Moodle Course and Teacher Blog Posts

As was outlined in earlier "Major Digital Project" posts, one of the main goals of the Teaching with Technology workshops was to:

• Explore, plan and implement a technology tool to support an instructional strategy or outcome. The model will support selecting, evaluating, and reflecting on the teacher’s plan.
•  Share the successes, challenges, and implementation of the strategy or additional technology integration as a community of learners through a series of blog posts and reflections.  

Our hope was to make the learning process of the teacher participants visible, and to provide a supportive collaboration space for teachers to share their project experience.  Our division made an upgrade to Moodle over the summer, so in our planning we decided we wanted to try out some of the Moodle blogging features.  In planning the session we began by creating a Teaching with Technology section on our Moodle site.  We then enabled the blog block for the Teaching with Technology course.

During our session we introduced the teachers to the SECTIONS model for evaluating technology tools.  The sections model is divided into four parts: Define, Assess, Implement, and Refine.  Our plan is to have teachers submit a blog post for each of these four parts as they work through their project.

Participants were given time during the workshop to complete their first post.  In this post they answered the following questions related to the Define component of the sections model:

• I really want students to learn...
• I think I could be more effective in facilitating this learning if...
• The learning activity that I've chosen to address these objectives is...
• The technology I'm thinking of using to support this learning activity...

Teachers were also asked to attach the Assess Checklist document to the first post.  The Assess Checklist document was the checklist teachers used based on the SECTIONS model to evaluate their chosen technology tool.  Displayed below are a couple of examples of initial blog entries made by participants.

Sample blog Post 1

Sample Assess Checklist

As teachers work on their class projects they will be asked to submit two more blog posts.  The second blog post will address the Implement portion of the SECTIONS model.  Teachers will complete this post while they are actively implementing the project with students.  In this post teachers will respond to the following questions:

In observing the students engaging with this activity, I notice...

The technology I have chosen is enabling the learning because...

The technology I have chosen is a barrier to learning because...

Feedback from students about this technology is...

Sample Blog Post 2

A final post teachers will be asked to submit will be for the Refine part of the SECTIONS model.  In this section teachers will be asked to consider future changes or improvements.  During this stage teachers will reflect upon:

• What worked?
• What didn't work and why?
• I need to change...
• My plan to make this change is...

Final Blog Post

Leanne and I have begun the dialogue in this area by commenting on participants' first blog posts.  We plan to encourage teachers to support each other in this space by viewing and commenting on the posts of other participants.  Participants in future sessions will also get the opportunity to view and comment on all participating teacher posts.  It is our hope that this will encourage sharing of ideas between teachers and help in our development of a technology fair.

The Other Side of the Projector

In my role as Technology Coach I often provide various training and professional development presentations for staff.  Today I had the opportunity to sit on the other side of the projector as a participant in a CS6  training session.  The session focused namely on Photoshop and Flash.  These are two programs I have limited experience with, so I found myself fully engaged in the experience.  I walked away from the full day session feeling like it was a very worthwhile session.  It got me thinking about the qualities of an effective PD session.  The aspects of today that I enjoyed included:

• Instructor demonstrated deep knowledge of the material
• Presentation was organized and included an outline for participants
• Explanation of WHY to do things as instructed or HOW to use in class
• Support documents and links were provided
• Step-by-step instructions provided (and repeated)
• Individual exploration (play time)
• Opportunity to ask questions
• Humour and Fun

Have you attended any great PD workshops lately?  Why were they great?  What are the qualities of a great presentation?

SECTIONS Model

SECTIONS Model

In this post I intend to outline the reflective document teachers utilized as part of the Teaching with Technology Professional Development workshop.  This workshop makes up a portion of my Major Digital Project.  For more information about the project, please visit my "Major Digital Project" page, or any post labeled "Major Digital Project".
A significant component of the Teaching with Technology PD project involves helping teachers document the process of incorporating a specific tool to successfully implement an effective teaching strategy. My colleague and I wanted to provide teachers with a reflective process that would allow them to identify and evaluate a potential tool; a way to measure the successful use of the tool; and a way to consider the future use of the tool in their teaching practice.  After some research, we found an excellent document from the University of British Columbia Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology.  The document is titled, "Assessing Technology: Using the SECTIONS model", and it based on a framework originally identified by Bates and Poole in the book, Effective Teaching With Technology in Higher Education.  [Bates, A.W.; and Poole, G. (2003) Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations For Success. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 79-80]

As is suggested in the document, the SECTIONS model is designed to "facilitate decisions with regard to choice of technology at both the strategic and tactical level, and also to help decide within a particular technology the most appropriate balance between different media." 

The process is divided into four parts: Define, Assess, Implement, and Refine.
During the Define stage teachers identify what they are looking to accomplish and establish the direction they will take.  Reflection questions in this stage include:

• I really want students to learn...
• I think I could be more effective in facilitating this learning if...
• The learning activity that I've chosen to address these objectives is...
• The technology I'm thinking of using to support this learning activity...

After sharing the nine effective teaching strategies with teachers, we asked them to consider one strategy they wished to incorporate into their teaching practice.   They then completed the Design portion of the SECTIONS model with that effective teaching strategy in mind.  Of important note is that teachers were not asked to pick a technology tool they wanted to try.  Instead, they were asked to identify what they wanted students to learn and how they were going to address the specific learning objectives.  The type of technology to be used is only considered in the final question of the Define stage.

In the Assess stage teachers are asked to evaluate the technology they have chosen to use or explore using a checklist.  This multi-page checklist is divided into the following categories:
Students
Ease of Use
Cost
Technology & Learning
Interactivity
Organizational Issues
Novelty
Speed

In completing the survey, teachers are encouraged to contemplate features of the technology that are important to them and issues they may need to consider in using the technology tool in the classroom.
We asked teachers participating in the workshop to complete the Define and Assess portions of the SECTIONS framework during the planning portion of the workshop.  Once completed, teachers were asked to post these reflective pieces as part of a Moodle blog created for the workshop.  Details about this component of the project will be explained in a future Major Digital Project blog post.

Implement is the third part of the SECTIONS framework.  In this part teachers record initial impressions regarding the effective use of the technology.  Reflective questions include:

• In observing the students engaging with this activity, I notice...
• The technology I have chosen is enabling the learning because...
• The technology I have chosen is a barrier to learning because...
• Feedback from students about this technology is...

This portion of the SECTIONS model needs to occur once teachers have had the opportunity to implement the use of the technology tool with students.  Participating teachers are currently involved in this process with their students.  As they complete their class projects they will be asked to reflect on these questions as part of a follow-up blog post.

The final portion of the SECTIONS model gives teachers the opportunity to Refine.  In this section teachers are asked to consider future changes or improvements.  During this stage teachers reflect upon:

• What worked?
• What didn't work and why?
• I need to change...
• My plan to make this change is...

Once again, teachers will be asked to post reflections on this section as part of a final blog post.  Our ultimate goal will be for participating teachers to share these projects and this reflective practice experience with fellow colleagues as part of a future Technology Fair.

Our first impressions of the SETIONS framework have been very positive.  Teachers responded well to the format and found the checklist easy to use.  I would not hesitate using this document as part of future technology projects and workshops.

What are your thoughts on the SECTIONS framework?  Are there additional evaluations models to consider?

  http://wiki.ubc.ca/images/1/19/SECTIONS_Framework.pdf

Growth with Twitter

Photo Credit: mkhmarketing via Compfight cc

In a recent post, Cory Cochrane spoke about his stages of Twitter, and how they related to the 10 Stages of Twitter for Teachers as outlined by Daniel Edwards.  I was interested in what the 10 stages might be, so I took a look.  I was surprised by how accurately Daniel's stages matched my personal evolution in the use of Twitter. 
When I began, I was reluctant to sign-up to use Twitter, and rarely logged on to my account on my laptop.  While attending a few different conferences, I tried out some of the backchannel discussions during presentations and began to recognize a few of the names of people who were contributing to different discussions.  Eventually I got an iPad and was able to more easily access Twitter during "down time".  I began to follow specific users and retweeted ideas I liked as a form of bookmarking.  Retweets lead to direct discussions and follows from other professionals.  I slowly began to realize that I could tweet from apps like Zite, Flipboard, Kindle, and from the internet, and began to share more of what I was reading through tweets I composed.  I then began to add a few of my thoughts to these tweets as well.  Once I received my smartphone, it became even easier to check Twitter when standing in line at the grocery store, or while watching a commercial on TV.  Currently I find myself at about the 8th stage described by Daniel, and I am definitely at a point where I want to share my experience with fellow colleagues.
Over the past couple of weeks my department has been hosting educational technology advisory working groups as part of a needs assessment to help determine the focus of future technology deployment in our school division.  During these meetings a number of participants have expressed an interest in the need for collaborative sharing of resources and ideas between teachers.  Looking at the Saskatchewan Educators on Twitter document, it is apparent that few of the teachers from my division have declared their involvement on Twitter.  That isn't to say that they aren't using Twitter - just that they may not be using it for professional development purposes. 
As a department we have discussed the idea of providing interested teachers with "An Introduction to Twitter" type of PD session before Christmas.  The focus of this "getting started" session will be to:

• highlight the value of Twitter and dispel common misconceptions
• help teachers with account creation and the sign-up process
• explain Twitter language like "Tweet", "Retweet", and "Hashtag"
• explain how to tweet, retweet, reply, and follow
• discuss Twitter chats
• provide teachers with some key people and organizations to follow

I have compiled a number of resources in preparation of this session, including:

• Helping Educators Get Started with Twitter
• A Refreshingly Simple Guide to Twitter for Educators
• How Teachers Can Stop Being Afraid of Twitter
• How to Manage Your PLN Using Twitter Lists
• The 10 Stages of Twitter for Teachers
• The Unofficial List To Educational Hashtags
• Using Twitter Effectively in Education - with Alec Couros

Has anyone else put together an "Introduction to Twitter" session for their staff?  Any hints or resources would be greatly appreciated.

Teaching with Technology Presentation File

This video briefly outlines the presentation file and session format used for the Teaching with Technology Professional Development Workshops.  This encompasses one component of my Major Digital Project.  A full list of resources created for this PD session can be found on the Major Digital Project section of my blog.  Further explanations about each component of this project have been posted with a "Teaching with Technology" label.

Video Overview

Ideas?  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  I would be happy to hear from you.

Teaching With Technology Website Video

On this page I have included a sixteen minute video which highlights some of the key components of the Teaching With Technology website resource.  This resource is one component of my Major Digital Project for EC&I 831.  In the video I describe:

• the main focus of the resource
• the nine effective teaching strategies
• creating the environment for learning
• helping students develop understandings
• helping students extend and apply knowledge
• the criteria involved in selecting the suggested tools

Please feel free to add any tool suggestions you feel would assist in the implementation of various effective teaching strategies here.  Thoughts or suggestions for the professional development workshops?  I would love to hear your comments.  For detailed information about my entire project, please visit the "Major Digital Project" section of this website or view any posts with the tag, "Major Digital Project".

Teaching with Technology Professional Development Workshops

In this post I intend to provide a bit of background around the development of our Teaching with Technology Professional Development workshop sessions.  For a complete overview of my Major Digital Project please click here.

As described in my Teaching with Technology Website post, Leanne Forrest and I originally developed a resource designed to facilitate the integration of technology with nine effective teaching strategies to improve student learning for the 2012 IT Summit.  For the 2013-2014 school year, we wanted to offer professional development opportunities for teachers looking to integrate technology into effective teaching practice.  The development of these workshops was a multi-step process.

We began by outlining our ultimate goal for this project, which is to develop a community of learners to support each other, and to reflect on professional practice through a Moodle course blog.  We knew we wanted participants to complete the following as part of the project:
1.       Reflect on the role of technology to support the nine research-based strategies for increasing student achievement.
2.       Explore, plan and implement a technology tool to support an instructional strategy or outcome. The model will support selecting, evaluating, and reflecting on the teacher’s plan.
3.       Share the successes, challenges, and implementation of the strategy or additional technology integration as a community of learners through a series of blog posts and reflections.  
Ultimately our goal is to showcase these projects and experiences with other interested teachers through a technology fair.

Once we had established our goals, we revisited the Teaching with Technology resource to determine changes we felt we needed to make in order to achieve our goals.  Our original resource only outlined seven of the effective teaching strategies.  We decided it was important to provide background information and tool options for all nine strategies, so we reviewed the Classroom Instruction that Works book and updated our resource to include summaries and tool options for all nine strategies.

Next, we determined a time-frame for delivering the workshops.  We decided to offer sessions in October, January, and February with a focus on Grade 4-12 teachers.  With this decided, we sent out a registration email to teachers.  Current registration for all three sessions is at approximately 30 teachers.

Finally, we decided upon the workshop format.  When we first developed the website, we delivered the information as a "presentation".  We spoke about each of the strategies and explained the tools we had listed.  However, we did not want this to be the main focus of the Teaching with Technology workshops. Instead, we wanted to ensure teachers had adequate time for resource exploration and project planning.  With this in mind, we developed a workshop agenda to allow for the following:

• Project overview
• Introduction to the Nine Effective Teaching Strategies
• Connecting to the Teaching Strategies
• Project planning time
• Evaluating technology tools using the SECTIONS Model
• Documenting the Learning Process - Introduction to blogging in Moodle
• Individual project development time 

Leanne and I developed a number of resources in order to support the Teaching With Technology workshop, including: Teaching with Technology Website; Mimio presentation file; and Moodle course with Project Overview and links to required resources.

 

In future posts about my Major Digital Project I will describe in further detail the Teaching with Technology website, the presentation file, the Moodle course and blogging process, and the SECTIONS Model teachers used to select and use technology tools for the project.

 







Teaching with Technology Website

As explained in my previous post, "Final Project Outline", Leanne Forrest and I originally created the Teaching with Technology website as part of a presentation we gave for the IT Summit in 2012.  In this post I intend to provide a bit of background around the development of this resource.  For a complete overview of my Major Digital Project please click here.

The inspiration for the Teaching with Technology resource came from reading the book -  Classroom Instruction that Works 2nd Edition by Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, and Stone.  In the book these authors regroup the nine effective teaching strategies as originally identified by Marzano, Pickering and Pollock into the following three categories:
1. Creating the Environment for Learning
2. Helping Students Develop Understandings
3. Helping Students Extend and Apply Knowledge

Focusing on these three categories and nine effective teaching strategies, Leanne and I developed a resource designed to facilitate the integration of technology with these strategies to improve student learning.  As is stated on our home page, "Focusing on these strategies to improve learning while matching pedagogy, content, and technological knowledge, allows a focus on teaching and learning that includes technology."  

While this resource lists a number of technology tools, our focus is not on telling teachers which tool they should use, or on providing them with technical instruction for how to use each tool.  Instead, our goal is to help teachers identify effective teaching practice, and to realize that technology can be used to help support the implementation of each teaching strategy.

In the resource have provided a brief overview and summary for each category, and have divided each category into sections based on the corresponding teaching strategies.  For each strategy we have included suggestions of tools which could be utilized to integrate the strategy into teaching practice.  By no means is this list of tools all inclusive, and it has been updated and modified over time.  As part of this final presentation we have created a public Google Spreadsheet and we are asking for teacher input.  Our intention is to periodically visit the spreadsheet and to update the website with tools suggested by workshop participants.  Please feel free to add to the document.
 
When first developing the list of tools, Leanne and I attempted to suggest tools that fit the following criteria whenever possible:
1. Since we originally designed this resource for Regina Catholic teachers we did not include apps, because we did not have tablet devices available at a system level at the time of creation of this resource.  Our intention is to further develop this website to include app suggestions for each teaching strategy.
2. Because our division does not have student email accounts we tried to include tool options which do not require student email accounts in order to create accounts
3. Because many Web 2.0 tools include terms of service which require students to be 13 or older to create an account, we tried to include tool options which do not require the creation of accounts, or that allow for teachers to create "class" accounts for students.
4. When possible we have tried to list "free" tool options.

In preparing for our Teaching with Technology Professional Development sessions we revisited the entire resource and made a number of  modifications:

• Added the "Reinforcing Effort and Providing Feedback" section
• Added the "Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers" section
• Added the "Additional Tools" collaborative Google Document
• Revisited each effective teaching strategy section and modified suggested tools (removing outdated tools and updating new offerings)

Please feel free to explore the effective teaching strategies document and to add to the list of tools we have suggested.  Feedback will be greatly appreciated.

1. Creating the Learning Environment
2. Helping Students Develop Understandings
3. Helping Students Extend and Apply Knowledge

I plan to provide a more detailed video explanation of this resource in future "Major Digital Project" reflections, along with information regarding the development of the professional development workshops, and project reflections. Please visit the "Major Digital Projects" section of my blog for resources and support materials related to this project.

Updated Presentations Page

I have updated my presentations page to include some of the Social Studies and Mimio resources I have co-presented over the past year.  Please feel free to check them out here.

Thoughts on Professional Development and Technology Integration

Last year our school division introduced a new form of interactive whiteboard technology in our schools.  After a lengthy decision process involving a variety of stakeholders, the decision was made to use Mimio technology.  Interested teachers were asked to complete an application process to receive a device.  As part of the application process, teachers were asked to identify ways they intended to use the device to support student learning.  Close to 180 teachers received a MimioTeach bar in September of 2012, and an additional 120 applicants received a device in January of 2013.  Our department is anticipating an additional 40-50 applicants will receive a device during the 2013-14 school year.

A key component, (and expense), of this project has been the training and professional development which accompanies each device.  All participants receive the equivalent of two full days of training and professional development. 

The first session teachers receive is a 1/2 day introduction to Mimio, where they are given basic training in the use of the device.  Approximately one month later, teachers return for a full day of professional development, where they are given strategies to help them integrate interactive whiteboard technology into effective student instruction.  During this full day, teachers create resources focused on curriculum content they are actively using in the classroom.  When possible, the teachers have worked closely with curriculum area consultants to create resources that can be shared with teachers within the division.  To date, around one hundred resources have been developed and shared in the areas of ELA, Math, Pre-Kindergarten, and Kindergarten.  The third 1/2 day session is used about one month after the second session to allow teachers the opportunity to continue their lesson and skill development.  This format has proven to be quite successful in the year since it was introduced.

In creating a professional development plan for the deployment of these devices, our department considered a number of options.  An article we referenced by Lewin C., Somekh B., & Steadman S. suggested that any introduction of technology in education that looks to change pedagogic practice will take significant time.  The authors suggested a minimum of two years, as teachers worked their way through three levels of adoption.  Pictured below are two charts we shared with school based administrators when the devices were first introduced in the classrooms.


Adapted from: Lewin C., Somekh B., & Steadman S. (2008) Embedding interactive whiteboards in teaching and learning: the process of change in pedagogic practice.  Education & Information Technologies, 13, 291-303.

The ultimate goal is for teachers to work  through stage one and two, and begin using the technology to extend beyond their established pedagogic practice.  However, in order to get there, many teachers may need to begin by using the device in simple ways which align with previous teaching methods.  As teachers become more established with the technology, the hope is that they will push themselves to expand their methodology in the use of the technology in their instruction.

Is this an effective professional development model?  Only time will tell, as we have just passed the one year anniversary of the first wave of deployments. Early indications have been quite positive, and we have been very pleased with the progress made by the participants.  Please feel free to share any successful professional development strategies you are aware of that effectively support the integration of technology and teaching.