This document discusses professional learning communities and their role in 21st century professional development. It presents an assignment where students are asked to redesign a prior coursework assignment to incorporate components of 21st century professional development, including integrating 21st century skills into teaching practices, using project-based learning methods, enhancing critical thinking, and illustrating how content knowledge can improve problem-solving abilities. Students are to summarize the changes made to their redesign assignment and reflect on challenges in meeting the new expectations related to mastery of program learning outcomes.

1. Discussion 2
Professional Learning Communities
One component of the
21st Century Professional Development
framework encourages sharing knowledge with fellow faculty,
using face-to-face, virtual and blended communications. When
we think of sharing knowledge, we often think of using
professional learning communities. In several of your courses,
the concept of a professional learning community (PLC) is
presented and elaborated on. A professional learning community
consists of individuals with an interest in eduction. The focus of
a professional learning community can be taking measures to
ensure students learn, creating a culture of collaboration in the
school, for school improvement and more (DuFour, 2004). In
this discussion, you will deliberate about the use of professional
learning communities as they relate to the 21st Century
Professional Development
framework with an emphasis on technology
.
Initial Post:
Think about the 21st Century Professional Development
framework and technology when working in your mock
professional learning community. Next, imagine your state
legislatures have asked the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s
Office to advise them regarding the creation of a blended
professional learning community across the districts within the
state. As an educator who is well versed in employing critical

2. thinking, problem solving and 21st-century skills in the
classroom, you have been selected to participate with a group of
other teachers to inform and persuade the Analyst’s Office of
why the incorporation of technology to work collaboratively
with other teachers in the state is important.
Work with your mock PLC group to come up with a supported
argument based on personal experiences and scholarly literature
in which you:
Discuss how you could incorporate and implement the use of
technology to create a blended professional learning community
across districts within your state to share knowledge with fellow
faculty on how a deeper understanding of subject matter can
actually enhance problem solving, critical thinking, and other
21st-century skills
.
Discuss how creating a professional learning community can
increase the ways teachers seize opportunities for integrating
21st-century skills, tools and teaching strategies into their
classroom practice — and help them identify what activities
they can replace or de-emphasize.
Discussion 3
Link Your ePortfolio
In this discussion, you will attach a link to your ePortfolio and
reflect on your redesign activity from the Week Four
Assignment. Your instructor will not post individual replies to
all learners. Instead, the instructor will post a synthesis of the
redesign activity on Day 7 (Monday). The instructor will find
common themes and challenges associated with the assignment
from Week Four to provide feedback to the class as a whole.
Although your instructor will not provide individual feedback,
you will be graded on whether or not you attached the link to

3. your
ePortfolio (Pathbrite)
, your reflection of the assignment, and your responses to peers.
Initial Post:
Attach a link to your electronic portfolio. Next, in one page,
reflect on the major result of your study and why the outcome is
interesting, describe the relevance of your findings to the field
of education and/or beyond, describe other directions this study
could lead to, and summarize the changes you would make to
the study in retrospect.
Assignment
Leadership and 21st-Century Support Systems
This assignment requires you to make connections between
21st-century support systems, specifically
21st Century Professional Development
components. As the emphasis is on professional development,
consider prior coursework that included collaboration, self-
reflection, and other components pertaining to your growth as a
practitioner and how that may contribute to student outcomes.
There are several approaches you could take with this
assignment. However, it is recommended the assignment you
select to redesign includes at least one of the components found
on the
21st Century Professional Development

4. link and listed here:
Highlights ways teachers can seize opportunities for integrating
21st century skills, tools, and teaching strategies into their
classroom practice — and help them identify what activities
they can replace/de-emphasize.
Balances direct instruction with project-oriented teaching
methods.
Illustrates how a deeper understanding of subject matter can
actually enhance problem-solving, critical thinking, and other
21st century skills.
Enables 21st century professional learning communities for
teachers that model the kinds of classroom learning that best
promotes 21st century skills for students.
Cultivates teachers’ ability to identify students’ particular
learning styles, intelligences, strengths, and weaknesses.
Helps teachers develop their abilities to use various strategies
(such as formative assessments) to reach diverse students and
create environments that support differentiated teaching and
learning.
Supports the continuous evaluation of students’ 21st century
skills development.
Encourages knowledge sharing among communities of
practitioners, using face-to-face, virtual, and blended
communications.
Uses a scalable and sustainable model of professional
development.
For example, you may redesign an instructional plan with
assessment plans embedded throughout, or a full assessment

5. plan including a summative assessment that demonstrates either
points f or g, both focusing on student assessment. On the other
hand, you might select a previous assignment that focused on
professional collaboration and/or PLCs and modify it to support
points d, h, or i.
If you do not have previous assignments to use in this
assignment, please contact your instructor for guidelines on how
to proceed
. As needed, refer to the
MAED program learning outcomes (PLOs) list
as needed. Upload your assignment to the course for evaluation
and to your
ePortfolio (Pathbrite)
.
Create your assignment to meet the content and written
communication expectations below.
Content Expectations
The Redesign expectations explain what you are required to do
with the prior coursework you choose to redesign. The Summary
expectations are for the separate written portion of this
assignment.
Redesign – 21st Century Professional Development (3 Points):
Redesign of an instructional plan with assessment plans
embedded throughout, or a full assessment plan with a
summative assessment that includes integration of 21st Century
Skills, teaching strategies, project-oriented teaching methods,
problem-solving, and critical thinking.
Summary – Introduction/Conclusion (1 Point): A one paragraph
introduction to the summary that concisely presents the scope
and organization of the summary writing, as well as a one

6. paragraph conclusion that recaps your summary’s key points.
Summary – Modification (1 Point): In one paragraph,
summarize the changes you made to your activity to meet the
redesign expectations for this assignment. Explicitly state how
your redesign assignment provides evidence of mastery of PLOs
5 and 7
Summary – Reflection (1 Point): Summarize, in one paragraph,
your experience with the redesign in terms of challenges you
encountered and how you overcame those challenges.
Written Communication Expectations
Page Requirement (.5 points): Two to four pages, not including
title and references pages.
APA Formatting (.5 points): Use APA formatting consistently
throughout the assignment.
Syntax and Mechanics (.5 points): Display meticulous
comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics such
as spelling and grammar.
Source Requirement (.5 points): References three scholarly
sources in addition to the course textbook. All sources on the
references page need to be used and cited correctly within the
body of the assignment.
For information related to APA style, including samples and
tutorials, please visit the
Ashford Writing Center.
Required Resources
Required Text

7. Burnaford, G., & Brown, T. (2014).
Teaching and learning in 21st century learning environments: A
reader
.
San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Chapter 6: Leading Change in Education
Articles
DuFour, R. (2004, May).
What is a professional learning community?
Schools as Learning Communities 61
(8), 6-11. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/may04/vol61/num08/What-Is-a-Professional-
Learning-Community%C2%A2.aspx
In this article, DuFour discusses what professional learning
communities are and how we can incorporate them into our
schools to ensure students learn, create a school culture of
collaboration, and a focus on results.
NETS for students 2007.
(2012). Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students/nets-
student-standards-2007
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is
a website that provides a way for educators to connect with
peers and share knowledge and ideas. ISTE also offers
innovative EdTech resources to support professional learning in
the education field.
Read the standards
. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/the-
standards
This website from the U.S. Department of Education defines the

8. Common Core State Standards and what is expected of students
at each grade level. The focus of CCSS is on core conceptual
understandings and procedures starting in the early grades,
providing teachers a timeline needed to teach core concepts and
allowing each student the time needed to master the concepts.
Website
Framework for 21st century learning
. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-
framework
The Framework for 21st Century Learning presents an all-
inclusive view of 21st-century teaching and learning. It
combines a focus on student outcomes with support systems that
help students’ master skills they will need in the 21st century.