Fusing Learning with Technology
PL - It's Time for a Change
Now that our district is 1:1 with Chromebooks and we have a dedicated district Technology Integration Specialist, it is time for a change in the way we train our staff on how to use technology.
Why do we need a change?
Even before I entered my current position as a Technology Integration Specialist for our district, I realized that teachers were struggling to learn technology to use in their personal and professional lives. There are so many options out there and they change on a regular basis. Who has time to learn and keep up with all that?
When my district created a new position of Technology Integration Specialist for the district (my current position) I was excited for the new role. I had been training teachers already to help them with learning technology and when Covid hit, I had even more teachers reach out to me. However, as a teacher myself, I did not have the time, or energy to help them as much as I would like. When I was given this new opportunity as a Technology Integration Specialist I was ready to hit the ground running and excited to show teachers how technology could benefit them and their students. Then reality set in...
​
In addition to obtaining 1:1 Chromebooks for our entire district (staff and students), our teachers were required to learn two new major programs this year and implement in their classrooms. Still reeling from Covid and the stresses that it brought, they were now trying to learn new programs and had to deal with Chromebooks being issued to all students. They were overwhelmed and about to shut down. It's not that teachers don't want to learn, it's that ours didn't know how much more they had it in them to keep learning so much new at one time. In addition to exhausted teachers, I struggled with finding ways to reach all of the staff at convenient times. Before and after school teachers are in duty, meetings, and/or on coaching/UIL assignments and not available for training. Lunch and Learn opportunities are a struggle because there are so many different lunch times throughout the district that didn't match up well. Finally, while I would be available on their campuses on certain days during the conference periods to come visit with me, I found that they had so much work to be doing it was hard to get away during those times.
It was time for me to start looking at alternative ways to reach my staff. I have been researching and trying out new ideas for a different type of professional learning that can reach all of our staff where they are and when they can participate. Technology is here to stay and now that our district is a 1:1 Chromebook district, we need to equip our teachers with the knowledge and understanding to utilize these devices in the best possible way for them and their students. If we want to be successful with training our staff to use technology, we need to change our traditional way of professional learning and try a new direction.
How do we make the change?
Times have changed and so should our professional learning. We need to meet our teachers where they are and give them what they need to succeed. This will not be a one-size-fits-all approach and it will not be a one-and-done approach either. It's time to customize professional learning to give our teachers what they need. In order to do this, we need a variety of resources available to them.
​
After nearly a year of working in this position, I have created a professional learning plan to implement in the 2022/2023 school year. The first part of this program will be a full year badging program. This badging program will be optional but will allow teachers to earn different products for use in their classroom. Each teacher that wants to participate will join a Google Classroom for the school year for the badging program. They will then have annual, monthly, and twice a month challenges. They choose the challenges they want to complete to learn more about the programs they want to add to their Tech Toolbox.
​
The second part will be goal specific professional learning each semester and this will be mandatory. I will meet with the teachers at the beginning of each semester for a short time. They will choose a tech based goal they have for themselves for the semester. While this goal is required, it will not be used in evaluations, but is a way for teachers to have some control over their learning. They will have a new goal each semester. We will then have a Google Classroom that they will join based up on their content area and campus. Teachers work closely with their content areas in their respective campuses so this will be a group they are comfortable working with. Throughout the semester, they will have check-ins on that Google Classroom where they report how they are doing on their goal and get feedback/support/resources from me and their peers. This will lead to them having control over their learning and also lead to them teaching each other as they learn.
Access the slidedeck with speaker notes here.
Individual Resources
Here are individual resources pertaining to the entire Alternative Professional Learning Project.