assignments, which help teachers diagnose student thinking, learning and mistakes, and help them to respond and give feedback to the students. Even though hundreds of mathematics teachers use these diagnostic tools, alongside them they continue to use many traditional assignments, particularly for tests and homework assignments. When using regular assignments, teachers are still lacking tools for evaluating student understanding and providing precise feedback that will advance student learning.
In response to this need, the Center for Educational Technology (CET) approached us and proposed to develop an online database of evaluation tools for five-unit mathematics teachers. We suggested that an ideal way to leverage such a database in order to reach as many teachers as possible could be through a virtual professional learning community of teachers. This is a timely development, since the Ministry of Education, which is currently developing standards, policy and a funding framework to sustain and expand the operation of professional communities, is seeking to establish virtual PLCs. We proposed that CET develop a program in which teachers would build their own evaluation tools in a virtual community. The community structure would mean that teacher members would test the evaluation tools in their classrooms and report back to the community, providing feedback based on practice from the field.
CET are proposing to develop two online professional learning communities for 200 five-unit mathematics teachers that will meet online for 60 hours per year, for two years. The Ministry of Education will recognize teacher participation as professional development, and will provide (fund) three instructors for the communities.
The first stage will be dedicated to recruiting a team of mathematics teachers (former teacher community leaders) who will develop a small database of 40 products of student work and various analyses of this work. They will build a guide for checking, evaluating and assessing student understanding, and providing clear feedback for advancing the students’ learning. They will then go on to establish one professional community for 100 teachers and a second community in the second year of the program.
These 200 teachers will bring evidence from their class, will discuss their practice, their feedback for students, and will advance their clinical teaching together. In addition, over the course of the program, they will build other evaluation tools and add another 80 student products, adding them to a large database of 120 products in total, which will be available to all teachers in the online communities, and the wider professional community of mathematics teachers.
* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 284