Online Professional Development Through Virtual Learning Communities

Powerful collaborative learning―anytime, anyplace!

Online learning seems like a perfect solution for cost-conscious districts and busy teachers, but can these programs also deliver high-caliber professional learning? Using one district’s success story as a model, this timely book shows you how to combine well-designed online instruction with the energy of peer-to-peer collaboration. At the heart of this book is a model that supports powerful professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for every student.

Sonja Hollins-Alexander writes from her own experience building a successful online professional development (PD) program for a large urban district. Readers will find

• Research-based support for online PD and the author’s original Learner-Learner model
• A thorough planning guide and ten action steps for program development
• Best practices for managing staffing and resources
• Strategies for establishing a true community of learners online

Discover how to create a sustainable online PD program that promotes collaboration and growth!

"This book provides district and school leaders with a practical guide to shifting professional learning from more traditional ‘sit and get’ models to technology-enhanced models that foster collaboration and co-creation."
―Catherine Huber, Principal
Northwood Elementary, West Seneca, NY

Sonja Hollins-Alexander, EdD, is a Senior Consultant and Best-Selling Author for Corwin Publishing. During her 9 years at Corwin, she has served as the Director of Professional Learning, Associate Vice President of Global Professional Learning Services and Associate Vice President, Content Advisor and Scholar. She has been in the field of education and publishing for thirty years with sixteen of those being in educational leadership at the school, district, and higher education levels, and 11 of those being in educational consulting and publishing. During this time, she has served as a school social worker, teacher, assistant principal, principal, coordinator, director of professional learning, and chief of staff, serving in two Metro Atlanta, Georgia, school districts.

Through her professional journey, she has had experiences in strategic planning, policy development, stakeholder communication and engagement, instruction and curriculum design, facilitation of adult learning strategy, executive leadership coaching, conference facilitation and design, and has served on numerous quality assurance teams with Cognia (formerly SACS CASI) school accreditation and certification organization and United Way Non-Profit boards. She is a Corwin co-author of two best-selling publications consisting of the following: Mindframes for Belonging, Identities and Equity: Fortifying Cultural Bridges, and Collective Equity: A Movement for Creating Communities Where We Can All Breathe. She is also the author of Online Professional Development through Virtual Learning Communities.

Sonja holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in social work, a teaching certificate in middle grades language arts, a specialist’s degree in educational administration and leadership, and a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction. She is committed to partner engagement and implementation of evidence-informed sustained professional learning services that positively impact teaching and learning―not by chance but by design.

Her email is Sonja.HollinsAlexander@corwin.com