Dynamic Learning Communities

Dynamic Learning Communities: An Alternative to Designed Instructional Systems
By Brent Wilson, University of Colorado at Denver and Martin Ryder, Storage Technology Corporation

My district initiated Professional Learning Communities (PLC) this year and many items presented in this articled about Dynamic Learning Communities (DLC) resonate with me and my experience thus far.
Within my PLC there is distributed control. No one member is “in charge.” The role of meeting facilitator rotates among all the members. The learning activities that we engage in are flexible and negotiable. For the first several meetings we developed a list of topics that each level of Algebra II cover, then, after we received more training at an Institute Day, we reassessed our plan of action. We decided to use the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards as a starting point for our learning objectives because they are broader. Within our PLC there is a high level of dialogue, interaction, and collaboration. Each teacher brings their opinions and experiences to the table for discussion. We have a common focus as we work together on a shared goal.
Several features of DLC’s differ from PLC’s. We are committed to generating and sharing knowledge, but it is not necessarily “new” as is the case with DLC’s. Each meeting we discuss the Algebra II curriculum and generate learning objectives that we share with other Algebra II teachers not in our PLC. Within our PLC we have autonomy; we direct our own activities and make decisions on how to proceed. However, the PLC as a whole is not autonomous. We are required to adhere to the goals dictated by the District. This is the key difference between DLC’s and PLC’s. We do not have intrinsic motivation to achieve the goal; the problem presented to us is not one that we are necessarily interested in solving.