|
iEARN Global 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 register in the iEARN Collaboration Centre 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. | |
The Teachers'
Guide to Learning Circles (Revised 2005), by Margaret
Riel provides detailed descriptions of Learning
Circles and includes many suggestions on how to structure cross-classroom
collaborations in your classrooms. More information is available at Online
Learning Circles. We have prepared a Frequently
Asked Questions page as well as many handouts
and presentation materials about the iEARN
international Learning Circles project. |
|
The January to May 2013 session of Learning Circles is entering the publication phase. In a few weeks you will be able to download and view all the project from this session. We have 110 classrooms in 13 different Circles participating in telecollaborative project work. The next session of Learning Circles will begin on September 30, 2013. Learning Circles will be at the 20th Annual iEARN Conference and Youth Summit in Doha, Qatar, July 1 - 6. More information will be posted soon. You can view Final Projects/Presentations from the September 2012 to January 2013 session of Learning Circles. Learning
Circles presentations were given at the Kappa Kappa Iota Conference in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 20-23, 2012. Major speeches
and workshops on iEARN Global Learning Circles were presented by Barry
Kramer. Learning
Circles The Netherlands Articles on
the Use of Learning Circles in Educational Programs |
Learning Circles Links
| 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 Mart’nez 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. |
Schedule for 2012 - 2013 Learning Circles
September to January Session (2012: Session 2):
Begins September 30, 2012 and ends on January 15, 2013 (15 weeks with a 1-week break in December).
Learning Circle Placement forms are due September 15, 2012
January to May Session (2013: Session 1):
Begins January 30, 2013 and ends on May 25, 2013 (15 weeks with a 1-week break in April).
Learning Circle Placement forms are due January 15, 2013
| The first edition of CIRCLE NEWS will be posted to all participants announcing the beginning of the "Getting Ready" Phase. 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.EARN 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. |
Learning Circles Themes for 2012 - 2013
 |
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 world on the topic of My Hero through writing, photography, and digital video. For more Information: http://myhero.com/myhero/go/theteachersroom/lessons_view_blu.asp?id=832 |
|
|
My Hero: A Call To Action - My Hero: A Call To Action is an advanced level project for teachers and students who have already participated in My Hero Learning Circles. Students and teachers will discuss and collaboratively plan action components to put the principles of the My Hero Project into action in their local community. |
|
 |
The Bat-Chen Diaries - The Circle will be based on the children’s book the Bat-Chen Diaries and will focus on the theme: "For Me, Writing is Something Awesome." The purpose of the Circle will be to expose children to the values of writing a diary; to encourage young children to write in a reflective and personal manner and express their anxieties, fears and concerns as well as their hopes and dreams - hopefully this will lead to getting acquainted with others. Part of the process will include creating "Dream Circles” where children share similar dreams from all over the world. In this Circle children will attempt to plan and initiate actualization of their dream. This is based on believing that initiative is the bridge between dreams and success. The Final Publication for this project will be a joint publication called a pupils' "Book of Dreams" |
|
 |
My City and Me - My City and Me is a social, cultural and environmental project. Students will explore what they can do to improve their life in the place they live, so they can be active members of their communities. Through online discussions and collaborative project work students will learn more about local governments and identify what they do for their territory as youth. These may include participating in social and environmental projects. Students will also create projects that share the cultural part of their life in the city. | |
| Teacher Sponsored Themes - 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. |
These forums are like classrooms. A list of all the Learning Circle forums can be found at: http://collaborate.iearn.org/space-11. You need an active iEARN login name and password to access the forums online. 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 ccm2 Computer Chronicles-- middle school level cch1 Computer Chronicles -- high school level cch2 Computer Chronicles -- high school level |
|
|
Places and Perspectives ppe1 Places and Perspectives -- elementary school level ppe2 Places and Perspectives -- elementary school level ppm1 Places and Perspectives -- middle school level ppm2 Places and Perspectives -- middle school level pph1 Places and Perspectives -- high school level pph2 Places and Perspectives -- high school level |
|
|
MindWorks mwe1 MindWorks -- elementary school level mwm1 MindWorks -- middle school level mwh1 MindWorks -- high school level |
|
|
My Hero |
|
|
My City and
Me |
|
|
Bat-Chen Diaries bcd1 Bat-Chen Diaries -- middle/elementary school level bcd2 Bat-Chen Diaries -- Hebrew language level |
|
| Global Issues gen1 Global Issues: The Environment -- high school level |
Most 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 complete Circle publications online. EAch Finished Project Page features all the work that was created by students and teachers during one Learning Circles session.
Congratulations to the students and teachers of the following Learning Circles for creating online Learning Circle Publications!
Also please visit the Learning Circle Projects which are individual school's contribution to their Learning Circle Publication.
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 use any html editor to modify for your Learning Circle Templates.
Learning Circle Timeline - 2012: Session 2
Getting Ready
Prior to Week 1
Sept 30 - Oct 7
Opening the Circle
(2 weeks)
Oct 8 - Oct 21
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 22 - Nov 4
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 5 - Dec 9
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 10 - Jan 6
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 7- Jan 15
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.
Learning Circle Timeline - 2013: Session 1
Getting Ready
Prior to Week 1
Jan 30 - Feb 9
Opening the Circle
(2 weeks)
Feb 10 - Feb 23
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 24 - Mar 9
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 plus one week break)
Mar 10 - 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
(2 weeks)
May 12 - May 25
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.
iEARN Learning Circle Coordinators:
Barry S. Kramer
bskramer48@hotmail.comMargaret Riel
mriel@us.iearn.orgLast update: May 2013
