NEA GPS Network Online Community Facilitators Needed

  If you are interested, and have an educator in mind, please e-mail Barbara Frank for the information required: bfrank@nea.org 

What is this?

The NEA Great Public Schools Network is a place where people come together to share ideas and resources to improve student success.  It is free and open to all!  NEA established the site in July of 2013 and is looking to create active communities working together to improve public education. Check it out at gpsnetwork.org.

We are looking for online leaders who want to facilitate communities by collaborating through discussions and engaging others around particular areas of expertise. 

What areas of expertise?

Some topics are already up and being discussed, but people can create their own groups too.  We are looking for people to lead on these important topics:

• Classroom Management


• Teacher Evaluation


• Class Size


• Student Bullying


• Staff Bullying


• Achievement Gap


• Flipped Classroom


• ELL/ESL/ESOL/Bilingual Education


• Special Education


• Literacy


• NBCT

What is the online community facilitator's role?

The facilitator's role is to lead the online community, to grow and nurture it.  This means making the community exciting, vibrant, and a welcoming place to discuss professional topics and share resources. Resources may be from NEA, affiliates, or any other reliable sources.

What would your ideal online, community facilitator look like?

Effective community facilitators need to have experience in education, online community engagement, and expertise in a particular area to create and maintain a vibrant community.  Time will need to be dedicated to developing the community, as it takes 7-9 months, 2-5 hours a week, to start up an effective group. Effective communication skills in writing and through digital engagement are important.  NEA will provide training on maximizing the use of the site and fulfilling your role.  The facilitator should already be actively engaged in online communities and have demonstrated successes in this area. 

What is the stipend?

NEA members who are community facilitators will receive a stipend of $2,500 USD per year, paid quarterly.  If you want to share the responsibility with a partner (who also needs to fill out an application form), you'd split the payment and each get $1,250.  The community you facilitate has to be active, and so do you, to get paid.  Our benchmark is that to build a great community usually takes 2-5 hours a week and takes about 7-9 months.