1. Joan Coy & Wanda Dechant
Peace Academy of Virtual Education
Peace Wapiti School Division #76
Spirit River, Alberta, Canada

2. Our collaboration using
Moodle is a two part story…
Part A:
The Teachers collaborate…

3. Public schooling begins
All Students are processed:
 in year groupings
 at the same rate
 through the same pre-
set curriculum
 through bite sized pieces
in the same order

4. Public School Addresses the Times
Aim is to produce a
standardized quality
‘product’
‘Products’ sorted according
to whether or not they meet
the quality control standards

5. For most of the 20th century this
seemed Okay
most students got the
basics
 a few went to post
secondary
 there were many low skill
jobs for the ‘production line’
rejects
This is no longer the case!

6. The World Has Changed
Unprecedented flow of:
Innovative ideas
Technology
Information access
Global
communication

7. What did we want to do?
Teachers in our large rural division work in
academic isolation.
Teachers want to collaborate with other
teachers in their discipline to bring better
learning opportunities to students.
 We have created a Moodle site for teacher
collaboration and sharing of resources.

8. How did we start?
Analyzed student performance to identify the

need for improvement
Gathered research on teaching strategies for

improving student performance
Decided on a collaborative approach with all

participating schools
Teacher participation was voluntary


9. Professional Learning Communities:
Basics
Collaboratively create a clear statement of

Mission, Vision, Values and Goals
Research best practice with an openness to new

possibilities
Dufour & Eaker

10. PLC Basics
Work interdependently to achieve common

goal
Create momentum to fuel further

improvement
We must „do differently‟ if we want to see

different results
Efforts are assessed on results rather than

intentions. Dufour & Eaker

11. Your experience with PLCs
 Comments on
strategies and
structures for
professional sharing
in all settings…

12. Aligned Improvement
All district teachers
working together…
gives a much higher
chance of success
Lisa Miller

13. Learning Communities – Critical Factors
Relationships are the foundation – time is

needed to build trust
Respect for time and contributions of each and

every member
Teachers need to have ownership of the

activities of the community
An atmosphere of openness and acceptance for

all members
“Check egos at the door” to allow for real

sharing

14. Do these ideas ring true?
A bit over the top?

15. Our Site
We use our Moodle Collaboration site to share teaching
strategies, lessons, assessments, projects, research, useful
web sites, statistical data and math fun.
Works in conjunction with face to face meetings to improve
teacher practice and ultimately, student learning.
Effectiveness has impacted
students, teachers, administrators and coordinators

16. Our progress...
An active learning community

Focused professional development activities

Creation of innovative lessons, projects, self

checks and common unit assessments.
Moodle site to facilitate significant professional

sharing and communication.

17. Our progress...
Average on Diploma Exam
60
58
56
54
52
50
48
46
June06 Jan07 June07 Jan-08 June08 Jan09

18. What PWSD Administrators are saying
“We have been able to collaborate on
Differentiation and Assessment FOR Learning.
Too often I go to professional development
events and come back to the school only to
try to catch up what I missed.”
A quote I heard recently
addresses this nicely. quot;I
come back ready to
climb a mountain and
suddenly realize that I
am in Saskatchewan.”

19. What are PWSD Teachers Saying?
“I enjoy working collaboratively with
several teachers in focus groups. We are
very productive in terms of creating
useful tools to use in the classroom to
help achieve better results for students.
These are shared and discussed on the
Moodle site and keep the work going
between meetings. The meetings are
timely and consider the effective use of
teachers' time.”

20. Our collaboration using
Moodle is a two part story…
Part B:
We take the collaboration to the
students

21. What are PWSD Students saying?
In an Ideal Classroom, there would be…
A computer for each student

 On-line notes and self checks
 Collaborative project work
 Challenge problems
 Access to on-line lessons from home
 A smaller class where group work is allowed
and experiments are done

22. Meeting Student Needs: How did we
start?
Provided laptops for each student, SMART

boards, and on-line courses supported by PAVE
teachers
Gathered research on teaching strategies for

improving student performance
Decided on a collaborative approach with all

participating schools
Teacher participation was voluntary


23. Communication plan
Use the collaboration site to
share lessons, strategies, research
and assessments and maintain
ongoing contact.
PAVE teachers provide ongoing
support for implementation of
technology and innovation as well as
courses developed on the e-
community site.

24. Let’s take a quick look at the sites
Teacher Collaboration Site
http://collaboration.pwsd76.ab.ca/
Student Community Site
http://ecommunity.pwsd76.ab.ca/

25. Teaching Strategies…

26. Meeting Student Needs: Social
Constructivism
Learners need to actively
construct meaning in
relating:
 what is already known
 to each other
“Wisdom can’t be told”  to their own experiences.
Learners
 See topics as relevant
 Plan & carry out work collaboratively
 Practice self assessment
 Apply concepts to new situations

27. Meeting Student Needs: Assessment
Authentic, meaningful and appropriate
assessment is apparent throughout the
learning environment.
Traditional Authentic
Selecting a Response Performing a Task
Contrived Real-life
Recall/Recognition Construction/Application
Teacher-structured Student-structured
Indirect Evidence Direct Evidence

28. Student Engagement & Differntiation
Summary of the
From Wikipedia…
retention of learning
Students are
Verbal
engaged when
they are:
 attracted to their
work, Verbal/visual
 persist despite
challenges and
obstacles,
 take visible Hands on
delight in
accomplishing
their work.
From How the Brain Learns David Sousa

29. So what is the teacher doing?
The teacher:
 Guides student learning to meet program of
studies
 Provides tools students need for learning
 Promotes collaborative work
 Intervenes to provide scaffolding
 Looks to our collaborative community for
support as we try new approaches.

30. What are PWSD teachers saying now?
“Students have collaborative hand-in assignments for

which no help is given from me. This means they
build their confidence using self checks, the on-line
course and each other. This is something new I am
trying and it works!”
“I would never have tried this new approach –

blending classroom and on-line materials without the
support of our learning community.”
“Students are:

becoming aware of their strengths,
becoming aware of their weaknesses,
and, in short, becoming aware of their own
learning.”

31. What are PWSD students saying now?
In class, I was happy we had…
“on-line resources complete multiple attempts

at self checks.”
“the opportunity collaborate on hand-ins and

work out problems with our classmates instead
of always relying on the teacher.”
“different ways of looking at the lessons and

different ways of learning.”

32. What are PWSD students saying now?
In class, I was happy we had…
“a SMART Board in the classroom that was a

more interactive way to understand
everything.”
“challenge problems to help to achieve a better

idea of what you are doing.”
“more real life applications. Just because we

are in Pure Math doesn't mean we shouldn't be
taught concepts that are applicable in the real
world.”

33. Questions?