Articles

Eight Steps to Effective Staff Development. Learning and Leading with Technology. November, 1999. braynov99.pdf

Technology Staff Development from a Different Angle

Technology Coordinator's Column : Help is on the Way

Why Does Video Work with Our Students?

Enriching your Curriculum with Technology

Ten Steps to Effective Staff Development

 Technology Staff Development from a Different Angle

Barbara Bray, Computer Strategies
(article in Journal of California School Library Association, November, 1998)
bbray@compstrategies.com

How do you develop a plan for technology if teachers don't know what they don't know? A different angle is a technology staff development plan that embraces a variety of learning opportunities based on teacher individual learning plans. This strategy can be an effective design for teachers to transfer the use of technology to their classrooms.

You are a library/media specialist, staff developer or technology coordinator. You have brought in the experts to provide technology workshops or provided them yourself, and the evaluations were great. So why are your teachers still having difficulty transferring what they learned to the classroom? Maybe we're asking too much. Just imagine learning a new concept in one day and then being asked to transfer what you learned to your classroom the next day. One shot staff development days tend to cover too much too fast. And, for most teachers, this is not their best learning style. Their heads are swimming. You need a plan for technology staff development that is more than one day; a plan that is ongoing and relevant to those impacted.

We need to consider reaching the different learning styles of adults as well as our students. Yet, adults learn differently than children by bringing a highly developed set of beliefs about what is and what is not appropriate in a given situation. Over the years, they develop a comfort level and attitude for dealing with change. Teachers do things that work for them. If teachers seem resistant to using technology, find out why and work with them. Resistance sometimes is because of fear; fear of any change or innovation. This fear affects how long it takes to accept any change including using technology. Any technology use has to be relevant to what the teachers are doing or plan to do with their students. On the other hand, teachers may be excited about using technology, but a lack of resources, support, and time, and an in-flexible curriculum can affect their actual use of technology. In developing an effective technology staff development plan, you need to:

(1) encourage input from your teachers on what they would like to learn. Survey and interview them on their needs, their frustrations, their fears, their hopes on what they want to do with technology, and their dreams and goals for their students.

(2) develop an assessment instrument that measures specific skills that teachers can refer to. Another instrument can be used to identify comfort level and attitude about technology. These instruments can be correlated to the national standards. These results can be used in identifying next steps or ongoing steps as their needs change and be able to identify your innovators who can become your mentors and coaches.

(3) help your teachers design individual learning plans (ILP) from the data collected from all the assessment instruments used. Have them determine where they are now. Then have them look at short range goals &emdash; pick five areas where they would like to see improvement by the end of the school year. Ask each teacher to give input on these five areas they would like learning opportunities. Long term goals should be noted and referred to on an ongoing basis.

(4) prioritize needs by grade-level or subject-areas and proficiency levels from each teachers' results. Look at possible school-wide themes or problems that could be developed. Include the technology committee, any providers, outside experts and support staff when planning and designing staff development for the year. Use individual and whole faculty responses to see what you can offer on-site and off-site.

(5) look at possible solutions for on-going, hands-on sessions where teachers are given release time in small focused groups or peer-coaching. (There is $ if you look for it &emdash; businesses spend over 30% of their technology budgets on training compared to schools that spend on an average 2%.)

(6) look for classes, conferences, etc. to send teachers to that are relevant to their needs and curriculum area. Give teachers some incentives (i.e.: district credit, computers to check out or zero-interest loans) to learn. Teachers are professionals and should be valued as such. Yet, teachers also need to take responsibility for their own professional growth. Emphasize the importance of lifelong learning.

(7) encourage team teaching and collaborative planning time so teachers do not feel they have to be an expert in everything. (Buddy systems work well with teachers also.) Mentoring can also work within the staff and from students. (Look for student experts &emdash; yes, we can learn from them.) Some schools are using Techno-Buddies from the business world. Your community is unique. You never know who is there unless you go out and look. Use ROP students for technical support. Create a troubleshooting kit for each teacher with a phone number to a help desk.

(8) include time for brainstorming, sharing, and developing materials. Technology can become a catalyst for school change and restructuring. Teaching changes when you use technology, and teachers need to have support from the school if things do not work out the way they wanted. Failure should not stop teachers from learning or trying again. Problems should be shared so everyone can learn from them.

(9) realize that for every hour of a workshop, it takes over two hours of planning. If you do not have time for teachers to plan their own staff development, then expect the workshop to not be as successful. If you do not have the time but have the money, spend it on someone who can do the job. Teachers do not have time to waste. Purchase resources to help teachers do their job. Don't expect them to re-create materials that are available. Pay them for their time, and give them credit for materials they create.

(10) continue with on-going planning and re-evaluating where you are and where you want to be. After you start using technology, needs change. Create an innovation grant program. Teachers that are ready to use technology can propose strategies that use technology in specific curriculum projects and require more training. The site council, curriculum and technology leaders can select which teachers they can fund depending on the money available.

Keeping information flowing is the key. Showing that everyone's information is important to solving the problem creates excitement and ownership. Plan realistically for technology staff development and share how long it will take. Teachers get frustrated when they do not see results right away. This approach takes planning and time, but if you work as a team, encourage input, and share results, it will create a feeling of "We can do it!" over and over again.

Resources:

The Elements of High Quality Professional Development (http://www.smcoe.k12.ca.us/pdc/Hi%20Qual.html)

NCATE's Technology Report - National Accreditation for Teacher Education (http://www.ncate.org/projects/tech/TECH.HTM)

The Mankata Scale as an example of an assessment tool (http://www.bham.wednet.edu/tcomp.htm)

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As schools acquire more technology, schools and districts public and private are hiring technology coordinators. Some technology coordinators are full-time techies with little curriculum background where others are teachers with one prep period or mentors receiving an extra stipend who are learning about routers and hubs as they go. With education and technology changing so fast, technology coordinators need resources at their finger tips. This column grew out of the CUETC SIG meetings at the annual conferences and Tech Coordinator Forums in Northern California. Some of the resources mentioned in this column are online listservs and websites, yet those coordinators who participated in the on-site forums and SIG sessions found it helped them put a real face with the names they met virtually. Try to attend at least one session with other coordinators from outside your district and you will find that many of your issues are similar.

Site Technology Coordinators at all the forums consistently pointed out the following:

• create tech binders with basic troubleshooting strategies and step-by-step guides or tip sheets
  
• develop technology plan with input from all teachers where they design what should be implemented at what point
  
• important to have site tech leads providing onsite support
  
• daily bulletins on email
  
• provide opportunities for teachers to receive at least 10 hours of skills training and 10 hours of integration strategies related to their curriculum and then give them a computer for their classroom
  
• have computers or laptops for home use or allow to take home during summer
  
• create student yellow pages where students advertise their technology skills
  
• use ROP students as tech repair persons and network managers hired by all schools in district
  
• use a technology wish list by asking for donations and volunteer from parents, PTA, community and businesses
  
• provide more time for staff development opportunities during school time
  
• build teacher capacity on site by encouraging teams, peer- teaching, collaborative planning time
  

District Coordinators had this to say:

• create a help desk available by phone, email and website
  
• hire teachers with minimum technology proficiencies
  
• provide salary credits for off-site staff development
  
• give teachers computers for home use with consistent software used in school
  
• encourage more school-business partnerships
  
• standardize software and hardware across district
  
• hire a grant writer to assist schools
  
• develop standards and benchmarks for student achievement and technology use
  

To continue the dialog, subscribe to the CUETC listserv, a place for technology coordinators to post questions, share resources or ask for help. Subscribe by emailing cuetc@gsn.org and writing subscribe with your name. Tim Landeck at Santa Cruz City Schools is moderating two listservs for site and/or district coordinators. Email macjordomo@mail.sccs.santacruz.k12.ca.us and in the body write "subscribe techcoord."

Bookmark these websites:
Doug Prouty from Contra Costa County Office of Education created The Snorkel (just in case you feel like you're drowning). This is a website that not only has resources, but an online searchable database that you can add to and find experts to answer your questions, a chat room that you can use for virtual meetings, bulletin boards, and forums that you can post or reply to. http://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/snorkel/

The National School Board Association created an Education Leaders Toolkit that coordinators can use to assist them with planning at http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/index.html

At the Technology Coordinator's Survival Kit site, check out scenarios used for role-playing, the 17 commandments of a Technology Coordinator, ideas for time management, recipes for technology success, and a job description for you. http://www.compstrategies.com/forum/

Jamie McKenzie from Bellingham School District has an online resource that is essential reading for coordinators: http://fromnowon.org

Well Connected Educator has articles from teachers and administrators, forums and ongoing columns: http://www.techlearning.com/

Learn and Live materials from the George Lucas Education Foundation are available at low cost plus most of the material is on their website: http://www.glef.org

This column will be a place for you to voice your concerns, share resources, ask questions, or boast a little about how technology is working at your site. Email issues to Barbara at bbray@compstrategies.com for the next issue.

 

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Most children have sat in front of a television set over 20,000 hours before the age of eighteen. Compare those hours with the time in school from kindergarten to 12th grade. Many families even adjust their sleeping patterns to watch their favorite programs. There are students who could tell you what day it is by what programs are on. They even memorized the TV guide but could not remember a date in history or a math calculation. How can teachers compete with this medium?

It is important not to neglect a large part of our students' lives. If educators can learn to use and control media and video, students will become more involved in the learning process. Yet, video or any technology should not be taught for technology's sake alone. What we want to do is have our students understand the concepts we are trying to teach. If students work cooperatively developing a video about a particular subject, they have to do research on that subject. They become personally involved in the process and are concerned about the product. They know their peers are going to see it. Yet, it is significant to emphasize the process, not the product. The majority of the learning is done during the process. Working together as a team, brainstorming ideas, and planning how they are going to approach the subject are all important skills in addition to the actual production. When students get involved in the process and have power over its direction, they have more ownership. They want to look like they know their stuff. They want to succeed in front of their peers.

Technology is used as a tool to deliver the message. With video, students become actively involved in their learning. It is no secret that we learn by doing. Experiences which actively engage our minds, hands and eyes stay with us. Producing a video gives the students an understanding that media is also manufactured - it doesn't "just happen" somehow. It gives them opportunities to express themselves creatively; to discover their talents and abilities; and to develop critical thinking skills as they listen, watch and evaluate each other's work. Just imagine students developing their own "Newscast from the Past" about a time in history that they are studying or an animated video on endangered species. School can be a place where students want to go and learn; where learning is fun. Picture reaching the different learning styles of your students and being able to assess their performance through a fun and exciting medium. Video production is effective for all grade levels and subjects. Just look at your curriculum and see where video could enhance it and bring it alive.

 

How to Make Your Own Video. Schwartz, Perry. Lerner Publications. 72 pages. 1991.

Kid-Vid: Fundamentals of Video Production. Black, Kaye. Zephyr Press. 96 pages. 1989.

Make your Own Video. Sanzo, Janet. Publications International. 32 pages. 1991.

Media and You: An Elementary Media Literacy Curriculum. Lloyd-Kolkin, Donna and Tyner, Kathleen. Strategies for Media Literacy, Inc. 170 pages. 1991.

Modern Video Production: Tools, Techniques, Applications. Hausman, Carl and Palombo, Philip. HarperCollins. 289 pages. 1993.

"Move over Roger Rabbit - Your Competition has Arrived." Solomon, Gwen. Electronic Learning. p 56. Sept. 1989.

School Video and Film Production: A Handbook for Educators. CMLEA. 88 pages. 1992.

Computer Strategies © 1997, all rights reserved

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