Reading Reflection #2 : Arika White

Throughout chapter two, it was made clear that project based learning will be useful in the lives of everyone for as long as there is work to be completed in a learning community.   A learning community can be any business work team, big or small, that engages in ongoing, collaborative problem solving focused on making the business better.  Learning communities are beneficial because they in the process, individuals and the team expand their ability to achieve the end results.  Importantly, they assist each other in developing new ways of thinking and new strategies to find a solution based on the prior knowledge of the individuals.  Learning communities effect teachers because with all of the extra work that teachers are responsible for leaves little time for them to discuss, in detail, and share their strategies with other fellow teachers.  However, learning communities makes this possible and encourages teachers to make beneficial additions to their strategies.  Learning communities affect students by creating a teaching strategy that allows students with many different learning styles to learn.  Shared vision in learning communities creates a school where everyone works together in learning and growing as a whole.  The goals of a school with a shared vision includes that the students are learning, a culture which welcomes collaboration and school improvement in encouraged, and results are focused on.  This chapter on learning communities relates to our project highly in the area of collaboration and shared ideas.  Not only is our project being completed through a process of shared ideas and strategies of our group members, but also in our virtual project as well.  We are extending our learning community across the globe to receive knowledge and exposure to many other areas as well from a country across the world that our students will communicate with.