ONLINE ASSIGNMENT

Submitted to, Submitted by,

Ms.Lesha.M.S Shilpa Biju

Lecturer in Charge Natural Science

Circle Learning

INTRODUCTION

Education prepares the future generations to play their respective roles in the society and teachers play a pivotal role in this process.

The revision and development of curriculum together with modern instructional strategies implies an intension to ensure a progressive change in education. The motivation for this change has not only been pedagogic but social and political as well.

In the modern instructional strategy the curriculum can be considered as unification of aims, subject matter and controls of learning. One among the modern instructional strategy is circle learning model.

The use of circle as both the organizational structure and descriptive metaphor for a meeting of equals is like to have been a part of our history for as long as five has. The learning circle is a mechanism for organizing and honouring the collective wisdom of the group and is present in many indigenous cultures. The term Learning Circle has been used to describe group efforts with clear links to social change.

Over time and across countries, civic organizations, neighbourhood communities, trade unions, churches and social justice groups have used the idea of learning circles to empower their members to make choices

and take action. The web can help locate the many ways both present that groups have used the term study circles or learning circles as a form of adult education. For example, educators for community engagement, find that learning circles-with their principles of equal participation, reciprocity and honouring of collective wisdom-embody the democratic principles of effective service learning partnerships. They use learning circles, rather than more traditional forms of group meetings, to structure their annual conferences. Primary teachers use a form of learning circles when they gather the students at the rug for circle time. Among the goals of this activity are helping students to develop the trust and respect for diversity of experience, and fostering both listening and speaking skills among peers.

A learning circle is a highly interactive , participatory structure for organizing group work. The goal is to build , share, and express knowledge through a process of open dialogues and deep reflection around issues or problems with a focus on a shared outcome.

A learning circle is not a community practice or a professional learning but it can be a strategy used by either.

Online learning circles are teams of distance learners who use technology to acquire a deeper understanding of areas of shared interest. The structure balances individual ownership with collective responsibility to

provide a setting which helps everyone achieve their learning objectives

The circle is managed by distributed leadership and suggests that each participant to be engaged in leading one of the group projects.

They can be used to in a wide range of formal and informal contexts.

Other examples of global learning circles used to connect in learners in different location at all levels of school from primary to graduate level work

Other examples include the use of learning professional development in evaluation and action research.

The learning circle is a structure for collaborative work that shares features with other community-based learning groups,but also differs in specific ways.

Most importantly , it is a task based learning community in context to a practice based or knowledge based learning community.

Instead of one shared group tasks, learning circle focus on smaller interacting group task, each lead by one of the circle participant

Effective learning circle work involve building a level of trust and developing shared norms of trust, openness and reciprocity

DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL

The model is described by

1. Set of defining dimensions

2. Norms that support the interaction

3. The phase structure that aids the process

Many of these features also describes learning circles in face to face setting.

1. Set of defining dimensions

This online learning circle model is defined by six

characteristics.

Diversity of participants

Distribution leadership

Centrality of project base work

Phase structure for interaction

Knowledge building dialogue

Final group shared project

2. Norms that support the interaction

Norms are implicit that develop among group of

people which guide behaviour. In setting up learning

circles, the facilitator needs to think about ways to

develop these norms. Talking about norms is one of

making them explicit but one of the most effective way

of setting norms is through modeling them. Where

circumstances allow, the first meeting of the circle

should be in person. It is much easier to develop such

practices and habits when there is shared experiences in

a face to face setting. However , the best use of this time

might be to engage in activities that surfaces some of

the issues that result in norm setting by the group.

Trust

Respect

Open and flexible approach to thinking

Individual responsibility

Group reciprocity

3. The phase structure that aids the process

Learning circles have a beginning, a set of steps

and an end, which distinguishes them from

other forms of community development.

The first phase begins with the organization of

the circle

Circle size is determined by balancing the need

for diversity of perspectives with oppurtunities

for interaction

The circle opens with activities to build trust

and cohesion, moves to framing the projects is

followed by shared work on the projects and

then exhibitions or sharing of completed work

leads to the end of the circle

At the end of a learning circle, the participants

often join a new circle if they choose to

continue and thus repeat the above cycle.

The timeline and headlines are an important

part of the learning circle experience

Diversity of the participants is such an

important part of the learning structure

A) Opening the circle

B) Defining the set of projects

C) Working in the project

D)Sharing outcomes

E) Closing of the circle

A) Opening the circle:

o It is concerned with setting the

culture and establishing the practice

for learning circle interactions.

o Putting people in the room and

simply giving them time to talk, or

connecting them on a networks with

space for chat does not make them a

well functioning group ,much less a

community

o It is important to understand the

differences

o The goal in arranging people in

learning is to maximize diversity and

then use that diversity as a resource

o However for diversity to be a

resource , there needs to be a high

level of trust and respect.

o Activities described in this phases

work to ensure the development of

trust and respect

o Building community : a central goal

of the first meeting is to create trust

and respect that underlies group

work and knowledge building

o Collaborative learning: Identify is a

closely tied to learning . Who we are

is shaped by who we associate with.

Each person makes a contribution to

the group identity. The group identity

will shape and forms and process of

learning

o Setting expectations: Depending on

what happened during the getting

ready phase and the participants

experience with learning circles, the

first meeting is also a time set

expectations

o Comfort with technology: Finally the

opening session is a test run to make

sure that everyone can use the

software that will be used for

meetings and projects

B) Planning the projects

o Designing the project is the most

important phase of learning circles

and for sometime difficult to

understand. The reason is that we

are used to having defined projects

and clear project leaders. One of the

important dimensions of learning

circles is distributed leadership

C) Sharing the outcomes

o Circle participants organize the

information they exchange for their

project into a part of the circle

presentation

D) Closing the circle

o The closing date of the learning circle

should be listed in the timeline

o Circle members may be needed to

be reminded of the timetable and

the ending date

o It is nice to plan for the end so that

circle partners have a chance to say

goodbye as the work is completed

CONCLUSION

These different forms of learning circles wisdom circles, circle

time, study circles and quality circles are all structures for

face to face dialogues. But learning circles can also take place

over a networks in an online or virtual setting. This specific

use of the idea of learning circles refers to an online structure

for linking participants from different countries to work

together using their diversity as a resource to achieve deeper

understandings and henceforth it is an effective model as far

as teaching learning process is considered.

REFERENCE

1. David and Roger Johnson,Edythe JohnsonThe new Circles of LearningASCD

2. Michelle CollayLearning CirclesCorwin Press