in the middle of the beginning and the end... part 2
This week, I've reflected the variety of pieces of the "innovation plan" puzzle. Some of my favorite pieces were the media. I was able to explore with a variety of applications and websites to help me produce the videos. For example, I learned about Biteable and used that one for the course on Digital Resources as a supplement to a chapter I was privileged to coauthor with some of our professors. It will be published this Fall and I'm so excited about that!! I had never used Biteable so it was cool to learn how to use a new tool. For the other media, I used Adobe Spark Video, Office Mix, or iMovie.
This year, I was also published in the American Association for School Administrators, on BYOD and how to prepare teachers for this new way of teaching. I enjoyed the course on Digital Resources because it gave me the opportunity to publish and to find new resources for future publishing. I'm already planning to submit a proposal to Learning Forward's magazine to highlight how we are preparing our teacher leaders, Tech Integration Champions, and supporting them as they implement blended learning on their campuses.
I think one of my favorite courses was the one on professional learning! That is the topic I'm most interested in, hence the focus of the innovation plan, and that is most connected to my new role, Coordinator - Online Professional Learning. I learned about the effective principles of professional development and was able to create a professional learning outline that has set the background for some of the work we are currently doing and will be doing soon. I attribute a lot of that learning and the learning experiences to helping me get my new position!
There was no way I could have foreseen the reorganization that we experienced this year, so that has impacted my original innovation plan. However, I have been able to create blended professional learning for about 2/3 of our 4000 teachers in the district! The initial feedback has been extremely positive and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to integrate the effective principles of professional learning in that course. It is in delivering that course to our teachers that many of them inspired me to create a different video as part of our annual staff training on digital citizenship. Teachers expressed concerns over teaching students how to use Schoology effectively. So, in the digital citizenship course I created a video that featured some of the elements of digital citizenship as it relates to teacher and student use of Schoology. I have already shared that video with my Director and hope we will be able to incorporate it in some way this year.
Now that I have a clearer picture of my role, I plan to revisit the six sources of influence and create a new plan and strategy with our Technology Integration Champions. The six sources: personal, social and institutional motivation and personal, social, and institutional ability are so important to making sure change happens. I think we'll be able to create a sense of urgency because there are no longer Digital Learning Specialists nor Curriculum Specialists to provide direct support to the campus. So, it will be critical to have the leadership of the Technology Integration Champions to advocate for our district's blended learning initiative.
On this learning journey, I've had some opportunities to return to my love of podcasting. Instead of written posts, some of my blog reflections were in podcast form. I even had the opportunity to interview a student on his journey to creating his virtual reality video game where I referenced the text of the Creating Significant Learning Environments course Podcasting allows me to communicate in a creative way with music introductions, riffs, and transitions! I also like that I was able to bring others into the show and share the air. I think I will have opportunities to incorporate this in my new role, too.
I have appreciated the opportunity to participate in self-directed learning that is authentic to my role. You can find some of the work I've done and created in the links below.
This year, I was also published in the American Association for School Administrators, on BYOD and how to prepare teachers for this new way of teaching. I enjoyed the course on Digital Resources because it gave me the opportunity to publish and to find new resources for future publishing. I'm already planning to submit a proposal to Learning Forward's magazine to highlight how we are preparing our teacher leaders, Tech Integration Champions, and supporting them as they implement blended learning on their campuses.
I think one of my favorite courses was the one on professional learning! That is the topic I'm most interested in, hence the focus of the innovation plan, and that is most connected to my new role, Coordinator - Online Professional Learning. I learned about the effective principles of professional development and was able to create a professional learning outline that has set the background for some of the work we are currently doing and will be doing soon. I attribute a lot of that learning and the learning experiences to helping me get my new position!
There was no way I could have foreseen the reorganization that we experienced this year, so that has impacted my original innovation plan. However, I have been able to create blended professional learning for about 2/3 of our 4000 teachers in the district! The initial feedback has been extremely positive and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to integrate the effective principles of professional learning in that course. It is in delivering that course to our teachers that many of them inspired me to create a different video as part of our annual staff training on digital citizenship. Teachers expressed concerns over teaching students how to use Schoology effectively. So, in the digital citizenship course I created a video that featured some of the elements of digital citizenship as it relates to teacher and student use of Schoology. I have already shared that video with my Director and hope we will be able to incorporate it in some way this year.
Now that I have a clearer picture of my role, I plan to revisit the six sources of influence and create a new plan and strategy with our Technology Integration Champions. The six sources: personal, social and institutional motivation and personal, social, and institutional ability are so important to making sure change happens. I think we'll be able to create a sense of urgency because there are no longer Digital Learning Specialists nor Curriculum Specialists to provide direct support to the campus. So, it will be critical to have the leadership of the Technology Integration Champions to advocate for our district's blended learning initiative.
On this learning journey, I've had some opportunities to return to my love of podcasting. Instead of written posts, some of my blog reflections were in podcast form. I even had the opportunity to interview a student on his journey to creating his virtual reality video game where I referenced the text of the Creating Significant Learning Environments course Podcasting allows me to communicate in a creative way with music introductions, riffs, and transitions! I also like that I was able to bring others into the show and share the air. I think I will have opportunities to incorporate this in my new role, too.
I have appreciated the opportunity to participate in self-directed learning that is authentic to my role. You can find some of the work I've done and created in the links below.
Disruptive innovation in Professional learning
innovation planProfessional development is broken. While there is no quick-fix solution, my innovation plan is designed to change the "PD" game. The following resources give you an overview of my disruptive innovation.
Blended PD: What's the Why? Innovation Plan Literature Review |
implementationThe key to any good innovation is implementation. When it comes to "blended professional learning" I created a variety plans to ensure this innovation was implemented with fidelity.
Fort Bend Blends Professional Learning Outline Blended PD Implementaton Plan Infographic: My Digital Learning and Leading Journey |
mediaThroughout the program, I was able to create a variety of media content that supported the "blended professional learning" innovation plan.
Professional Development Matters Fort Bend Blends Schoology and Digital Citizenship Technology Initiatives |
