What are models of professional growth plans including evaluations that promote the use of technology with learning?

Professional growth in the area of technology should focus on models that integrate into other subject areas. Integrating technology should be increasing student learning in a way that could not otherwise happen. A teacher must look creatively at their curriculum and wonder what resources could best help student learning. That teacher also needs to know “what IS possible” with technology.

From my experience, presentations and learning from people the teachers are already comfortable with –colleagues, is the best model. This professional development can take several approaches.

• At the beginning of each faculty meeting, one person would be asked ahead of time whether they would like to share one of their samples of a tech integrated project. This would be a 5-10 minute presentation with stated objectives and goals for learning, showing the project, sharing the rubric, etc. and explaining the ease/difficulty for the teacher & students.
  
  This always brings a group “aha” and is a good way to share what happens outside of our own classrooms. The presenter is then looked at as a resource if another teacher wants to incorporate tech features they are unsure of.
  
• Support is key to any integration: Support for the hardware and confidence that it will work; and support for the teacher’s learning when trying something new.
  Coursework– Many teachers sign up for graduate classes on how to integrate technology, or take a course on a specific program. In these classes, most often there is a good component of “how to use” the software/hardware in the classroom. Sometimes the newly learned software unfortunately is not available in that teacher’s school, and often after the class, the “expert” resource is lost.
• Workshops – Attendance at district or school-wide workshops can be the most helpful. As usual, teachers are always being stretched with schedules. Finding a time that works for many is difficult. We have found “short & sweet” is better than hours long. After school when it does not cut too deeply into the teachers “outside” of school time seems to bring attendance up. Best is… if the administrator mandates that all will be involved, but that is not easy to do. In-service days with rotating tech workshops run by the staff can be great and bring excellent results. The mentors and support remain in-house and encourages team work and collegiality.
  

Our district has workshop offerings after school taught by staff. People are finding this to be very useful although after 2 quick sessions the teacher still has many questions. The advantage here is that they have met people who can help and the instructor is also still accessible.
After the software specific workshops, we have online assessments for the teachers to take. These are skills tests (optional/not mandated) that teachers can take and receive a certificate and after receiving so many, or signing up for a certain number of workshops, they will receive a digital camera for their classroom. REWARDS! Check out the link.

http://www.cesu.k12.vt.us/profdevelopment/basicskillsforteachers/index.html

As a person who helps teachers integrate, I personally like the model of working one on one with a team or teacher. The steps:
1. Teacher has an idea or does not have an idea, but wants to incorporate technology and learn something new her/himself.
2. “Expert” helps teacher brain storm ideas. Get creative and figure out new ways students can learn.
3. The idea is born.
4. Expert and teacher work together to plan.
5. Expert and teacher stay a lesson ahead of students and together try it all out. This way the teacher learns and has the experience the students have.
6. Depending on confidence and comfort level of the teacher, either the expert teaches with teacher as a helper or teacher has the support of expert in the room on the first couple tries.
7. After the teacher gets used to the lesson, the expert can step back and be consulted as need be.

How does the rapid pace of change impact adults when using technology?

Some finally catch on to what works well, like creating a new unit using technology and online learning, but then often have to wait a year to try it out again. With the rapid innovations in technology, what happens in one year with technology could make what they did the year before seem "old hat".

Looking back @ the class presentations...

I really appreciated the passion that came from Bill & Anne.

Bill's commitment to experiential learning & classes without walls, and his Internet based explorations seem to be working well with the students he works with. Given: These students were not successful in the "traditional" classroom. But even the successful students would benefit greatly if hand-on learning happened more in our schools. He has seen and helped create self-driected learning in action and that came across in his presentation. The PPT stands alone in content (although it would not have the zest of Bill's personal presentation), yet I did not know whether to read or listen. As always with PPT, how much does the presenter say and how much do you include on the viewing screen. Maybe just the key points on the screen?

Anne's concern for women and girls not entering the STEM fields while they are very capable was presented very completely and well. She really eminates care and concern about this. At the middle level, I see the girls holding back in these areas and I also see that they use technology for different outcomes. Anne added to my "reasons why" it is so important to encourage girls to enter these fields. Our school has been part of the IBM EXCITE camp for girls for five years. Ten 7th grade girls are involved in a mentorship program whith a woman engineer. After meeting at the fun 5 day summer camp, they continue the rest of the school year with weekly communications and projects online with their mentors. They usually have a shadow day with their mentor at IBM and get together a couple times in the year at our school (a pizza lunch, a chocolate party with games, etc.) . I really think this program has a big impact on these girls. One of my boy students asked, "How come there are all those programs just for girls? Not fair!"

I was very impressed with how Dan just went right to it. Imported the lab to the gym, got the kids blogging and really dove right in. Sounded like there were some good results.

I enjoyed having a 9th grader in our class. Thanks Aimee. She actually had a very complete and an engaged list of comments for me on my presentation. I value & appreciated what she had to say.

Theresa & her colleague created a nice Spanish project that integrated technology and brought students' language skills further along.

I liked listening to all the presentations and gained some new perspectives and ideas. For me, that face-to-face contact in learning is important. That combined with our online communications is a good blend.

Through this class (the discussions, readings and blogs), I am moving to a new place with what and how I teach. The seed of transformation is blowing at me again.

Fourteen years ago I became a teacher. I was gung-ho, trying to teach my colleagues the wonders of integrating technology, as I learned myself. I teach in isolation but work with everyone in the school. As I reached out trying to have an effect on how our children access information and learn, always trying to hook a new adventurer, or nudge a reluctant teacher along...there were many conversations and attempts that stood still. I learned who might be interested and how I may be able to help them. I found my customers. I have had many successful opportunities to encourage and support the use of technology in the classroom, but somewhere along the way, the converstions and prodding got quieter.

The conversations have gotten louder again with new material. I am excited as I meet new staff who embrace learning with the advantage of technology. I am also eager to learn from my students who often are at the cutting edge of whats up and whats new.

How can technology enhance collaboration between learners (children and adults)?

Project-based learning using technology as a vast and rich tool can help us quickly answer questions, research topics and communicate with adults and children all over the world. The Internet has wiped out the boundaries that used to exist, and allows us to expose and share what we know or want to know on a global level. The beauty of this is that technology does cross over to worlds that would not otherwise be explored. It crosses the age, cultural & gender divide, to mention a few.

As children explore, they explore and find answers to questions in ways adults are not used to, and visa versa, a good teacher can help guide the child toward asking questions. Putting the child in the driver's seat to seek out the best resources can have them communicating with experts in another country, children in a foreign city, and keep their teacher engaged as a new learner as well. As the children explore, the teachers also learn.

Just today...I learned two new shorcuts on the computer from two different students.
First instance: A student was frustrated with "perfectly" placing his graphic on the screen, but it kept jumping to the hidden grid. In sitting down with him to show him how to turn off the "snap to grid" feature, he double clicked and something happened I never saw. He could separate all the pieces of the picture. We both knew it was not where we had intended to go...but on our way to find out something else, we learned so much more by our mistake. Even though he & I had trouble having this event happen again, we did figure it out together and thus we both learned something new. He felt very satisfied and he got to come to the LCD and show the class what we discovered. Empowering!

Second instance was...I guess we all become screen blinde after we know one way to do something on the computer. Well, I always change screen views by going to the menu, choosing view, and then clicking on the dropdown. As I asked my class how would you change your view in Word so it looks like a piece of paper, a girl raised her hand and said, "Just click on that icon on the toolbar". Well, I never even noticed that icon. She was proud she could show me a faster way! That was a student who thinks she is terrible with computers. Boosted her confidence!

When we as educators understand the fact that we need to change many of our old beliefs and the way we teach, as the world HAS changed, we can then embrace our students as our teachers which also increases their learning.

I really enjoyed the article about "learning circles". I can envision many wonderful scenario's where it would work well especially with project-based units. It invites technology integration on many levels. When I think of how I can use this in my own classes (which are taught as "skill's classes" out of the content areas with made-up projects), I run into the problem, that we are learning skills out of context of what they are studying. For years I have tried to change how I am "used", so that I can bring myself to the classroom and help integrate. So far, my school has not bought into it for various reasons. We are pushing integration in a big way, but changing schedules seems a lot harder. I have my students for 10 weeks and then they move on. Now I am wondering how I can use this idea and create a 10 week unit, student driven, that will also touch upon the tech learning piece.

Whenever technology users work together, they all learn. Perhaps they learn a new way of doing something that took longer, or perhaps they learn something from the person they are communicating with online. Regardless, working in groups with technlogy can make learning a more shared experience where the adults and children both win!

How can technology be assessed to demonstrate “independent” use by learners and still focus on curricular content?

In the online McGinn article, she claims the use of technology and assessing it to be a "natural, organic" process. I would agree with this. In the process of creating a product or using technology as a tool, there is constant revision. The user is always confronted with "how do I get this to work?", "why isn't this showing what I want", etc. and needing to trouble-shoot and thus learn. Most often, the process is far more valuable than the outcome.

I think students should have plenty of choice as to how they present, use and tap into technology, but it is very difficult for the teacher if there are too many directions toward new programs which students "may" not be equipped to use. It is a given that some students come more equipped and experienced with technology than others, yet we do not want to hold back those who can fly and we want to give time to those who do not have the skills. Therefore, if the teacher allows some choice yet has certain project criteria and expectations that all need to meet, there is still lots of room for students to learn (tech-wise) what they would like, use what they know, and be stretched to learn something new.

For instance, a students are studying arthropods in science. A project: Create a fantasy arthropod that shows you know all the traits of this animal, including the digestive system, the segments, etc. Some could hand draw their creature and then scan the drawing into a slide. Others may use "Paint" to draw their creature on the computer, labeling it with the parts, etc. Others may use PhotoShop to import an arthropod and change it's features digitally. Maybe all would present their project on the computer. Some could use PowerPoint, others movie maker, some would add sound, others would not.

Does technology offer answers in assessing learners, especially online opportunities?

It has always amazed me that the "standardized" tests do not make use of computers. Yet, I also see the flaws and problems in doing so. For instance, I do not "like" to write by hand, my writing is far more creative when I type (much faster & can keep up with my stream of conscience), I can cut/paste/edit easily and it IS legible. A student like me, will not do as well in the writing prompt without the use of technology. Then again, if a student is MADE to use the computer for writing when he/she has difficulty with the tech side, their voice, tone, and organization may go down the tubes due to the tech handicap.

The keyboarding program we use has a testing portion to it. It is wonderful to have a student type a screen, and at the end have the program run through it, highlight the mistakes, and report the typing speed and accuracy. This kind of assessment is a super time-saver for me and beats the old way of counting words per line and doing the math myself. A nice use of technology assessing.

I am always concerned about authenticity. With assessments online, there are holes that can be found and circumstances that are not taken into consideration.

I also am leary of the huge amount of resources that go into creating these assessments. Time - often by the time the assessment is created, fine-tuned, and tested; it may be time to create a whole new assessment. It reminds me of all the "new wave" latest strategies in the teaching and assessing field. We used to have competencies - paper records of tests students took. That went by the wayside (thank goodness) and Portfolios have come into the picture. Portfolios can vary in their grading dependent on the person assessing. Three different teachers can grade the same piece 3 different ways regardless of how many workshops they go to. I believe online assessment would have similar flaws. Also the usercreates the variable: For instance, our 8th graders investigate careers. They go to the "Bridges" site and take an interest survey. At the end, it tells them what careers they may end up being good at with those intests. The kids will take it seriously but often do not understand the question. Others will fill it out showing they are interested in nothing just to see the results. Money is another resource. The programs, the training and the constant need for updates can deplete school funds pretty quickly. More time seems to be put into assessing than teaching and teachers are often teaching for the test! That seems terribly backward to me.

What does “meaningful” and “effective” integration mean?


When technology is integrated into the curriculum in an effective and meaningful way, the hope would be that students and teachers use technology as a tool to enhance learning in a way that would not otherwise be touched. The end product should not be, "Let's make the tech piece the goal", but rather, "How can technology add to and increase learning?".

When skills based technology classes are taught outside the curriculum, the need and use do not seem as valuable as when there truly is a need for the student or teacher to gather and practice skills related to other learning. The need to practice skills is important and there is no better way than having a tangible project.

I often DO teach skills/applications classes, as well as help teachers integrate. When those skills are not used/practiced in another classroom project, the importance is not as visible and there can be a disconnect with the learning. I can teach e-mail skills, how to send an attachment and access school files from home, and ask students to practice it before they really need it. Many of them do, and learn. But, it is not until they really need to access those files and it does or does not work, that they finally gain that skill.

It thrills me to have teachers work with technology in meaningful ways where I can really see the students and teachers sharing new knowledge to enhance their units. The teachers' approach from "stand and deliver" naturally seems to move to "coach and guide" allowing students to take more responsibility for their own learning. The fear and lack of meaningful models in the classroom can cause a teacher to be blind to the benefits of technology in student learning. Even without teacher training, a good teacher who is flexible, willing to take a risk, and has some support, will realize they can learn from their students as well. The classroom becomes a lab of new sharing and excitement. Technology can address all learning styles and embrace varied teaching strategies in a way that is more natural to students than teachers.

How does a teacher’s disposition impact the use of technology with learning?

I believe the teacher's disposition has huge impact on student learning at school. For some years, I've been able to watch the students come up through the grades and guage where they are at with technology by what teams they have come from. Students with sophistocation have come from homes or teams that value technology in education and likewise, those with low to novice abilities come from homes or teams that do not use, value or teach tech. skills. This unfortunately divides the haves and the have-nots. If the student does not have a family that encourages computer use at home or does not even have a computer, this can be a very significant gap. After 2 years at our school, if a student comes up having certain teachers in grades 5 & 6, they can enter 7th grade with very low skills compared to those who have tech. at home, and the addition of having two years of teachers who embrace technology to enhance student learning. The teacher's dispostition definitely gives the students an advantage or disadvantage.

After reading the online article about "How Teachers Learn Technology Best", I felt really good about some of the integration and inservices I have been a part of. Many of our teachers and classes are using technology in exciting, creative ways which seems to appear to increase learning. Fortunately, our school does not have issues with lack of hardware or software, and we also have an open, fast Internet connection. Even with all this, we still do have staff who are reluctant learners for one reason or another. Some see no use in it, think it is going to take too much time, do not want to learn things they are afraid of, don't allow e-mail, have no expectations (despite the VT Standards), or simply use the computer lab as a baby sitter, not paying any attention to what the students are doing, so the teacher can relax. This is very unfortunate, but explainable. Teachers have as many hang-ups as our students! Their different learning styles and fears seem to be even more prominent than in their students. We expect teachers to want to learn, but there are many who will not embrace it. Some learn well in groups, some one-on-one, some by just having the time and motivation to explore, etc. Our administrator sees the value and encourages use, provides inservices (not usually mandatory), but does not really hold the staff accountable to show progress in this area.

We have had some very good inservices with our own staff teaching workshops. I have found the "coaching" model to work the best, to be the most productive and the least threatening. I agree with the staffdevelop.org article that it is all about the comfort zone of the individual.

Examples of teacher disposition impacting learning -
POSITIVE: 8th grade teacher who is an avid user, intersted where his students are at technology-wise, and very open to new ideas. Without ever really making movies himself, offered a movie-making enrichment time, put cameras in the kids hands, and gave them time and some tips. Due to his enthusiasm and ability to motivate, I am seeing students get turned on to a whole new application and those who had already made movies at home on their own are getting better.
NEGATIVE: An enthusiastic student was coming to Publishing Club, eager to learn webpage design. He began by making a classroom homepage and as a start re-created his classroom schedule in a table (which was new), learned a whole lot of other skills, was so excited, showed his teacher, and she totally shut him down. "No, I do not want a webpge!" The reason she gave was that it would be too much work for her. She lacked understanding that it would not be, as well as missed the opportunity to applaud this young man, his talent and encourage more learning on his and her part.

For me, as a teacher, it is very important to know my students. If teachers do not know how most of their students spend their time, this has huge impact on learning. We need to speak their language or at least learn it, so we can understand them.

Is there a disconnect between what students and teachers think about how effective technology is used to promote learning?

The notion that most of our teacher population has not grown up in the digital world and that, on the most part, technology is a new idea and tool for teachers does confirm the annalogy that we are "immigrants" to the field. We need to learn from our students, the "natives". Embrace them as our teachers and let them show us what you know.

Embracing technology means learning new ways and changing how we teach, which can be very intimidating for those teachers who are content driven, inflexible, and have no extra time. They cannot see the jewel that shines out there because they do not know what they do not know. Sometimes technology is viewed as a separate subject taught in isolation, rather than part of the plumbing that helps the learning happen. Often teachers do not know how easily students incorporate technology in their daily lives and what students are capable of. This can lead to fluffy assignments with minimal expectations for tech. use. Use of technology may be confined to researching however the kids can figure it out and writing a report with a little fancy formatting. The teacher may think he/she did a unit with technology use when the students view it as the normal task. Teachers need to learn the use technology in their classrooms that has meaning for their students, with authentic and effective expectations that adds to student learning. This was illustrated in the "Digital Divide" through some comments of what students find to be valuable to their education. Example: Outside of school they find far more freedom to explore, use many technical resources and ways of communicating. They see the need for teachers to get on board and embrace technology in a more interactive way, become educated as to the depth of the Internet, and help students with some of the basics of searching, reading, communicating, etc.

Granted, there are many teachers who ARE life-long learners and embrace technology in ways that enhance learning. Many also realize what research has shown, the younger population who have been born into the digital world ARE the natives and have much to teach the adults. The natives come with a different perspective, use and comfort. It can be threatening for some teachers to "learn" from their students, but what a powerful opportunity we have to reverse the roles. It can be a win-win experience.

Highlighted experiences this week:

• A success without a wasted period... In the lab, I unexpectedly supervised an enrichment group working on "movie making". Their teacher was absent, and the sub had no clue. I asked "Who already knows how to do this? I need a teacher." Several eager students raised their hands and felt honored they could have this role, use the LCD, and reinforce what they already know by teaching their peers and show ME a new perspective! I was an accessory able to supply the tools, give them access to folders and files, and ask probing questions.
• Publishing Club - Young technology enthusiasts come once a week to work in whatever direction on the computer they are interested. I introduced one of my 5th grade students (who thinks he knows it all) to FrontPage and web design. He is making a classroom webpage and having lots of positive communication with his teachers as he fetches files and creates the web. I could see he was making some mistakes but he did not want help. The learning happened when we put it online and nothing worked. A good teachable moment for me and the student. Now he will let me share what I know, because the product is very important to him.
• Wasted time and resources - Teachers bringing students to the lab to DO research without knowing the tools of good research themselves. Students do need help with the reading, keyword, skimming, and printing skills. The teachers are not teaching this, as they assume the students know. Not so on the most part. I saw many many printed pages and lots of wasted time finding very little of importance for their topics.
• Ethics & Responsible Use - Negative communications through "My Space", school e-mail, and cyper-bullying. Because young people often do not have coping skills, may lack good judgement, and not have respect for polite communication, letting them loose with this powerful tool can be very dangerous. EXAMPLES: 1.) 8th grade boy playing with mail and writing one mail that appeared to be a very innapropriate, and was a pretend, fantasy conversation back and forth between himself and a girl. He was very tricky in his emulating of replies with the date/time, etc. and then the conversation was finally sent to several girls. They thought someone had their password. My role as detective, uncovered the reality of what happened and yes, it was a teachable moment for all. He knew better, but the invisibility of online can allow for negative communication that would not happen face-to-face. 2.) A parent of a a 13 year old boy who commit suicide came and presented his story to our students in an assembly. As a parent he talked of his online home rules, his son's desire for help with some negative things happening at school and online, and how the IM/chat-rooms/sharing passwords/and ability to pretend/hide all added to his son's desparation. A very powerful message for our students! 3.) Checked out "My Space" via zip-code search and found many of my students and past students putting very inappropriate pictures and bios out there and doing lots of pretending...14 year olds were claiming to be 27, etc. I showed this to our principal....she was totally shocked - a dissconnect of what young people use the computer for!