In The Connected Educator, authors Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall integrate professional development that is currently working in schools with a new model connected learning communities. Connected learning communities are a three-pronged approach to effective professional development using the local (professional learning community), contextual (personal learning network), and global (community of practice) environments. Connected learners take responsibility for their own professional development. They figure out what they need to learn and then collaborate with others to construct the knowledge they need. Instead of waiting for professional learning to be organized and delivered to them, connected learners contribute, interact, share ideas, and reflect.

The book draws heavily on the authors experience as members and leaders of connected learning communities. This model shifts the locus of control to each reader, the connected learner, rather than vesting it in outsiders, higher-ups, and professional development consultants. The intent is to help each educator, as well as the partners, parents, and policymakers who support him or her, improve learning and teaching in and beyond the classroom walls.

The authors emphasize the importance for educators to embrace the technological revolution permeating society. To remain relevant to students, educators need to use the networked landscape of learning to re-envision what happens inside schools and classrooms. The time has come to reject incremental change and to radically transform education to reflect the current global community. Teachers must learn to model connectedness and enable students to develop personal learning networks, made up of people and resources from both their physical and virtual worlds but first teachers must become connected collaborators themselves. The need for teachers to fully exploit the transformative potential of emerging learning technologies and to do it within a global framework is the focus of The Connected Educator.

Chapter 1 sets the stage for understanding what it is to be a connected learner. Chapter 2 makes a case for connected learning in communities. Chapter 3 explores the importance of being a learner first, educator second. Chapter 4 looks at developing a collaborative culture and a mindset that supports connected learning. Chapter 5 invites readers to explore free and affordable technologies and virtual environments that support collaborative learning. Chapter 6 guides readers through the steps of implementing a connected learning community. Chapter 7 examines how to sustain the momentum of professional learning using scale as a strategy for co-creating and improving a learning community. Chapter 8 focuses on leadership system, school, and teacher leadership in a distributive model. Chapter 9 looks at what the future holds for the connected learner and what being a connected learner means for each reader.

Review
Sheryl and Lani are great examples of action researchers. As you read this book, keep in mind their commitment and passion as doers. They speak from experience and are experts at scaffolding learning. As you consider new ways of supporting teachers or becoming a connected educator, this will be your go-to resource. --Dean Shareski, Learning Consultant, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada

There is tremendous power in educators being better digitally connected, but most don t know how to get there. This amazing book gives teachers and administrators the why and the how so that they can ramp up quickly and effectively. --Scott McLeod, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership Studies; Founding Director, UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), University of Kentucky, Lexington

There is tremendous power in educators being better digitally connected, but most don t know how to get there. This amazing book gives teachers and administrators the why and the how so that they can ramp up quickly and effectively. --Scott McLeod, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership Studies; Founding Director, UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), University of Kentucky, Lexington

About the Author
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach is a veteran twenty-year educator. She has been a classroom teacher, technology coach, charter school principal, district administrator, university instructor, and digital learning consultant. Currently, she is completing her dissertation for her doctorate in educational planning, policy, and leadership at the College of William and Mary.

She is the owner and founder of 21st Century Collaborative, LLC, a digital learning consulting business through which she regularly delivers keynotes and workshops, along with supporting nonprofits in their grant work. Through Powerful Learning Practice, which she cofounded with Will Richardson, she works with schools and districts from across the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and Australia to re-envision their learning cultures and communities.

Sheryl is a sought-after presenter at national and international events, speaking on topics of 21st century reform, teacher and educational leadership, community building, and educational issues impacting marginalized populations such as the homeless.

Sheryl lives near the Atlantic Ocean and spends her spare time playing on the water with her four children and dachshunds Itchy, Bane, and Abby.

Lani Ritter Hall has more than thirty-five years of diverse teaching experiences in urban, suburban, and independent schools at the middle and secondary level in the United States and Canada. She and her students began collaborating globally in the 1980s using a curriculum she designed and developed. Lani, a National Board Certified Teacher, has created and facilitated professional development around technology infusion into learning for more than twenty years and has presented at local, state, and national conferences. She has expanded her global collaborations through her leadership role in the initial years of K12Online, the first educator-led, free, totally online conference; her participation in the first massive open online course that explored connectivism and connective knowledge; and through her current roles of community leader and co-director of connected coaches in online communities of practice for Powerful Learning Practice.

Lani earned a bachelor s degree in political science from Earlham College and a master s degree in curriculum and instruction from Cleveland State University. She lives with her husband in Northeast Ohio.