Laurie Salem

Establishing a Continuous Professional Learning Culture

GCU EAD 513
March 29, 2023
 Technology for Shared Learning
Shared learning or collaborative learning has many benefits that support not only teacher growth
and achievement but that of students also. One such benefit is that it allows teachers of various
ability to bring their expertise to the table in the hopes of identifying an issue, presenting a
solution and implementing changes that would promote the results they desire (Laal & Ghodsi,
2012). These shared learning groups create a space where teachers cooperate rather than compete
with each other since they share responsibility and authority (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012).
I would create a teacher’s “Where” house, that would store all the information they want to share
with other educators. They would be able to upload lesson plans, videos, links for more resources
or other materials. This wherehouse would be created using Google classroom. According to the
Journal of Physics, Google classroom is an education-based platform that serves as a central
location for communication, feedback and assignments (Ketut & et al, 2019). The pandemic,
while devastating in many other ways, opened a path for educators to be creative while still
reaching and teaching their students. I feel that this platform can still be a great resource for
educators.
The plan is that teachers will not be required to submit anything. Once teachers feel like this is
another task, they lose interest in it. Teachers will be asked to agree to upload a resource, video
or other materials to google classroom throughout the year. Reminders may be sent, but again, I
want this to feel like an opportunity to help others and not a burden.
How will professional learning topics be evaluated for relevance and worthiness prior to
being shared?
The most effective way to decide which topics are relevant and worthy is to provide teachers
with a quick poll or survey where they can choose which topics are more important to them.
Once they decide, the other topics can be determined by examining the other areas critical to
student success such as behavior management or test data.
How will professional learning be shared?
Teachers will all have access to Google classroom where they will create and upload a resource
that other teachers can access and look at.
How will shared information be applied or implemented into professional practice?
The google classroom will serve as a library for teachers to check out a resource. The teacher
will then agree to implement the resource in their classrooms. They will meet with other teachers
once a month to reflect on how that resource was implemented and any successes or challenges
with it. The teacher will then receive more support from their colleagues which could include
peer observations.
How will teachers provide reflective feedback on what they implemented as a result of
professional learning?
Teachers will complete short surveys about what they implemented. They will also have
opportunities to provide feedback in live collaborative groups with other teachers.
What is an appropriate timeline for sharing information, implementing concepts and
monitoring professional learning outcomes?
The initial timeline will be over a period of 5 weeks. This allows time for them to be introduced
to the learning system as well as to choose topics of interest and explore resources that have been
uploaded by other educators. After that they will have one week to implement the resource of
their choosing with another two weeks to monitor any outcomes. After the monitoring stage,
teachers will meet as a PLC and share results.
Rationale
PLCs were created as a means for teachers to learn from other teachers. Educators often prefer
the opinions, examples, and opportunities for learning provided by their peers to irrelevant or
useless professional development sessions given by people who have not been in classrooms in
years (Weddle, 2022). The reason I chose to utilize Google Classroom was to create a hub where
teachers can share their resources without having to use their time to meet with other peers.
Virtual professional learning communities are important and can be great ways for teachers to
collaborate without having to always be physically present.
Professional learning communities allow teachers to discuss those topics that are truly relevant to
their work. As a teacher myself, I have often left a professional development session wondering
what the point was. Teachers complain about not having time to engage with their colleagues. I
also think the timeline is important when implementing changes. One issue that we have with our
district is the fact that they often ask us to implement changes but do not consider the time it
takes to learn the material, implement it, monitor and analyze data to be able to determine if it
was successful or not. It is for this reason that I chose a 5-week period. If the goal is for student
achievement, we need to take advantage of the expertise that our teachers have. Our job as
administrators is to provide as many opportunities as possible for teachers to learn and grow.
When we invest in our educators, we same that same learning and growth in our students.
 References
Ketut Sudarsana, I., Bagus Made Anggara Putra, I., Nyoman Temon Astawa, I., & Wayan Lali
Yogantara, I. (2019). The use of google classroom in the learning process. Journal of
Physics: Conference Series, 1175, 012165. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-
6596/1175/1/012165

Laal, M., & Ghodsi, S. M. (2012, January 13). Benefits of collaborative learning. Procedia -
Social and Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811030205
Weddle, H. (2022). Approaches to studying teacher collaboration for Instructional Improvement:
A Review of Literature. Educational Research Review, 35, 100415.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100415