Week 11: What is the role of knowledge creation and sharing in a healthy educational organization?4/7/2017 A healthy educational organization is one that has all parties trying to implement the best practices to benefit the students. Knowing what those best practices are depends greatly on the amount of knowledge sharing done between professionals, schools, and districts. Fullan (2001) notes that, “schools are in the business of teaching and learning, yet they are terrible at learning from each other” (p. 92). To make the educational experience as successful as possible for each child, educators need to be learning from each other as much as possible.
Luckily, we have many modes available to us to communicate and share knowledge with our colleagues, we just need to know what they are and advocate for them. Fullan notes that in an example, one district used outside consultants to observe or teach a demonstration. The consultant works with a small group to coach them and answer any questions. I have seen this model at the school I am at and it has greatly influenced my learning as a teacher. The one most beneficial to me was a behavior specialist that came and gave tips and showed us some ideas for working with students with difficult behaviors. We have also had an ongoing math specialist help with our general education curriculum. Ketvirtis (2011) notes that a leader should, “serve as models by openly sharing information, trusting others, stepping into another’s shoes and providing constructive feedback.” I think this includes knowing what your staff needs and bringing in the right people to help. Access to professionals who can consult groups within a school is one way leaders can provide teachers with new knowledge. Another way, that is new to me, is through edcamps. Edcamps are free, without vendors, hosted by an organization or dividual, and contains sessions created the day of that meet the needs of those who attend (Swanson, 2013). The real target of edcamps is to get a group of people together so that they can share knowledge and find commonalities. Since anyone can be a presenter, they are a great way for knowledge to get distributed from many different sources and people (Alrubail, 2016). Educational systems thrive when knowledge is created and shared. Although schools are in the business of education, they should not be competitive in the businesses are. The most effective strategies and new knowledge should be shared to create widespread environments for all students to learn. New knowledge should be distributed in a way that it is retained, reflected on, and redistributed to others (Dillon, 2015). References: Alrubail, R. (2016). How Teachers Can Take Charge of Their PD. Retrieved April 6, 2017, from https://learnerlog.org/acrossthecurriculum/how-teachers-can-take-charge-of-their-pd/ Dillon, B. (2015). 21st-Century PD: Retention, Reflection, and Redistribution of Knowledge. Retrieved April 6, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/21st-century-pd-retention-reflection-redistribution-bob-dillon Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Ketvirtis, S. (2011). Knowledge Sharing: Leveraging Trust and Leadership to Increase Team Performance. Retrieved April 6, 2017, from https://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/masters-learning-and-organizational-change/knowledge-lens/stories/2012/knowledge-sharing-leveraging-trust-and-leadership-to-increase-team-performance.html Swanson, K. (2013). Why Edcamp? Retrieved April 6, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-edcamp-kristen-swanson
1 Comment
Natalie
4/8/2017 02:48:50 pm
It was very positive to read your experiences with outside consultants for observing and teaching demonstrations. Unfortunately, I had the opposite experience a few years ago.
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