LEARNING CIRCLES
ON iEARN into the Third Millennium
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Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among
a small number of schools located throughout the world. There are two
sessions each year, September-January and January-May. To join iEARN Learning
Circles, you must first be a member of iEARN
and complete an iEARN
Learning Circle placement form two weeks before the beginning of the
session. Once you complete the placement form you will be placed in a
circle for the next session.
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The Teachers' Guide to Learning Circles, by Margaret
Riel provides detailed descriptions of Learning Circles and includes
many suggestions on how to structure cross-classroom collaborations in
your classrooms.- REVISED Fall 2002-
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 Learning
Circle Slide Show |
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Learning Circles structuring
cross-classroom and researcher collaboration:
Learning Circles have also been taking place for 5 years
in French and English as a part of the Global
Teenagers Project a project of the International
Institute of Communication and Development. .In the March 2003 session,
they had 170 classes from 90 secondary schools from 21 counties in Europe,
Africa, Central and South America, and the Near East. Student circle interaction
can be read from the Virtual
Classroom There is a modified version of the Learning Circle Teachers
Guide in French
and English.
In Mexico, Círculos
de Aprendizaje (in Spanish) are currently organized by
Carlos Martínez from Monterrey, Mexico (originally organized by Jorge
H. Gutiérrez). The Learning Circle Teacher Guide is available
in Spanish.
Another project that uses some aspects of the Learning
Circle structure and guide is the Friends
and Flags Project dedicated to multicultural education, for information
on this project contact Karen Eini
in Israel. They give teachers the options of registering to be in triangles
and squares as well as circles.
Inn 2002-2003, Learning Circles
were used to connect researchers. In one project, 20 graduate students
engaged in action research worked with each other in 4 Learning Circles
as part of their work in an online Masters of Arts in Educational Technology
program at Pepperdine university. In a second project, university researchers
from 8 institutions and universities formed a Research Learning Circle
to exploring methods and findings in online learning support by NSF as
a CILT seed grant. The participants
are continuing to meet as a research community in Tapped
In. Send MargaretR in Tapped In a note if you want to join. Learning
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Schedule for 2003-2004 Learning Circles
- Session 1 (Sep. to Jan.):
- Begins September 22 and ends on January 9 (16 weeks with a 2-week break
in December). Learning Circle Placement forms are due on September
15.
- Session 2 (Jan. to May):
- Begins January 26 and ends on May 14 (15 weeks with a 1-week break in Spring).
Learning Circle Placement forms are due January
15.
The first edition
of CIRCLE NEWS will be posted to all
participants announcing the beginning of the "Getting Ready" Phase
(Session 1- Sep 22th, Session 2: Jan. 26th). This first phase is one week and
it involves testing accounts, and reviewing the Learning Circle Timeline
and reading the Learning Circle Teacher's Guide (or Guía
del Maestro in Spanish). The next Circle News message will "open the
Circle."
Circle News 2 formally opens the Learning Circle session and will contain the
names and addresses of the classes that have been placed in each Learning Circle.
It invites the teachers and students to begin introductory activities. After
teachers and students find out about each other through letters and a class
survey, the activity shifts to planning the Circle projects which are drawn
from the curriculum of each classroom related to the Circle theme.
To understand more about Learning Circles, read the first
section of the Learning Circle Teacher's Guide, look over the "Teacher
Comments" at the end of each section of the Teacher's Guide or review
a short paper on Learning
Circles .
iEARN members can participate in one Learning Circle each session without
any additional cost. You must be a member of I*EARN to participate, and
you need to complete the Learning Circle Placement Form 2 weeks prior to the start of
a session.
Placement forms can be submitted in any time prior to two week before the Learning
Circle Session. Late forms are sometimes accepted during the two weeks prior
to the start of Learning Circles if there is space in a specific Circle. Applications
received after October 1st will be considered for the next session.
Learning
Circles Themes
Computer
Chronicles - This theme promotes writing across the curriculum. Interaction
online revolves around producing a newspaper called The Computer Chronicles.
Each class has the opportunity to sponsor one or more sections of the newspaper
as their Learning Circle project. They solicit articles from their partner classes
and edit them to create one section of the newspaper. This section is combined
with the other sections sponsored by circles partners to form the completed
newspaper, the Circle publication.
Places
and Perspectives - Places and Perspectives encourages students to explore
regional history, culture, government, and geography by sharing their knowledge
with people from different locations. The goal is to help students understand
how historical events and geographic conditions interact to help shape their
lives and gives them a deeper understanding of themselves, their families and
their communities. Each classroom sponsors a project for a section in the Places
and Perspectives Review. For instance, a classroom might sponsor a section on
local legends, interview native inhabitants or the elderly, describe the historical
attractions of the area, examine local constitutions, or compare weather patterns,
map studies.
MindWorks
- Mind Works is an writing theme designed to enhance creative and expository
writing as well as develop different forms of self-expression. The goal is to
help student learn how to communication their thoughts and feelings in writing,
then share and compare them with other students from distant places. The Circle
publication for Mind Works is a literary magazine that might be called Creative
Minds, Mind Works or a name selected by the group. The sponsored projects could
be a specific form of writing such as: personal narratives, place poetry, city
dialogues, school fables, local myths or personifications of local products.
Or students can select a topic to sponsor and request different forms of expression
on subjects like the family, jobs, schools or cities.
Teacher Sponsored Themes
Teachers are invited to sponsor a theme for a Learning Circle. We will
list it in this space to help create this special circle.
If you would like to facilitate a special theme
Learning Circle,
send information to [email protected]
Learning Circles Conferences
These conference are like classrooms. They are intended for
use by the students and teachers who are part of the Learning
Circle. They are private spaces for the work of teaching and learning.
We hope to be posting excerpts of student publications soon.
These conferences are listed here to make it easy for those who are members
of a Learning Circle to use this web page to interact with their Circle partners.
If you want to be a part of a Learning Circle, you are most welcome but first
need to be a member of iEARN. If you want
to know more about these Learning Circle themes, click on a theme icon.
Computer Chronicles
cce1 Computer Chronicles --elementary school level
ccm1 Computer Chronicles --middle
school level
cch1 Computer Chronicles --high
school level
Places
and Perspectives
ppe1 Places and Perspectives
--elementary school level
ppm1 Places and Perspectives
--middle school level
pph1 Places and Perspectives
--high school level
MindWorks
mwe1 Mind Works --elementary
school level
mwm2 Mind Works --middle school
level
mwh1 Mind Works --high school
level
Information on how to access Learning Circles through the iEARN
WEB CROSSING FORUMS
Learning Circle Publications
While not all Learning Circle Teachers have access to the Web, this is increasing
each session. Teachers have been working with their students to put their section
of the publication, their Learning Circle Projects
on the web. We are also beginning to have the complete circle publications
online.
Congratulations to the students and teachers of the following
Learning Circles for
creating online Learning Circle Publications!
Jan-June
2003 Computer Chronicles (Middle)
Jan-Jun-2002
Places and Perspectives (elementary)
Jan-Jun
2002 Computer Chronicles (Middle)
Sep-Jan
2001 Computer Chronicles (Elementary)
Sep-Jan
2000 Computer Chronicles (Elementary)
Jan-May
2000 MindWorks Learning Circle (Elementary)
Jan-May
2000 Places and Perspectives Learning Circle (Elementary)
Jan-May
2000 Special Topic: Expo 2000-Creative Writing Projects (High School)
Sep
1999-Jan 2000 Special Topic: Expo 2000-Environmental Projects (High School)
Sep-Jan
99-00 Computer Chronicles (Elementary)
Jan-May
1999 Computer Chronicles Learning Circle (Elementary)
Sep-Jan
98-99 Computer Chronicles (Elementary)
Jan-May
1998 Computer Chronicles Learning Circle (Elementary)
Jan-May
1998 Places and Perspectives (High School).
Also please visit the Learning Circle
Projects which are individual school's contribution to their Learning Circle
Publication.
Learning Circle Publication Templates
To help schools create online publications, we have created
some templates and graphics that can be used to help create your
web page documents. For each type of Learning Circle there are
two templates. One is the index with the list of schools and the
name of the projects. The second is a project or section template
to be used for projects or sections created by each school. Copy
the source code and the graphics and modify use any html editor
to modify for your Learning Circle.
Templates
LEARNING CIRCLE
TIMELINE --2003-2004
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Getting Ready
Prior to Week 1
Sep. 22-26
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Teachers log on to I*EARN, receive Circle News and
read the Teacher's
Guide. They introduce the concept of Learning Circles to
their students.
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Opening the Circle
(2 weeks)
Sep 29 - Oct 10
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Learning Circle interaction begins. Classes log on and respond
to the Electronic Roll Call. Each teacher sends an introductory
message to the on-line Learning Circle conference. Teachers and
students prepare and send their responses to the Classroom Survey.
Welcome Packs are mailed to postal addresses.
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Planning the Learning Circle
Projects
(2 weeks)
Oct. 13- Oct 24
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Teachers in the Learning Circle discuss the projects proposed
in the Classroom Survey. Each class selects a section to sponsor.
The class sends a message to the conference describing the information
it would like to receive.
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Exchanging Student Work
(6 weeks)
Oct 27 - Nov. 28
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Student work on different projects is collected and sent to
the Learning Circle conference at least once or twice a week.
Teachers and students continue to plan and share work related
to the Learning Circle projects. (Most groups will be out of
school for at least a week during this period, the circle continues
with those who are in school).
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Organizing the Circle Publication
(3 weeks)
Dec 1 - Jan 2
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Students evaluate, select, and edit the articles they received
for their project. Teachers work with students in their classroom
to layout and print their section of the Circle publication.
Schools exchange project reports (electronically or via postal
mail) and assemble their Circle publication.
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Closing the Circle
(1 week)
Jan 5th- Jan 9th
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Teachers and students send their final good-bye messages to the conference
and the Learning Circle closes. The Christmas Break is used as time
for mailing sections to the schools with the final comments and good-byes
taking place when many students return to school in Jan. The list
will still be active for a week after the end of Learning Circles
to make sure all final messages are received.
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LEARNING CIRCLE
TIMELINE -- 2004
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Getting Ready
Prior to Week 1
Jan. 26 - Jan 30
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Teachers log on to I*EARN, receive Circle News and
read the Teacher's
Guide. They introduce the concept of Learning Circles to
their students.
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Opening the Circle
(2 weeks)
Feb. 2 - Feb. 13
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Learning Circle interaction begins. Classes log on and respond
to the Electronic Roll Call. Each teacher sends an introductory
message to the on-line Learning Circle conference. Teachers and
students prepare and send their responses to the Classroom Survey.
Welcome Packs are mailed to postal addresses.
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Planning the Learning Circle
Projects
(2 weeks)
Feb.16 - Feb 27
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Teachers in the Learning Circle discuss the projects proposed
in the Classroom Survey. Each class selects a section to sponsor.
The class sends a message to the conference describing the information
it would like to receive.
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Exchanging Student Work
(6 weeks)
Mar. 1 - Apr. 16
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Student work on different projects is collected and sent to
the Learning Circle conference at least once or twice a week.
Teachers and students continue to plan and share work related
to the Learning Circle projects. (Most groups will be out of
school for at least a week during this period, the circle continues
with those who are in school).
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Organizing the Circle Publication
Weeks 11-13
Apr. 19 - May 7
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Students evaluate, select, and edit the articles they received
for their project. Teachers work with students in their classroom
to layout and print their section of the Circle publication.
Schools exchange project reports (electronically or via postal
mail) and assemble their Circle publication.
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Closing the Circle
Week 14
May 10 - May 14
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Teachers and students send their final good-bye messages to
the conference and the Learning Circle closes. The list will
still be active for a few weeks after the end of Learning Circles
to make sure all final messages are received.
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Learning Circle Coordinator for iEARN:
Margaret Riel
[email protected]
Last update July 2003