Sunday 8 December 2013

Teaching with Technology PD Workshop Summary

My Major Digital Project is complete! For now anyways.  You can view all project resources on my Major Digital Project page.  For a complete overview of the project, please refer to my compilation of Teaching with Technology blog posts.  All major digital project posts were labeled  "Teaching with Technology".  They were posted in the following order:
  1. Final Project Outline
  2. Teaching with Technology Website
  3. Teaching with Technology Professional Development Workshops
  4. Teaching with Technology Website Video
  5. Teaching with Technology Presentation File
  6. SECTIONS Model
  7. Moodle Course and Teacher Blog Posts
  8. Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned


In previous posts I have described the Teaching With Technology workshop which has been the focus of my Major Digital Project.  In this post I intend to highlight the lessons which were learned through the process, and the modifications Leanne Forrest and I plan to make for upcoming sessions.

A couple of weeks after the Teaching With Technology Session, we sent participants a follow-up email.  In this email we told them we had provided feedback on their blog posts and asked them for session feedback by completing an online survey.

 

Unfortunately, the timing of the survey was close to report card and interview time, so the response rate for the survey was quite low, with only two of the seven participants completing the survey.  Listed below are the survey results.  
 
In reviewing the survey responses and participant comments we were able to determine a few different things:
  • Participants liked the website resource and found it useful and easy to use
  • Participants were happy with the format for the workshop
  • Participants liked the SECTIONS model
  • Participants were open to the idea of using the blog to post about their progress with their chosen project
  • Participants are less interested in viewing and commenting on the blog posts of others
  • Participants like the idea of a technology fair, but are not interested in helping to organize the event

Moving Forward

Leanne and I are excited about the possibilities of this PD opportunity and are looking forward to upcoming sessions.  We have two sessions already planned for the early months of 2014, and registration for both sessions is already at capacity, with 20 participants per session.  In these upcoming sessions we plan to implement the following changes:
  1. Introductions: At the start of our session we introduced ourselves as presenters, but we did not take the time to allow participants to introduce themselves to others and identify their teaching assignment.  Fortunately, because of the small group size introductions did naturally occur, and because of this teachers began to network with participants with similar teaching assignments.
  2. Networking Opportunities: Teacher feedback indicated they would like more opportunity to network and collaborate with other participants during the project.  This might include Skype sessions between classrooms, joint class blogging projects, etc.  We plan on encouraging and promoting these ideas in future sessions.
  3. Establish Professional Learning Networks: We recently offered a "Using Twitter to Grow Your PLN" session for all Regina Catholic employees.  As part of that session we promoted the hashtag #rcsdtech for the sharing of tech ideas and resources through Twitter.  We plan to encourage the use of Twitter and hashtags in upcoming sessions
  4. Resource Updates: We will continue to update the website with resources suggested by teachers
  5. Timing: In the future we will avoid offering sessions close to report card season.
  6. Commenting: Upcoming session participants will be able to view and comment on blog posts from the first session.  We would like to encourage this and plan to build a commenting section into the PD workshop.
As in any PD session I have given, there is always room for improvement.  Leanne and I plan to reevaluate future sessions and make modifications as suggested by participants.  We look forward to collaborating with teachers to create opportunities for teaching with technology in the classroom.

Monday 2 December 2013

Summary of Learning

In preparing my Summary of Learning project, I spent time looking back over the extensive notes I have collected over the past few months.  In doing so I came across the goals of the course as identified by Alec:
  • better understand the historical role technology and media have played in educational & social change; Achieved thanks to the knowledge shared by Alec and a variety of guest presenters
  • become knowledgeable of social learning tools as tools for teaching, facilitating learning, professional development, & designing educational environments; Achieved through the sharing of my EC&I classmates and my PLN
  • become familiar with the wealth of open educational resources (OERs), learning-related content, & media available for teaching & learning; Achieved through the sharing of my PLN on Twitter and through Goolge+
  • become knowledgeable of relevant educational theories and philosophies that inform teaching and learning in the digital age; Once again, achieved thanks to the knowledge shared by Alec and a variety of guest presenters
  • better understand the many social, ethical, political, cultural, and administrative issues often associated with technology & media in education and society; Achieved through personal experience and the shared experiences of others in my PLN
  • become critical consumers and producers of digital media and information; and, Achieved through active participation in the three ongoing class assignments
  • build sustainable, personal learning environments and networks. Work in Progress.  I am very happy with the progress I have made in this area.  I choose to consider this a work in progress because it is something I will continue to build and nurture in my professional life.
In our first class Alec made the statement that we as a class would determine our learning experience.  What a learning experience it has been!  The advancements I have made in the area of social media have occurred because of the collaborative efforts of all of the EC&I 831 community.  Thanks to everyone for connecting with me and sharing this experience.  I have managed to view a few of the Summary of Learning assignments which have been posted to the blog hub already, and I am impressed.  I look forward to viewing all of them as they become available.  Embedded below is my Summary of Learning project for EC&I 831.  I will be posting my final thoughts on my Major Digital Project later in the week.