Learning Communities as Continuing Professional Development for Sport Coaches

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael Bertram ◽  
Wade Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Coach Learning ◽  
Sport Coaches

Continuing professional development (CPD) for sport coaches has been defined as all kinds of professional learning that occurs after initial certification (Nelson et al., 2006), and includes both non-formal and informal learning situations. Despite the fact that within the past decade there has been an increasing number of studies on these learning situations, learning communities as a type of CPD have received little attention. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to share initial observations and lessons learned from creating and implementing sport coach learning communities. In addition, this paper extends the dialogue on learning community implementation and assessment. Our learning community efforts were formulated around five key guidelines: (1) Stable settings dedicated to improving instruction and learning, (2) Job-alike teams, (3) Published protocols that guide but do not prescribe, (4) Trained peer facilitators, and (5) Working on student learning goals until there are tangible gains in student learning.

Lessons Learned From the Implementation of a Technology-Focused Professional Learning Community

2012 ◽  
pp. 535-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Bruce Taylor ◽  
Richard Hartshorne ◽  
Sam Eneman ◽  
Patti Wilkins ◽  
Drew Polly
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
College Of Education ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Teaching Professional

In this chapter, “lessons learned” and best practices that have resulted from the implementation of technology-focused professional learning community in a College of Education, as well as recommendations for future implementations are addressed. The Technology & Teaching Professional Learning Community, which was created by faculty in the College of Education at UNC Charlotte, provided professional development to faculty engaged in teaching hybrid and online courses. This was one of several professional development efforts at UNC Charlotte, but one, the authors suggest, that created a safe and effective space for scaffolding instructors less familiar with online learning technologies and tools.

scholarly journals Reimagining Music Teacher Collaboration: The Culture of Professional Learning Communities as Professional Development Within Schools and Districts

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23
Author(s):  
Sharyn L. Battersby
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Collaborative Community

Music educators are continually seeking new ways to better their practice and improve student learning. Professional learning communities are a type of collaborative community that when administered successfully provide a forum for music educators to become active participants in both their own learning and that of their students. While the notion of professional learning communities has been around since the 1990s, they have received renewed attention more recently due to the adaptation and implementation of Danielson’s popular Framework for Teaching, which has been implemented in many school districts across the country. Teachers facing the challenge of reshaping the culture of their music programs and seeing their initiative sustained will devise elements that will become embedded in that (school) culture. Supportive and shared leadership, shared values and vision, and collective learning are just some of the attributes that can contribute to student learning and the professional development of music teachers.

Assessing the sustainability of social studies virtual professional learning communities on social media: a quantitative study of “sense of community”

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Hensley
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Intention To Leave ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate the #SSChat community's recognition of cohesion and shared learning goals within the #SSChat community. Specifically, the author sought to gauge the #SSChat community's “sense of community (SOC) ” (e.g. measuring participants' perceptions of membership, influence, fulfillment of needs and a shared emotional connection related to the community) and sustainability (e.g. information contribution and consumption, self-disclosure and intention to leave the community). Additionally, the author aimed to examine “SOC” as a construct supporting the #SSChat community's sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a quantitative survey research design that was guided by McMillan and Chavis' (1986) SOC theoretical framework. The instrument included two reliable and valid surveys. Descriptive and inferential statics were used to investigate the three research questions.FindingsFindings from this study highlight refinement and reinforcement areas framed using McMillan and Chavis' (1986) SOC theoretical framework to support the continued development and growth of the #SSChat as virtual learning community for social studies education professionals.Originality/valueThere is a dearth of research that investigates the dynamic underpinnings and foundations of informal virtual learning communities for social studies educators and whether they are sustainable. While this study is not the first to investigate the relationship between sustainability and SOC, it does extend previous research by evaluating the specific SOC tenets and their individual relationships to sustainability.

scholarly journals Building Learning Communities in Terms of Improving English Vocabulary through Korean Drama with English Subtitle

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Lida Holida Mahmud ◽  
Tryana Tryana
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
English Teaching ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
And Behavior

The research explored the issues of the English teaching method as a foreign language. The purpose of the study is to improve students’ vocabulary of English. It focused on teaching technique in English vocabulary by using Korean Drama with English sub-title. In particular, it focused on students' feelings and behavior in line with a student’s test result of whether or not the implementation of Korean Drama with English subtitles in English teaching is beneficial for students’ improvement of English vocabulary. The literature review highlighted the connection between teaching methods and building learning community. Since the meaning of building learning communities is broad, the research focused on the motivation in watching Korean drama, it was linked to build learning community in terms of improving English vocabulary. The method employed during the research phase of this project has been done to generate data through questionnaires, interviews, and tests. Since the aim of the research is to see the possibility of Korean Drama in improving students' vocabulary in English, it was important to produce qualitative elicited partly through the use of test results and open questions in questionnaires and interviews. This study employed 70 respondents from the first semester students of the English Department in Universitas Pamulang as samples of the population. From the data analyses, it was found that there are some aspects that should be improved in the project itself such as feedback, support in continuing professional development of lectures and monitoring and also evaluation. From the findings, the research suggests that developing teaching should be in line with a system for fostering teachers to follow up and assist their abilities to sustain professional development independently, might assist in improving student’s competency.

scholarly journals Professional Learning Communities Approach: Implications for Policy and Practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 181-200
Author(s):  
Osama Al Mahdi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Study Groups ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

Over the last decades researching and developing teachers‖ professional development frameworks and practices had underwent a paradigm shift. This shift was driven by the complexities of teaching and learning requirements, an increased necessity for reforming educational systems, and more need for accountability and quality outcomes (Vescio, Ross & Adams, 2007). The main feature of these new approaches is that they shift professional development beyond merely focusing on a teacher‖s simple attainment of knowledge and skills to a framework that requires teachers to deeply reflect on their own practices, to innovate new classroom pedagogy, and authentic understanding and expectations of student outcomes (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995).These new approaches of teacher professional development include a variety of practitioner-based activities such as: peer observation and assessment, working cooperatively on shared projects such as curriculum development or strategy planning, engaging in lesson study groups, conducting action research, and participating in individually guided activities such as online distant learning or academic higher educational programs. When teachers engage in professional development activities that entail sharing questions, finding answers, experimenting practical actions and engaging in a productive dialogue, this may promote their sense of belonging as knowledge workers in their professional learning communities, and this would support them in achieving their learning and teaching goals which would reflect at the end on their students‖ knowledge, skills and values (Al-Mahdi, 2019a, Al-Mahdi, 2019b, Al-Mahdi & Al-Wadi, 2015). This chapter aims to explore professional learning community as an innovate approach in teachers‖ professional development and discuss possible ways for implementing it in Bahrain Teachers College, University of Bahrain. The following sections will focus on: defining professional learning community, characteristics of a professional learning community, leading professional learning community, international research on professional learning communities, professional learning communities research in GCC countries, and reflections on the educational context in Bahrain and implications for policy and practice.

scholarly journals Emergent Professional Learning Communities in Higher Education: Integrating Faculty Development, Educational Innovation, and Organizational Change at a Canadian College

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-53
Author(s):  
Julie A. Mooney
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Faculty Development ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Innovation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Interpretive Inquiry ◽  
Professional Development Needs

Centres for teaching and learning at postsecondary educational institutions in Canada seek to serve the professional development needs of faculty members throughout the college or university. Recognizing the limits of conventional frameworks for faculty development, such as one-time workshops, pedagogical conferences, and lunchtime discussion sessions, this interpretive inquiry explores learning communities as an additional framework for serving faculty development and cross-institutional professional development needs. The study asks: what does it mean for faculty, educational developers, support staff, and administrators to participate in a learning community at a college in Canada? Data collected through individual inquiry conversations (semi-structured interviews) and research memos were used to develop narrative descriptions representing the participants’ respective experiences of a learning community in a large, urban college context in Canada. These narrative descriptions offer portraits of the meaning that learning community members made of their own experience, revealing that the learning communities served not only as sites for professional development, but also formed microcultures within the institution, which, over time, influenced educational (academic) and organizational (administrative) change, both in policy and in practice. 

scholarly journals “Virtual Learning Environment Faculty Continuing Professional Development - Networked Learning Communities” A Critical Literature Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris O'Toole
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Networked Learning

This paper presents the results of a small-scale research study examining the professional practice of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) faculty, who are encouraged to network and learn, establish on-going relationships with both their fellow faculty and those in other institutions, share knowledge, experience, resources and foster good practice for continuing professional development (CPD). It considers whether the group of faculty would benefit from the establishment of a networked learning community, supported by their educational institution for continuing professional development. Using an integrative literature review, it provides a review of existing research literature related to professional development of VLE faculty within networked learning communities. Findings indicate that although networked learning communities have positive influences for CPD including enhanced social learning processes, greater use of formal and informal learning, learning across barriers in time and space and increased levels of interaction, challenges remain that can hinder continuing professional development. It concludes that a networked learning community could be piloted with a sub-group of VLE faculty at a chosen HEI and that further qualitative and quantitative research could be conducted.

Introduction of a Continuing Professional Development Tool for Preceptors

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toyin Tofade ◽  
Jane Kim ◽  
Lisa Lebovitz ◽  
Kim Leadon ◽  
Lena Maynor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Health System ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Pharmacy Education ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
Development Tool ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Professional Teaching

Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) guidelines state that preceptors should “have a systematic, self-directed approach to their own continuing professional development (CPD).” The objective of this study was to encourage preceptors to take advantage of the ACPE CPD resources and implement the concept of CPD (reflect, plan, act, evaluate, record) as a framework for guiding individual preceptor’s continuing development as educators and to determine their opinion regarding the usefulness, effectiveness, and obstacles to implementation of this approach. A total of 3713 preceptors from the participating schools were encouraged to undergo CPD training and invited to respond to a series of questions. Of the initial respondents, 48% represented health system/hospital preceptors, followed by community/independent pharmacists (64 of 236, 28%). Preceptor respondents often train students from multiple schools/colleges (average = 1.9 schools/colleges per preceptor) and 90% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “the CPD model, as learned in the webcasts, is beneficial for ongoing preceptor development.” The general consensus was that the preceptor portfolio provided motivation to reflect, plan, and set more defined and realistic goals for students, residents, and themselves as educators and could be a valuable starting point for promoting preceptors’ reflection, planning, and action related to rotation management, professional teaching, and student learning goals.

Classroom Observation for the Professional Development of Myanmar University Lecturers in a Singapore Cross-Cultural Context: Perception of Abilities and Learning Based on ‘Nine Events of Instruction’

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Siew Hong Lam
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Classroom Observation ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Potential Applicability ◽  
Pedagogical Framework ◽  
Events Of Instruction

Abstract Continuing professional development is important for improving and reforming teaching.Classroom observation of others’ teaching has been used for the professional development of eight lecturers from three Myanmar universities who visited the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore over a period of three weeks.To bridge the socio-cultural and educational background differences, Gagné’s ‘Nine events of instruction’ was used as a pedagogical framework to guide and evaluate the classroom observation and learning as it is well-established for instructional design and resonate well with educators.This study aimed to evaluate the participants’ abilities and their learning through classroom observation based on their perceptions of the ‘nine events of instruction’.The study found that most of the participants have positive views of their abilities in relation to the ‘nine events’, especially in practicing the early events of instruction. The classroom observation has benefitted them with respect to the ‘nine events’, particularly ‘Informing the Students of the Objective/Outcome’, ‘Stimulating Recall of the Prior Knowledge’ and ‘Presenting Information/Content/Stimulus’.Notably, ‘Assessing Performance’ was the most perceived ‘event of instruction’ that the participants wanted to improve on and that the participants perceived will benefit Myanmar lecturers the most.Qualitative feedbacks by the participants revealed lessons learned, their potential applicability and desires to reform and share.The study further demonstrated that the ‘nine events of instruction’ is a useful pedagogical framework for guiding and evaluating perception of abilities and learning in classroom instruction and observation for continuing professional development in a cross-cultural context.

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