The spring of 2020 brought unprecedented challenges globally, and all sectors of our society were impacted by Covid 19. The educational system underwent abrupt moves to online teaching and learning, resulting in dramatic disruptions in the delivery of k-12 education[1]. As much of the world’s student population was experiencing learning from home for the first time, the variability in the structure and quality of education was substantive.
Throughout these disruptions, teachers working with vulnerable learners communicated that these students experienced disproportionately adverse effects. The removal of in-school supports, accompanied by a lack of physical proximity and teacher expertise to address complex learning needs in rapidly evolving contexts, contributed to their concerns. As a result, in a Western Canadian k-12 school that specialized in working with students with learning and attention difficulties, there was increasing concern that the learning needs of students were not being met, and teachers were concerned that they did not have the training and education needed to respond to these needs in online environments. To meet these evolving needs, school faculty in varied roles extended their reach beyond our school to self-organize into dynamic, informal professional learning networks.
Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) are defined by Poortman and Brown as “any group who engage in collaborative learning with others outside of their everyday community of practice, in order to improve teaching and learning in their school(s) and/or the school system more widely.”[i] .While PLNs were traditionally organized as top-down initiatives, Handscomb and Brown identified an emergence of bottom-up practices, with networks being initiated and directed at the school level.[ii] While more commonly seen in some global centers to improve educational outcomes for students within and across school systems,[iii] professional learning networks had yet to be established in our local school systems.
This article relays our experiences with the formation of, and participation in, several agile,informal professional learning networks to meet the professional development needs of a variety of educators in various roles. We offer how these informal networks supported professional development and learning that is responsive to the emergent needs of educators in complex, unanticipated contexts.
The Learning Ecosystem