Connecting virtual learning communities

Educators are increasingly encouraged to develop a diverse repertoire of pedagogies to provide personalised and connected learning opportunities which encourage students to be creative learners in an online world. To support teachers address 21st century learning paradigms Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) has responded by implementing a virtual learning environment which foregrounds student centered learning aligned with evidence based accountability and decision making. Using the Catholic Education Learning Tool (CELT) teachers can use a repertoire of virtual learning tools that complement evidence based school improvement and accountability while embedding e-learning opportunities.
The virtual learning environment is integrated with a student management system and incorporates the development of an assessment system.
When using the CELT, teachers are able to efficiently and consistently organise curriculum with their teaching and learning and respond to the personal learning needs of their students. A range of e-learning opportunities are embedded in the learning design to allow teachers to align emerging pedagogies with a high degree of accountability. Learning resources are accessed from CELT and access to The Le@rning Federation digital curriculum content is selected through Scootle and made immediately accessible to students through learning opportunities sequenced in the CELT.
The fundamental premise of the CELT is that teaching is more effective in achieving learning outcomes for students when decisions (by the learner and by the teacher) are informed by readily accessible, connected evidence of learning. Utilising the CELT, teachers are able to group and regroup students to customise personal learning opportunities. CESA embarked on a model of curriculum reform using the implementation of a virtual learning environment to enhance collaboration, customisation, personalisation and differentiation of learning opportunities for all learners.
Aligned with this virtual learning environment, CESA has also explored partnerships that enable learning in diverse ways with new learning environments. A more flexible path has been developed to offer teachers and students access to a trial of social networking tools within a secure environment. This 21st century learning paradigm offers students the opportunity to belong to networks both within and beyond the school where knowledge, resources and problem-solving initiatives are shared. The learning community of the school is able to be networked with other learning communities where best practice is shared, and links are developed to enhance a greater understanding of what is possible for 21st century learning.

This is how you cite this paper: