PeerSphere

Peer Learning Networks

Why is PeerSphere Coordinating Peer Learning Networks (PLNs)

 

In partnership with PD Academia, PeerSphere wants to support the professional learning of educators and administrators that traditionally are underserved by its existing conferences. For the 2023-24 school year we will be offering 40 Peer Sharing and Learning Communities for these roles:

  • Senior Leadership Roles: Heads of School, Principals, Deputies

  • Non-Teaching Administrators: Business Managers, HR Managers, Facility Managers, Marketing and Admissions Managers

  • Middle Leadership Roles: Coordinators, Heads of Faculty, Year Level and Subject Leaders

  • Learning Assistants

  • Global Citizenship and Service-Learning Educators (CAS)

  • Student and Community Wellbeing

  • Whole School Librarians

We believe that some of the most effective professional learning is when schools enable an environment where teachers and administrators dictate the learning agenda, ensuring it is time relevant. PLNs are intended to have participant lead agendas, with meetings that are professionally moderated, so that experience and resource sharing is productive and collaboration is nurtured and curated in online forums.

 

Additionally, due to the specialized nature of these roles, it is difficult to find experienced and engaging facilitators to provide quality professional development. It has also been our experience that the best speakers for these roles are often peers working at schools within our region. With the assistance of PD Academia, peer speakers are given training on how to prepare and deliver engaging and impactful learning experiences that introduce new perspectives and fuel collaboration amongst peers. The result is high impact, low cost PD.

What is a Peer Learning Network (PLN)

 

There is a lot of untapped potential and expertise in our schools. It is an opportunity to promote collaboration among education professionals with similar job responsibilities in a similar regional context. These high-impact, condensed learning sessions, often referred to as Job-Alikes, provide an opportunity to share resources, information, and engage in discussions and planning that will immediately benefit the participants and their schools. The PLN will provide participants with the opportunity to meet live, online, three times a year, as well as interact in an online forum where they can share resources and advice to pressing questions related to their specific roles.

The Benefits
of a PLN

 

Because of the specialized nature of certain teaching and administrative roles it is very difficult for those educators and administrators to collaboratively learn with colleagues from their own school. PLNs give staff in very specialized roles an opportunity to meet and learn with peers from other schools in a similar regional context.

The benefits of networked learning include:

  • Learn about topics that are timely and relevant to your needs

  • Share and receive great ideas, resources, and practices

  • Collaborate on common professional inquiries

  • Broaden your perspective from peers who understand your regional context

  • Feel seen and heard by peers experiencing similar challenges

  • Better understand your role relative to others

  • Strengthen your professional network

  • Professionally moderated meetings and forums

  • Bilingual, English, and Mandarin Chinese Strands

  • High impact and low-cost professional development

PLNs for 2023-24

 

PeerSphere will be coordinating 40 PLN strands for the 2023-24 school year, in both English and Mandarin Chinese:

  • Senior Leadership Roles: Heads of School, Principals, Deputies

  • Non-Teaching Administrators: Business Managers, HR Managers, Facility Managers, Marketing and Admissions Managers

  • Middle Leadership Roles: Coordinators, Heads of Faculty, Year Level and Subject Leaders

  • Learning Assistants

  • Global Citizenship and Service-Learning Educators (CAS)

  • Student and Community Wellbeing

  • Whole School Librarians

To enhance sharing and learning, ACAMIS’s Strand Moderator will:

  • Survey participants to identify topics and questions they want to explore

  • Identify topic matter experts to share cases and best practices

  • Moderate meetings and breakout session debriefs to surface key insights and questions for further exploration

  • Group Peers based on on common professional inquiries

  • Ensure there are breakout rooms for Mandarin Chinese speaking participants

  • Actively moderate a discussion forum

  • Curate key insights, ideas, and resources identified in each meeting

Participants for each strand will receive access to:

  • 5 Live Moderated Meetings

  • A forum where key insights, resources, and best practice cases are curated from meetings

  • Translated materials, in Mandarin Chinese (Contingent on Permissions)

  • Moderated forum discussions where a Strand Moderator will regularly post articles and resources in answer to participant inquiries, as well as stimulate thinking on time-relevant topics

  • Recordings to all meetings

  • Contact information and ability to privately connect with strand participants

 

Each PLN will have five live facilitated online meetings over the course of the year. Each meeting will be 90-minutes and follow this agenda:

  • Keynote presentation to frame conversations related to the agendas focus inquiry and/or learning objective

  • Peer Learning Group Presentations on Findings from Professional Inquiries

  • Breakout to brainstorm ideas, process information and resources from the presentation

  • Moderated debrief of breakout discussions to identify key insights and popular themes for further exploration

  • Participants join breakout discussion theme they are most interested in exploring. This will ensure participants can delve deeper into topics with peers that have a similar level of experience and interest in the topic.