Are you looking to start or build a great team? If so, then you should consider using a powerful tool called a Professional Learning Community (PLC). A PLC is designed to help teams become stronger over time through shared experiences. In this course, you’ll get a broad overview of the benefits of building an LC, along with tools and techniques to develop one at scale.
The term “professional learning community” has long been associated with universities and larger corporations. In recent years, however, a wide variety of organizations across industries have started leveraging these communities to improve their bottom line. Nowadays, even startups from various industries are starting to embrace them.
Professional Learning Communities are a modern approach to workplace development that harnesses knowledge sharing to accelerate growth. They provide a means for employees to share ideas, gain new perspectives, and collaborate effectively, ultimately improving performance and satisfaction.
Professional Learning Communities can be used in any organization, but they’re especially effective when applied to workgroups within large companies or departments within small businesses. We’ll go through how to create a professional learning community in detail, but first, let us understand what a PLC actually is.
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What is a Professional Learning Community?
“Professional Learning Communities are groups of educators who meet to discuss how to improve student learning. They often focus on specific topics such as literacy or math.”PLCs are informal meetings between teachers and students. Teachers use them to discuss topics related to student learning. Students also attend these sessions to ask questions and learn more about the subject matter. The goal of a PLC is to make sure all members feel welcome and engaged. These meetings are usually led by a facilitator who helps keep the conversation going.
PLCs are crucial as they offer a chance for teachers to ask about issues related to learning for students which allow teachers to share their ideas and findings with colleagues and get immediate feedback from the back-and-forth discussion.
How to create a professional learning community?
1. Create your site
The first step is to have to create your website using WordPress. Create your site as well as give it a unique name. Names that draw visitors to your brand new site.
Also Read: Importance Of Adding Community Feature To Your School Website
2. Choose the theme
When you are done with the process of setting up your site and are ready to move on to find a suitable template for your professional learning community website. Choose a theme that is suitable and will support all the important plugins needed to operate your community site. It is possible to choose one of our most popular themes i.e. BuddyX Theme. What is the greatest thing about our plugin? It’s free to use! It includes all the features needed for running your community website smoothly.
3. Run your website
Once you have activated your BuddyX theme/any other theme, you can run the theme’s setup, and then load a demo for assistance. The BuddyX theme is a lot of fun and responsive. It was designed to build large-scale community websites. Numerous features our BuddyX theme has to offer:
Member Profiles
- Messaging
- User Groups
- Activity Streams
- Event Plugin
- Gamification
- Blog Posting
- Forum Discussions
- Memberships/Subscriptions
How to keep your professional learning community intact?
1. Teach your community members
PLC has been a hot subject in the field of education for many years but they’re also an area that is often misunderstood. When colleagues are introduced to the term “professional learning community,” it’s easy to think it’s simply another attempt at reforming administrative procedures which will fade and disappear. However, in fact, it’s the contrary.
A PLC isn’t a software program or a brand new method to receive orders from administrators. It’s a continuous, collaborative process that transforms the primary focus of your school into learning instead of teaching. It demands administrators and educators alike to share their expertise and to be held accountable for continual improvement. This is a completely new way to approach your job, not just for the school term as well as for the longer term.
Therefore, before you try to create a PLC operational create the right environment for your employees. Think about hosting an informal info meeting or posting on the school’s communication boards to clarify the meaning of what is a PLC to highlight the advantages and provide the details for people who might not be aware.
Also Read: Why Your School Website Needs A Learning Management System?
2. Learn and grow together
It’s a good idea. However, if you’re trying to create a community focused on improving and learning an area, the starting point is to get your teachers together to study something. Do some professional development around an issue or objective at your school. In the end, you’re in a learning environment now, and learning is the way you work. Professional development should be every day and, if not a daily routine. If teachers are educated, they can enhance the way that students learn. That’s the primary principle of the concept of a PLC.
3. Set goals for your community
Goal setting is among the most crucial tasks when the beginning of your PLC. The purpose of the group is to set goals, plan to reach these goals, and if success is achieved, set further ambitious goals. What exactly are you intend to achieve? Select goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable Goal-oriented, Results-focused, and time-bound (SMART).
4. Be patient
When you’re stressed and frustrated by not seeing immediate and impressive results be aware of what you’re working on. Making a radical change within the way you run your school and the way staff members approach their tasks isn’t going to occur overnight. A culture of learning through collective effort and application isn’t going to be born from a handful of training sessions. Nor do open communication and collaboration take place after a few small-group training sessions.
Every day, as time moves forward, and PLC is practiced and respected The community will develop and expand. The results will be evident. You’ll be able to congratulate your classmates. You’ll be wondering whether your school could have functioned in a different way.
Let your members decide the future of your community
Like all communities, there must be rules that outline how things operate in the community, what’s acceptable and what’s not. This will ensure that things go smoothly. In order to create a sense of community, it’s an excellent idea to set the rules for the entire community during an open meeting where everybody can contribute.
Set up a meeting and equip the group with markers and post-it notes. Set up a non-judgment zone. Ask everyone to record the rules they believe that the community must adhere to. When they’re all to the ceiling, they can discuss the norms, then keep them and cut them altogether. You’ll leave having a clear understanding of the rules that govern your personal computer, and be able to leave with a warm and fuzzy feeling of working together.
The takeaway – a professional learning community
There is a huge demand for a professional learning community in the community market. You can create one easily by following all the steps we have stated above! You can also read articles about how to create other community websites such as this – How to create a gaming community website? Let your members enjoy being a part of your community by updating it regularly with new plugins/new themes. Want to begin today? – Get started it’s free!
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