Collaborative Learning Chatboard

by Big Al

Nov 1, 2016

I'm having a difficult time establishing learning communities in my school. I want to have more teacher conferences where everyone can mentor each other. Any ideas?

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monh Interestingly, my current work revolves around how to improve educator buy-in for collaborative inquiry. First, it is important to frame learning communities around the core ideas of collaborative inquiry. Collaborative Inquiry is when members of a learning community work together and share experiences to prompt effective change in instructional p...See More Interestingly, my current work revolves around how to improve educator buy-in for collaborative inquiry. First, it is important to frame learning communities around the core ideas of collaborative inquiry. Collaborative Inquiry is when members of a learning community work together and share experiences to prompt effective change in instructional practices through design and intervention. This includes partnering with others to investigate challenges students have within their learning; CI occurs when "teachers come together, asking questions, looking at research, and exploring student thinking to discover the way their students learn best" (Collaborative Inquiry, 2013). The CI process is cyclical and involves collaboration, inquiry, problem solving, and design. Successful learning communities depend on the quality of the process. Therefore, it is key that the process align with the seven characteristics of effective collaborative inquiry; it should be: relevant, collaborative, reflective, iterative, reasoned, adaptive, and reciprocal. Ultimately, collaborative inquiry engages educators, through teamwork, in a process of knowledge building (a form of collaborative inquiry focused on knowledge development) through inquiry; CI connects educators in collaboratively investigating focused aspects of their professional practice by exploring student responses to instruction, leading to new understandings and changes in classroom teaching" (DeLuca, 2014, p. 1). Sounds great, right? So, why are some educators not buying-in to collaborative inquiry? There are a number of key reasons researchers have identified as challenges to teacher buy-in for collaborative inquiry. Three main challenges include trust, leadership, and data literacy. First, trust is pivotal to the collaborative inquiry process within a learning community; "[w]ithin the collaborative relationship, teachers described the need to feel safe. "There needs to be a lot of trust and support before you can even tackle a project together … that partnership needs to be developed first" (Deluca, 2017, p. 72). When educators feel safe and connected to their learning community they can trust the process and engage in collaborative inquiry through open dialogue; "CI frameworks emphasize dialogue as central for co-constructing knowledge and responding to inquiries... "CI involves "a stance of 'knowledge negotiation'" (Deluca, 2017, p. 68). If the learning community as a whole does not promote collaborative inquiry as a culture it will be difficult to engage educators in the process. Furthermore, it is important to address intrapersonal challenges educators may struggle with in the face of collaborative inquiry, such as fear, defensiveness, and cognitive biases. It is important to train all members of the learning community to recognize and identify assimilation versus accommodation, as well as confirmation, vividness, and omission biases (Katz, 2014). Second, educators my struggle with data literacy which is an integral part of the inquiry, problem solving, and design stages of collaborative inquiry; "across CI initiatives, using student data to formulate inquiry questions and guide teacher learning is fundamental to the CI process" (DeLuca, 2014, p. 655). Thus, it important that educators receive specific training on data collection and interpretation to facilitate a successful collaborative inquiry process; "knowledge of collecting and analysing data is as critical as knowledge of subject matter and pedagogical skill, if teachers are to be truly effective in conducting CI" (DeLuca, 2014, p. 665). Finally, it is important that the leadership with a learning community also model and engage in a culture of collaborative inquiry; "[i]n addition to the critical role that middle leaders play in facilitating networked professional learning across systems, school principals play a central role in supporting and spreading systemic professional learning initiatives within their school contexts" (LaPointe-McEwan, 2019, p. 5). Leadership that nurtures a culture of collaborative inquiry through active participation, dedicated time, and modelling will foster collaborative inquiry within teachers, students, and all stakeholders within the learning community. In addition to these ideas, I highly recommend taking a look at the Lesson Study model to help kick start the collaborative inquiry you wish to see in your learning community; I have shared links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr15SLGaSZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv0HJ-ftOAU

I hope that helps! Mona

Aug 13, 2021

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monh Interestingly, my current work revolves around how to improve educator buy-in for collaborative inquiry. First, it is important to frame learning communities around the core ideas of collaborative inquiry. Collaborative Inquiry is when members of a learning community work together and share experiences to prompt effective change in instructional p...See More Interestingly, my current work revolves around how to improve educator buy-in for collaborative inquiry. First, it is important to frame learning communities around the core ideas of collaborative inquiry. Collaborative Inquiry is when members of a learning community work together and share experiences to prompt effective change in instructional practices through design and intervention. This includes partnering with others to investigate challenges students have within their learning; CI occurs when "teachers come together, asking questions, looking at research, and exploring student thinking to discover the way their students learn best" (Collaborative Inquiry, 2013). The CI process is cyclical and involves collaboration, inquiry, problem solving, and design. Successful learning communities depend on the quality of the process. Therefore, it is key that the process align with the seven characteristics of effective collaborative inquiry; it should be: relevant, collaborative, reflective, iterative, reasoned, adaptive, and reciprocal. Ultimately, collaborative inquiry engages educators, through teamwork, in a process of knowledge building (a form of collaborative inquiry focused on knowledge development) through inquiry; CI connects educators in collaboratively investigating focused aspects of their professional practice by exploring student responses to instruction, leading to new understandings and changes in classroom teaching" (DeLuca, 2014, p. 1). Sounds great, right? So, why are some educators not buying-in to collaborative inquiry? There are a number of key reasons researchers have identified as challenges to teacher buy-in for collaborative inquiry. Three main challenges include trust, leadership, and data literacy. First, trust is pivotal to the collaborative inquiry process within a learning community; "[w]ithin the collaborative relationship, teachers described the need to feel safe. "There needs to be a lot of trust and support before you can even tackle a project together … that partnership needs to be developed first" (Deluca, 2017, p. 72). When educators feel safe and connected to their learning community they can trust the process and engage in collaborative inquiry through open dialogue; "CI frameworks emphasize dialogue as central for co-constructing knowledge and responding to inquiries... "CI involves "a stance of 'knowledge negotiation'" (Deluca, 2017, p. 68). If the learning community as a whole does not promote collaborative inquiry as a culture it will be difficult to engage educators in the process. Furthermore, it is important to address intrapersonal challenges educators may struggle with in the face of collaborative inquiry, such as fear, defensiveness, and cognitive biases. It is important to train all members of the learning community to recognize and identify assimilation versus accommodation, as well as confirmation, vividness, and omission biases (Katz, 2014). Second, educators my struggle with data literacy which is an integral part of the inquiry, problem solving, and design stages of collaborative inquiry; "across CI initiatives, using student data to formulate inquiry questions and guide teacher learning is fundamental to the CI process" (DeLuca, 2014, p. 655). Thus, it important that educators receive specific training on data collection and interpretation to facilitate a successful collaborative inquiry process; "knowledge of collecting and analysing data is as critical as knowledge of subject matter and pedagogical skill, if teachers are to be truly effective in conducting CI" (DeLuca, 2014, p. 665). Finally, it is important that the leadership with a learning community also model and engage in a culture of collaborative inquiry; "[i]n addition to the critical role that middle leaders play in facilitating networked professional learning across systems, school principals play a central role in supporting and spreading systemic professional learning initiatives within their school contexts" (LaPointe-McEwan, 2019, p. 5). Leadership that nurtures a culture of collaborative inquiry through active participation, dedicated time, and modelling will foster collaborative inquiry within teachers, students, and all stakeholders within the learning community. In addition to these ideas, I highly recommend taking a look at the Lesson Study model to help kick start the collaborative inquiry you wish to see in your learning community; I have shared links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr15SLGaSZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv0HJ-ftOAU

I hope that helps! Mona

Aug 13, 2021

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This might be of interest

by Spadoinkel

Aug 31, 2017

https://goo.gl/yE8MXV

collaborative education: group learning

Collaborative learning: group learning can be a daunting proposition. It's not like school "Back in the day". It can be loud. It can be frantic, and it is al...

YouTube | youtube.com

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monh Thank you for sharing! This definitely makes using collaborative learning more approachable to teachers who struggle with relinquishing control. Specifically, you feature approaches to collaborative inquiry that will prompt real change to thinking and practice. After all, "research has concluded that student achievement is most influenced by classr...See More

Aug 13, 2021

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monh Thank you for sharing! This definitely makes using collaborative learning more approachable to teachers who struggle with relinquishing control. Specifically, you feature approaches to collaborative inquiry that will prompt real change to thinking and practice. After all, "research has concluded that student achievement is most influenced by classr...See More

Aug 13, 2021

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Class Updates Application

by edtechguru

Feb 2, 2018

I'm a college professor and President of an educational technology startup that helps to improve student learning and retention in the classroom. If you're passionate about education like I am then hopefully you will be glad to give me feedback and help with case studies in your classroom.

The application is called Class Updates and work...See More

by mcgill

Aug 28, 2016

need some planning ideas

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differentiated teaching

by Rosie Sage

Jun 19, 2016

Hi Have you heard about COGS? It is a strategy developed at Leicester University to organise tasks according to the thinking/linguistic levels of students and although used in some UK schools has been taken up more by countries with high-achieving students and a value for talk as the technology for learning.

by Luci

Jun 9, 2016

Hello! As a teacher of a class with diferente levels of learning, I would like to have suggestions to get best results when working with this method. For example: How long does it take till you get good results? How long does it take till students feel confident and able to do their tasks alone?

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RTI (Response to Intervention)

by Jaime

Apr 25, 2016

Please take my graduate thesis survey on RTI! If you don't know anything about this that's okay. The whole point of my survey is to compare the knowledge on this intervention model amongst professionals, because it's supposed to be a collaborative effort but in reality it's not. Thank you it is very much appreciated!

Here is the link: http...See More

by Me2

Dec 22, 2015

Does anyone have any techniques for facilitating reciprocal teaching? My 3rd grade students are familiar with the four roles. But I seem to have difficulty getting them to continue discussion. They share and then that's it. What works for you? any suggestions would be much appreciated!

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