Dynamic Change and Collaborative Learning Environments

Dynamic Change and Collaborative Learning Environments

The continuous transformation in educational organization requires investigation of how the organization can be equipped to collaboratively handle constant changes and still improve. Leadership and organizational theory provide the support into looking at how an organization functions and how change happens within that organization. Educational organizations are always trying to catch up; hence, a system of improvement is necessary for teachers to have direct access to in-house experts to learn. (W. W. Burke, 2008) identifies an educational environment as an “open system” because it depends on a constant connection with the environment. The literature offers many distinctions about the “what” of change, such as planned or unplanned; however, there is a lack of information about the “why” and “how” of implementing change. Burke (2008) refers to the “what” part of change as content and the “how” as the process. As stated by Burke (2008), “…management consulting tends to focus on the content- on what needs to be changed. The process of how to bring about the change is either ignored or left to others, especially the client, to implement” (p. 165). Dufour and Eaker (1998), report that trying to change beliefs and habits will be complex and difficult to achieve. They state, “…if a change initiative is to be sustained, the elements of that change must be embedded with in the culture of the school” (p. 133). As stated by Fullan (2008), “Systems can learn on a continuous basis. The synergistic result of the previous five secrets in action is tantamount to a system that learns from itself” (p 14). Performance and outcomes will always change so the system will have to learn from itself in order to move forward with changes for continual success. In addition, Bandura (1997) supports the idea of a system learning from itself when he says that people can and do control their own motivation and thought process using observation and self-assessment to change their behaviors and attain goals. Peer observation is one way the system (the school) can learn from itself.

The Professional Learning Community as a whole is the stakeholder. Administrators, teachers, staff, and students all hold a piece to the success of a community of learners that look to increase their knowledge capacity by learning from each other.