Net Results: Online Protocols Boost Group Learning Potential

Educators have begun to use protocols to facilitate professional development in online spaces--partly because people need to connect from different places, but also to take advantage of new environments for learning. For example, asynchronous tools, such as discussion forums, blogs, or Google+, where participants post messages to one another at different times--extending a conversation over a week or two--enable participants to take advantage of additional time to reflect and give more thoughtful feedback. This article answers why protocols are necessary and useful, outlines the need for and the role of a strong collaborative leader to successfully facilitate such a group, and offers lessons learned in utilization of this system of rules for information exchange. Attached to this article is "One Protocol, Two Ways," which describes both the in-person version and the online version of the "Descriptive Consultancy." The Descriptive Consultancy has two purposes: helping practitioners think through a dilemma that they present, and expanding their power to address it.