Within our discussions and readings, the importance of working collaboratively and ways to improve communication and develop a positive learning community have been presented. In our current module, methods to grow as a collaborative team as well as working towards shared goals are significant topics. “An instructor can use a number of techniques to move students in the direction of embracing a shared goal…” (Palloff and Pratt 159). These techniques include negotiating guidelines, posting introductions and learning expectations, encouraging comment on introductions, forming teams, and posting guidelines for team performance (Palloff and Pratt). It’s interesting to reflect on our own online classes and sense of community. These techniques are often used in our cohort and have worked to bring us together and to build a sense of commonality.
The online resource found is one of seven modules that outlines a school improvement project. Module five was particularly interesting because it focuses on shared goals and how those lead to enhanced school improvement as well as success for students (Appalachia Ed Lab). It states that goal setting is a process that is often seen, but that is often not effective. Setting realistic, specific and achievable goals is the desired outcome, but often see are an “…excess of general, vague statements that did little to energize faculty or mobilize family and community support.” (Appalachia Ed Lab 7) Writing specific goals can have the following benefits:
• Specific goals convey a message directly to teachers that they are capable of improvement.
• Specific goals provide a basis for rational decision making, for ways to organize and execute their instruction.
• Specific goals enable teachers to gauge their success.
• Specific goals promote professional dialogue. (Appalachia Ed Lab 7).
The readings and the article relate in many ways, overall topic being the most obvious. Reading deeper into the article, characteristics of good goals are given. Also in the article are ways goals can be seen and evaluated across a learning community. Through our modules, we are learning how to write effective and realistic goals and how to implement and present them within a learning community.
Resources:
Appalachia Educational Lab., C. V. (2005). Module 5--Shared Goals for Learning. School Improvement Specialist Training Materials: Performance Standards, Improving Schools, and Literature Review. Appalachia Educational Laboratory at Edvantia.
Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom, (2nd ed.). San Franciso: Jossey-Bass.
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