October 2007 — Features
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Help Wanted
NCTAF literature describes three areas where districts can offer support that makes a difference: availability of high quality teaching resources, access to education experts, and ongoing support from peers. This is where technology enters the picture. Used well, web-based tools, such as online teacher communities, provide help in all three areas.
"Once the notion of a collaborative work environment is accepted, technology lends itself very well to making it possible for educators to work together on site or anywhere in the world," says Kathleen Fulton, director of Reinventing Schools for the 21st Century at NCTAF and principal author of the 2005 NCTAF report "Induction Into Learning Communities."
Fulton says that collaboration is the new wave in instruction. "Teaching in isolation is an artifact of the 19th-century industrial model. Before we can transform schools into 21stcentury learning communities, we must recognize that teachers need ongoing opportunities to collaborate with other educators and even their students, to learn and share expertise." Effective induction programs are just one stage in a continuum of collaborative professional development experiences that begin in pre-service programs and extend throughout an educator’s career.
She cites two NCTAF demonstration projects in which online communities play an important role in teacher retention through effective induction practices. The first is the NCTAF/Georgia State University (GSU) Induction Project.
Launched in 2006, it focuses on supporting new teachers in high-minority, low-income schools in metropolitan Atlanta, and includes three critical elements. The first, Cross-Career Learning Communities (CCLCs), is made up of pre-service, new, and experienced teachers and university faculty who meet face-to-face and sometimes online. The second element, the BRIDGE (Building Resources: Induction and Development for Georgia Educators), is an online resource that features peerreviewed articles, websites, and lesson plans. The site also supports online activities for CCLCs. Lastly, pre-service and new teachers regularly reflect on their learning using the Professional Growth Continuum and Checklist self-assessment tool.
The second project, Teachers Learning in Networked Communities, just completed its second year. Participants are located in Denver, Seattle, and Memphis. While each location has modified the program to meet local needs, the use of Tapped In online communities is universal. Tapped In was selected because of its ease of use and flexibility.
Fulton reports that leaders of both projects are learning a great deal about making online communities successful: "Teachers want access to a variety of collaborative opportunities. Some want to engage in synchronous discussions about predetermined topics, while others prefer asynchronous access to online mentors and peers to ask about specific problems. In addition, new teachers often want to maintain connections with former fellow teacher-education students. We need to be able to address all these requests."
