“Clicks & Mortar” Schools – Teachers

Collaborate with Moodle

Joan Coy & Wanda DechantPeace Academy of Virtual EducationPeace Wapiti School Division #76Spirit River, Alberta, Canada

Our collaboration using Moodle is a two part story…Part A: The Teachers collaborate…

Public schooling begins

All Students are processed:

in year groupings

at the same rate

through the same pre-set curriculum

through bite sized pieces in the same order

Public School Addresses the Times

Aim is to produce a standardized quality ‘product’

‘Products’ sorted according to whether or not they meet the quality control standards

For most of the 20th century this seemed Okay

most students got the basics

a few went to post secondary

there were many low skill jobs for the ‘production line’ rejects

This is no longer the case!

The World Has Changed

Unprecedented flow of:Innovative ideasTechnologyInformation accessGlobal

communication

What did we want to do?

Teachers in our large rural division work in academic isolation.

Teachers want to collaborate with other teachers in their discipline to bring better learning opportunities to students.

We have created a Moodle site for teacher collaboration and sharing of resources.

How did we start?

Analyzed student performance to identify the need for improvement

Gathered research on teaching strategies for improving student performance

Decided on a collaborative approach with all participating schools

Teacher participation was voluntary

Professional Learning Communities: Basics

Collaboratively create a clear statement of Mission, Vision, Values and Goals

Research best practice with an openness to new possibilities

Dufour & Eaker

PLC Basics

Work interdependently to achieve common goal

Create momentum to fuel further improvement

We must ‘do differently’ if we want to see different results

Efforts are assessed on results rather than intentions. Dufour & Eaker

Your experience with PLCs

Comments on strategies and structures for professional sharing in all settings…

Aligned Improvement

All district teachers working together…

gives a much higher chance of success

Lisa Miller

Learning Communities – Critical Factors

Relationships are the foundation – time is needed to build trust

Respect for time and contributions of each and every member

Teachers need to have ownership of the activities of the community

An atmosphere of openness and acceptance for all members

“Check egos at the door” to allow for real sharing

Do these ideas ring true?

A bit over the top?

Our Site

We use our Moodle Collaboration site to share teaching strategies, lessons, assessments, projects, research, useful web sites, statistical data and math fun.

Works in conjunction with face to face meetings to improve teacher practice and ultimately, student learning.

Effectiveness has impacted students, teachers, administrators and coordinators

Our progress...

An active learning community Focused professional development activities

Creation of innovative lessons, projects, self checks and common unit assessments.

Moodle site to facilitate significant professional sharing and communication.

Our progress...

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Average on Diploma Exam

What PWSD Administrators are saying

“We have been able to collaborate on Differentiation and Assessment FOR Learning. Too often I go to professional development events and come back to the school only to try to catch up what I missed.”

A quote I heard recently addresses this nicely. "I come back ready to climb a mountain and suddenly realize that I am in Saskatchewan.”

What are PWSD Teachers Saying?

“I enjoy working collaboratively with several teachers in focus groups. We are very productive in terms of creating useful tools to use in the classroom to help achieve better results for students.

These are shared and discussed on the Moodle site and keep the work going between meetings. The meetings are timely and consider the effective use of teachers' time.”

Our collaboration using Moodle is a two part story…Part B: We take the collaboration to the students

What are PWSD Students saying?

In an Ideal Classroom, there would be…

A computer for each student On-line notes and self checks Collaborative project work Challenge problems Access to on-line lessons from home A smaller class where group work is allowed

and experiments are done

Meeting Student Needs: How did we start?

Provided laptops for each student, SMART boards, and on-line courses supported by PAVE teachers

Gathered research on teaching strategies for improving student performance

Decided on a collaborative approach with all participating schools

Teacher participation was voluntary

Communication plan

Use the collaboration site to share lessons, strategies, research and assessments and maintain ongoing contact.

PAVE teachers provide ongoing support for implementation of technology and innovation as well as courses developed on the e-community site.

Let’s take a quick look at the sites

Teacher Collaboration Site

Student Community Site

http://collaboration.pwsd76.ab.ca/

http://ecommunity.pwsd76.ab.ca/

Teaching Strategies…

Meeting Student Needs: Social Constructivism

Learners need to actively construct meaning in relating:

what is already known to each other to their own experiences.

Learners See topics as relevant Plan & carry out work collaboratively Practice self assessment Apply concepts to new situations

“Wisdom can’t be told”

Meeting Student Needs: Assessment

Authentic, meaningful and appropriate assessment is apparent throughout the learning environment.

Traditional AuthenticSelecting a Response Performing a TaskContrived Real-lifeRecall/Recognition Construction/ApplicationTeacher-structured Student-structuredIndirect Evidence Direct Evidence

Student Engagement & Differntiation

From Wikipedia…

Students are engaged when they are:

attracted to their work,

persist despite challenges and obstacles,

take visible delight in accomplishing their work.

From How the Brain Learns David Sousa

Summary of the retention of learning

Verbal

Verbal/visual

Hands on

So what is the teacher doing?

The teacher: Guides student learning to meet program of

studies Provides tools students need for learning Promotes collaborative work Intervenes to provide scaffolding Looks to our collaborative community for

support as we try new approaches.

“ The guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage”

What are PWSD teachers saying now? “Students have collaborative hand-in assignments for

which no help is given from me. This means they build their confidence using self checks, the on-line course and each other. This is something new I am trying and it works!”

“I would never have tried this new approach – blending classroom and on-line materials without the support of our learning community.”

“Students are:becoming aware of their strengths, becoming aware of their weaknesses, and, in short, becoming aware of their own

learning.”

What are PWSD students saying now?

In class, I was happy we had…

“on-line resources complete multiple attempts at self checks.”

“the opportunity collaborate on hand-ins and work out problems with our classmates instead of always relying on the teacher.”

“different ways of looking at the lessons and different ways of learning.”

What are PWSD students saying now?

In class, I was happy we had…

“a SMART Board in the classroom that was a more interactive way to understand everything.”

“challenge problems to help to achieve a better idea of what you are doing.”

“more real life applications. Just because we are in Pure Math doesn't mean we shouldn't be taught concepts that are applicable in the real world.”

Questions?