What is a Learning Circle?
The Learning Circle is a structure for collaborative work. It is a task-based learning community. Instead of one shared group task, learning circles focus on a set of smaller projects, each lead by one of the circle participants. Effective learning circle work involves building a level of trust and openness in feedback and sharing.
How does a Learning Circle differ from a Professional Learning Community?
A learning circle is not a professional learning community (PLC) but is a strategy used by a PLC.
A PLC is characterized by sharing knowledge and supporting each other through dialogue.
A learning circle is created by members of a PLC in order to work collaboratively on a common project theme. Each member of the learning circle sets up a project and all the other members of the learning circle collaborate in the project. All the projects of the learning circle combine to form one collection of projects around a common topic.
Example
As a group of maths teachers you may meet regularly at a venue or you may be connected to each other by a social media (.e.g. a WhatsApp group, a Google+ Circle or a Facebook page – there are many options). This group of maths teachers is a PLC. If you come to think about it, any school-based subject or phase meeting of teachers is a PLC; you have common interests and your support each other.
If up to five members of a PLC would like to achieve specific goals by working on a project (for instance, designing algebra activities that are supported by digital tools and resources), they would proceed to collaborate in a more structured way. The Learning Circle Model is a way to structure such a collaborative project.
Working to a strict time schedule, each circle member is going to design an algebra lesson, ask for feedback and ideas from other circle members, and finally present the final lesson, which will be a group effort. the final product will be a collection of four or five lessons
Using this resource
The lessons in this resource will support you in setting up and proceeding with the activities for a Learning Circle. Consult each lesson and activity as you proceed step-by-step in setting up and collaborating in a Learning Circle.
There are two phases:
- Setting up – at the end of this phase you will have a plan for the learning circle and will set up a wiki (or similar collaborative space online).
- Working in the Circle – this is where you do your project and collaborate with other circle members in their projects.
Assessment
Use the following rubrics to asses your work and progress during the learning circle:
For more information about Learning Circles, which were first developed by Margaret Riel, go to her collaborative website on this topic. All of the information in this course is derived from this website.
http://onlinelearningcircle.org
