In the past weeks I've been blessed with times of learning with a variety of PLC groups. Our own WT core teacher education faculty used an open and seeking spirit to come to consensus on structural, procedural, and instructional materials changes for Foundations, Ed. Psych, and Methods courses. The exciting PLC thing is that the learning for WT students was at the heart of our conversations.
That got me thinking--who does benefit from our John G. O'Brien PLC work? Yes, we somewhat abstractly are putting the learning of AISD and other Panhandle K-12 students at the middle of our PLC conversational tables--but in reality, improved learning experiences for our WT students and improved WT faculty efficacy drive what we do.
If you click on the title of this post it will link you to Kennesaw State's (Georgia) journal on professional learning communities. You might find the journal articles related to university student learning communities interesting. What are WE observing about the improvement of learning for our students? I have also included other links for resources.
I also think this might be a good journal for us to pursue as a collective publication PLC group. What do you think?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
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Nancy, you ask an important question, "...who does benefit from our John G. O'Brien PLC work?" I agree with you that improved learning experiences for our WT students and improved WT faculty efficacy should drive what we do. At the same time, to make our efforts more appealing to the wider WT community we should also be able to articulate how our PLC efforts benefit them as well.
ReplyDeleteThis ties in very well with one of the main discussion points during our town hall meeting with President O'Brien...that of student retention. The abstract for the article, "Micro-strategies: Small Steps Towards Improved Retention" by Elizabeth Ann Beaulieu and Lee Burdette Williams in Vol.1 No.1 of April 2006 of JLCR seems to directly speak to this point (I want to read the entire article but 'am unable to access it since we do not subscribe to the journal).
Other articles that interested me were:
"Understanding the Processes and Outcomes Associated with Incorporating Diversity into Learning Community Courses: A Case Study" by Michelle Hansen, Donna Boland, and Joyce Mac Kinnon
"Maximizing Student Success in Learning Communities: Using Common Cognitive Structures as the Basis for Linking Learning Community Courses" by Ruth A. Goldfine
"Productive Shifts: Faculty Growth through Collaborative Assessment of Student Interdisciplinary Work" by Veronica Boix-Mansilla, Harvard Graduate School of Education