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Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small number of schools located throughout the world. There are two sessions each year, September - January and January - May. To join iEARN Learning Circles, you must first be a member of iEARN and complete an iEARN Learning Circle placement form two weeks before the beginning of the session. Once you complete the placement form you will be placed in a circle for the next session. | ![]() |
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Learning Circles
will be at the SIRIKT conference Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, from April 14th
to the 19th, 2008. There will be two presentations. Downloads
of the the presentation materials and handouts are available here. The January to May 2008 session of Learning Circles is now under way. At this time we are no longer accepting new registrations. We have 82 classes participating in 11 different Circles (our most ever). Learning Circle projects have been planned and classrooms are currently exchanging student work. Soon classrooms will begin working on their final publications. During the January 2008 session of Learning Circles we will be doing extensive research to help improve our project. All participation is voluntary and if you decide to not participate in the research it will not affect your participation in Learning Circles in any way. We are asking selected participants to participate in surveys, interviews, an extensive case study that follows your participation in Learning Circles. We will also have some incentives for those who are involved in the research and complete all phases. All participants will receive information regarding our research in your reconfirmation email. We are hoping that you will be interested in participating. Learning
Circles at the 14th
Annual iEARN International Conference in Cairo in July 21 - 26, 2007 Learning Circles Asia/Pacific has a new Finished Project Page. Please click here to view student work. Our
Newest Circle Theme: My Hero Learning Circles Three Learning
Circles workshops and a Keynote Address by Margaret Riel were presented
at the 13th International
iEARN World Conference and Youth Summit, July 3-7, 2006, in Enschede,
the Netherlands. Presentation materials are now available for
you to download. Learning
Circles The Netherlands Articles on
the Use of Learning Circles in Educational Programs |
| Learning Circles Structuring Cross-Classroom and Researcher Collaboration: iEARN Learning Circles has been a long running project that has facilitated Internet and communication technology collaborative project-based learning among classrooms is diverse regions of the world since 1995. Twice a year (September and January) as many as 80 to 100 classrooms are connected in interactive Circles for the purpose of online project work. The result is authentic student work and true international collaboration. Learning Circles have also been taking place for 6 years in French and English as a part of the Global Teenagers Project a project of the International Institute of Communication and Development. In the March 2003 session, they had 170 classes from 90 secondary schools from 21 counties in Europe, Africa, Central and South America, and the Near East. Student circle interaction can be read from the Virtual Classroom. There is a modified version of the Learning Circle Teachers Guide in French, Spanish, and English. In Mexico, Círculos de Aprendizaje (in Spanish) were organized organized by Carlos Martínez from Monterrey, Mexico (originally organized by Jorge H. Gutiérrez). The Learning Circle Teacher Guide is available in Spanish. Another project that uses some aspects of the Learning Circle structure and guide is the Friends and Flags Project dedicated to multicultural education, for information on this project contact Karen Eini in Israel. They give teachers the options of registering to be in triangles and squares as well as circles. In 2002-2003, Learning Circles were used to connect researchers. Each year since 2002 Learning Circles have been used by graduate students to support and organize action research as part of their online Masters of Arts degree program in Educational Technology at Pepperdine University. For more information contact Margaret Riel at mailto:mriel@pepperdine.edu. |
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Schedule for 2007 - 2008 Learning Circles
The
first edition of CIRCLE NEWS will be
posted to all participants announcing the beginning of the "Getting Ready"
Phase (Sep 26th and Jan. 30th). This first phase is one week and it involves
testing accounts, and reviewing the Learning Circle Timeline
and reading the Learning Circle Teacher's Guide. The next
Circle News message will "open the Circle."
Circle News 2 formally opens the Learning Circle session and will contain the names and addresses of the classes that have been placed in each Learning Circle. It invites the teachers and students to begin introductory activities. After teachers and students find out about each other through letters and a class survey, the activity shifts to planning the Circle projects which are drawn from the curriculum of each classroom related to the Circle theme.
To understand more about Learning Circles, read the first section of the Learning Circle Teacher's Guide and look over the "Teacher Comments" at the end of each section of the Teacher's Guide.
iEARN members can participate in one Learning Circle each session without any additional cost. You must be a member of iEARN to participate, and you need to complete the Learning Circle Placement Form 2 weeks prior to the start of a session.
Placement forms can be submitted in any time prior to two week before the Learning Circle Session. Late forms are sometimes accepted during the two weeks prior to the start of Learning Circles if there is space in a specific Circle. Applications received after October 1st will be considered for the next session.
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Learning Circles Themes
Computer
Chronicles - This theme promotes writing across the curriculum. Interaction
online revolves around producing a newspaper called The Computer Chronicles.
Each class has the opportunity to sponsor one or more sections of the newspaper
as their Learning Circle project. They solicit articles from their partner classes
and edit them to create one section of the newspaper. This section is combined
with the other sections sponsored by circles partners to form the completed
newspaper, the Circle publication.
Places
and Perspectives - Places and Perspectives encourages students to
explore regional history, culture, government, and geography by sharing their
knowledge with people from different locations. The goal is to help students
understand how historical events and geographic conditions interact to help
shape their lives and gives them a deeper understanding of themselves, their
families and their communities. Each classroom sponsors a project for a section
in the Places and Perspectives Review. For instance, a classroom might sponsor
a section on local legends, interview native inhabitants or the elderly, describe
the historical attractions of the area, examine local constitutions, or compare
weather patterns, map studies.
MindWorks
- MindWorks is an writing theme designed to enhance creative and
expository writing as well as develop different forms of self-expression. The
goal is to help student learn how to communication their thoughts and feelings
in writing, then share and compare them with other students from distant places.
The Circle publication for Mind Works is a literary magazine that might be called
Creative Minds, Mind Works or a name selected by the group. The sponsored projects
could be a specific form of writing such as: personal narratives, place poetry,
city dialogues, school fables, local myths or personifications of local products.
Or students can select a topic to sponsor and request different forms of expression
on subjects like the family, jobs, schools or cities.
My
Hero - My Hero Learning Circles is a joint venture between Learning
Circles and the My Hero project (www.myhero.com).
This Circle will bring together students and teachers who are interested in
collaborating with other schools from diverse areas of the the world on the
topic of My Hero through writing, photography, and digital video.
Teachers are invited to sponsor a theme for a Learning Circle. We will list it in this space to help create this special circle.
If you would
like to facilitate a special theme Learning Circle, send information to bskramer48@hotmail.com
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These forums are like classrooms. They are intended for use by the students and teachers who are part of the Learning Circle. They are private spaces for the work of teaching and learning. We hope to be posting excerpts of student publications soon.
These forums are listed here to make it easy for those who are members of a Learning Circle to use this web page to interact with their Circle partners. If you want to be a part of a Learning Circle, you are most welcome but first need to be a member of iEARN. If you want to know more about these Learning Circle themes, click on a theme icon.
| Computer
Chronicles cce1 Computer Chronicles -- elementary school level ccm1 Computer Chronicles-- middle school level cch1 Computer Chronicles -- high school level |
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| Places and Perspectives ppe1 Places and Perspectives -- elementary school level ppm1 Places and Perspectives -- middle school level pph1 Places and Perspectives -- high school level ppr1 Places and Perspectives Research Group -- middle school level |
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| MindWorks mwe1 MindWorks -- elementary school level mwm1 MindWorks -- middle school level mwh1 MindWorks -- high school level |
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My Hero mhe1 LC My Hero -- elementary school level mhm1 LC My Hero -- middle school level mhh1 LC My Hero -- high school level mhi1 LC My Hero Interactive -- middle school level |
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While not all Learning Circle Teachers have access to the Web, this is increasing each session. Teachers have been working with their students to put their section of the publication, their Learning Circle Projects on the web. We are also beginning to have the complete circle publications online.
Congratulations to the students and teachers of the following Learning Circles for creating online Learning Circle Publications!
September 2007 - January 2008 Finished Project Page
September 2007 - December 2007 Learning Circle Course Finished Project Page
January 2007 - May 2007 Finished Project Page
February 2007 - April 2007 Learning Circle Course Finished Project Page
Asia/Pacific Learning Circles - March 2007 Finished Project Page
September 2006 - January 2007 Finished Project Page
September 2006 - December 2006 Learning Circle Course Finished Project Page
January 2006 - May 2006 Finished Project Page
February 2006 - April 2006 Learning Circle Course Finished Project Page
September 2005 - January 2006 Finished Project Page
January 2005 - May 2005 Finished Project Page
September 2004 - January 2005 Finished Project Page
Jan-Jun-2002 Places and Perspectives (Elementary)
Sep-Jan 2000 Computer Chronicles (Elementary)
Jan-May 2000 Places and Perspectives Learning Circle (Elementary)
Sep-Jan 99-00 Computer Chronicles (Elementary)
Jan-May 1999 Computer Chronicles Learning Circle (Elementary)
Sep-Jan 98-99 Computer Chronicles (Elementary)
Jan-May 1998 Computer Chronicles Learning Circle (Elementary)
Jan-May 1998 Places and Perspectives (High School)
Also please visit the Learning Circle Projects which are individual school's contribution to their Learning Circle Publication.
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To help schools create online publications, we have created some templates and graphics that can be used to help create your web page documents. For each type of Learning Circle there are two templates. One is the index with the list of schools and the name of the projects. The second is a project or section template to be used for projects or sections created by each school. Copy the source code and the graphics and modify use any html editor to modify for your Learning Circle.
Templates
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Learning Circle Timeline - 2008: Session 1
Getting Ready
Prior to Week 1
Jan 28 - Feb 3
Teachers log on to iEARN, receive Circle News and read the Teacher's Guide. They introduce the concept of Learning Circles to their students.
Opening the Circle
(2 weeks)
Feb 4 - Feb 17
Learning Circle interaction begins. Classes log on and respond to the Electronic Roll Call. Each teacher sends an introductory message to the on-line Learning Circle forum. Teachers and students prepare and send their responses to the Classroom Survey. Welcome Packs are mailed to postal addresses.
Planning the Learning Circle Projects
(2 weeks)
Feb 18 - Mar 2
Teachers in the Learning Circle discuss the projects proposed in the Classroom Survey. Each class selects a section to sponsor. The class sends a message to the forum describing the information it would like to receive.
Exchanging Student Work
(6 weeks plus one week break)
Mar 3 - Apr 20
Student work on different projects is collected and sent to the Learning Circle forum at least once or twice a week. Teachers and students continue to plan and share work related to the Learning Circle projects. (Most groups will be out of school for at least a week during this period, the circle continues with those who are in school).
Organizing the Circle Publication
(3 weeks)
Apr 21 - May 11
Students evaluate, select, and edit the articles they received for their project. Teachers work with students in their classroom to layout and print their section of the Circle publication. Schools exchange project reports (electronically or via postal mail) and assemble their Circle publication.
Closing the Circle
(1 week)
May 12 - May 18
Teachers and students send their final good-bye messages to the forum and the Learning Circle closes. The list will still be active for a few weeks after the end of Learning Circles to make sure all final messages are received.
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Learning Circle Timeline - 2008: Session 2
Getting Ready
Prior to Week 1
Sept 30 - Oct 5
Teachers log on to iEARN, receive Circle News and read the Teacher's Guide. They introduce the concept of Learning Circles to their students.
Opening the Circle
(2 weeks)
Oct 6 - Oct 19
Learning Circle interaction begins. Classes log on and respond to the Electronic Roll Call. Each teacher sends an introductory message to the on-line Learning Circle forum. Teachers and students prepare and send their responses to the Classroom Survey. Welcome Packs are mailed to postal addresses.
Planning the Learning Circle Projects
(2 weeks)
Oct 20 - Nov 2
Teachers in the Learning Circle discuss the projects proposed in the Classroom Survey. Each class selects a section to sponsor. The class sends a message to the forum describing the information it would like to receive.
Exchanging Student Work
(5 weeks)
Nov 3 - Dec 7
Student work on different projects is collected and sent to the Learning Circle forum at least once or twice a week. Teachers and students continue to plan and share work related to the Learning Circle projects. (Most groups will be out of school for at least a week during this period, the circle continues with those who are in school).
Organizing the Circle Publication
(3 weeks plus one week break)
Dec 8 - Jan 4
Students evaluate, select, and edit the articles they received for their project. Teachers work with students in their classroom to layout and print their section of the Circle publication. Schools exchange project reports (electronically or via postal mail) and assemble their Circle publication.
Closing the Circle
(1 week)
Jan 5 - Jan 12
Teachers and students send their final good-bye messages to the forum and the Learning Circle closes. The Christmas Break is used as time for mailing sections to the schools with the final comments and good-byes taking place when many students return to school in Jan. The list will still be active for a week after the end of Learning Circles to make sure all final messages are received.
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Learning Circle Coordinators for iEARN:
Barry
S. Kramer
bskramer48@hotmail.com
Margaret
Riel
mriel@us.iearn.org
Last update: April 2008