Learning Walks are a reflective practice where teachers get
the chance to observe other colleagues in a non-evaluative non-judgmental
setting. The teachers doing the walk
through are looking for specific objectives and noting how they are met. "The walkers are the learners. The focus is not on the teacher but on what the walkers are reflecting on and how they will improve their own practice."
Typically a learning walk is lead by a person who is good at keeping on task and steering conversation away from evaluative or judgmental comments. The leader will take about 4 other teachers through others classrooms in the following manner:
·
10 minute walk through a colleague’s classroom.
·
2 minute debriefing in the hallway (Sample Reflective Online Learning Walk Discussion Guide)
·
10 minute walk through another colleague’s
classroom.
·
2 minute debriefing in the hallway
·
10 minute walk through another colleague’s
classroom.
·
2 minute debriefing in the hallway
·
15 minute large group reflection (Sample 15 Minute End of Learning Walk Reflection ‘I Statements’
In no way are reflective walks meant to be evaluative or
judgmental. They are simply for
reflection of what best practices are occurring and the ‘walker’ reflects on
what they see from their other colleagues to improve their own practice.
What not to say during a 2 minute debriefing:
·
I liked how…..
·
I didn’t like when….
What to say during a 2 minute debriefing:
·
I saw…
·
I heard…
·
This seems evidence of…
·
This leads me to think…
·
This supports the learning of the teacher or
students by…
In an online classroom I see this process as working in much
the same way. Rather than physically
walking through each person’s classroom you could as a group of observers be
given a set amount of time to log in to another teachers course. Then as a
group you could still ‘walk through’ a course and have a 2 minute debriefing
among the observers then move to another colleagues online class, debrief, then
end with the reflection for the ‘walkers’.
For reflective learning walks to be effective there needs to
be a specific objective that you are looking for and observing. In online learning there are so many places
one could start: clear objectives set
out in course layout, community/presence, teacher voice, clear curricular
objectives, connections to real world, connections to previous knowledge,
etc. The key will be in deciding which
objective you will be looking for. If I
wanted to see how teacher presence in an online environment is demonstrated
well then I would contact teachers who demonstrate mastery in this area and do
learning walks through their courses.
Resources
If you scroll to the end of the following link you will find
a section from the book Creating
a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching talking about how cognitive
presence, social presence, instructor presence, announcements,
strategies/cooperative activities, instructor support, logistical presence, and
one way instructional presence are central to creating effective online
learning.
As well the last page on this link contains a sheet with ‘I
Statements’ for the 15 minute reflection at the end of the learning walks.
The document below is an excellent resource for how to do
Learning Walks with Templates for teachers when walking through face to face
classrooms. It-itlearningwalks
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