Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities - Hollins-Alexander, Sonja

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Résumé :
Create a 21st-century professional development program! Can online learning deliver high-caliber professional development (PD) with lower costs? This timely book shows you how, and the answer lies in combining well-designed online instruction with the energy of peer-to-peer collaboration. Sonja Hollins-Alexander writes from her own experience building a successful online professional development program for a large urban district. Readers will find: Research-based support for online PD and the learner-learner model A thorough planning guide and ten action steps for program development Best practices for managing staffing and resources Strategies for establishing virtual learning communities that thrive

Biographie:
Sonja Hollins-Alexander?is the associate vice president,?content advisor,?and scholar for Corwin?Publishing. She has been in?the field of education and?publishing for thirty years?with sixteen of those being?in educational leadership?at the school, district, and?higher education levels, and?eight of those being in educational?consulting and publishing.?During this time, she?has served as a school social?worker, teacher, assistant?principal, principal, coordinator,?director of professional learning, and chief of staff, serving in two?Metro Atlanta, Georgia, school districts. She continued her profession?beyond K-12 as a senior consultant for professional development firms?and independently. She has also served on numerous United Way nonprofit?boards and served as the board president for Learning Forward?Georgia and as a member of the National Affiliate Leadership Council?for Learning Forward.

Through her professional journey, she has had experiences in strategic?planning, policy development, stakeholder communication and engagement,?instructional and curriculum design, facilitation of adult learning?strategy, executive leadership coaching, and conference fFacilitation and?design, and has served on numerous quality assurance teams with Cognia?school accreditation and certification organization. She is a Corwin?author of Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning?Communities and coauthor of Collective Equity.

Sonja holds a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's degree in social?work, a teaching certificate in middle grades language arts, a specialist's?degree in educational administration and leadership, and a doctorate?degree in curriculum and instruction. She is committed to partner?engagement and implementation of evidence-informed sustained professional?learning services that positively impact teaching and learning-not?by chance but by design.

Sommaire:
Preface: The Evolution of a Design
Acknowledgments
About the Author
About the Contributors
1. The Learner-Learner Model
2. Getting It Started: A Planning Guide
3. 10 Action Steps to an Online Virtual Learning Community
4. The Process: Transitioning a Face-to-Face Professional Learning Community to an Online Virtual Learning Community
5. Getting It Done: What Structures Support the Implementation of a Virtual Learning Community?
6. Building Capacity and Sustainability: School-Based Virtual Learning Cohorts
7. Pitfalls Don?t Hold You Back
8. Summary: My Reflections
References
Index

As educators, we need to rethink our designs of teaching and learning in order to prepare our students for a more advanced technological future. Using a virtual PLC model for professional development directly aligns districts with the type of learning students should be involved in. I envision Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities as a pioneer, forging the way for virtual PLC's all over the world.