Connecting Teachers
to Technology
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Technology Staff
Development:
How do we get and
keep our teachers on board?
Spring CUE '99
Conference PDD
moderated by Barbara
Bray , Computer
Strategies,assisted by
Georgeann
Hardy, Hayward Unified School
District
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The most powerful
form
of
learning;
the most
sophisticated form of staff development, comes not from
listening
to the good words of
others, but from sharing what we know with others. Learning
comes more from giving than from receiving.
By reflecting on what we
do, by giving it coherence, and by sharing and articulating
our craft knowledge, we make meaning, we learn.
Roland
Barth
(Thanks to Bonnie
Marks of Region IV for this quote)
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Email any comments to Barbara at
bbray@compstrategies.com
Computer Strategies, LLC Copyright © 2000
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CUE
Conference
Spring' 99 Palm Springs- May 6,
1999
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Understanding
Adult Learners
Read the summary of the article
on adult learners and some different strategies on assessing
comfort level and attitude about technology use. Go to
CBAM
and evaluate your own comfort level with technology and
change. Edgar Dale (1978) suggests that schools should teach
learners to read with questions in mind. With that in mind,
when working with adults keep Dale's
Cone of Learning
as reference. Many of the
strategies used in workshops, information literacy skills,
and project work designed today are not new.
Bloom's
Taxonomy shows how all learners
build on prior knowledge as they understand a new concept or
idea. B In learning technology, we realize how innovations
change so fast. We are constantly learning something new
even if we are a pretty proficient user of technology. Refer
to the Levels
of Understanding to see how you
cycle through the same process over and over again as you
use a technology over time. When you design learning
opportunities for adults, refer to these learning
preferences.
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Standards for
Technology Use
Developing
standards for technology use is happening
all over the country. Butte County Office of Education has compiled
links of California
Curriculum Standards in an easy to read
format. What do you think your school, students, and teachers will be
like in the future? Go visit the I.S.T.E. (International Society for
Technology in Education) site on National Education Technology
Standards for Students (N.E.T.S.).
Check out some of the scenarios for your grade level and what
students are expected to do with technology. How do you know what is
expected as a technology using teacher? I.S.T.E. has developed
standards
for teachers on a continuium. Another place to visit is the George
Lucas Education Foundation where they developed "Learn and Live," a
video and book, and at their website read this article
"Building
a Bridge of Knowledge for Every Child." or
visit "Reinventing
Education" to see what is happening in
North Carolina. Do some brainstorming on what teachers and students
will be like using Inspiration
software.
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Needs
Assessment Instruments
So how do teachers know where they are when
they don't know what they don't know? First strategy may be
a survey
that asks basic information such as "do you have a computer
at home?" Another tool that is based on the Stages of
Concern and written in non-threatening language is this
rubric.
Spend time listening to your teachers. Have grade level or
department meetings to find specific needs. An online
interactive form may be the way to reach more teachers. The
Mankato
Teacher Self Evaluation Rubric is
on the Bellingham School District site. NRTEC developed a
Technology
Profile Tool that will help you
to compare your current instructional practices with a set
of indicators for engaged learning and high-performance
technology.
The State CTAP Grants Management committee is funding a
collaborative effort with the Utah Technology Awareness
Project (UTAP) in creating a California version of their web
site. The first year, 7/99 to 6/00, will be the beta period
and teacher access will be limited to California's Year One
Digital High School sites. After the beta period, each
region will determine which districts and/or sites will be
able to use the web site. The technology
skills rubric on the web site
will be aligned with the CTC requirements.
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Opportunities
and Constraints
When you start brainstorming
where you are today, you will find some opportunities and,
unfortunately, many constraints (also called challenges). Using this
form in Inspiration,
we will brainstorm as a group some of our main concerns.
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Instructional
Design
Steps
for instructional design
1. Determining which skills are to be taught
2. Developing objectives for the skills
3. Deciding on instructional strategies for accomplishing each
objective.
The Center for Distance Education of the University of Oklahoma has
laid out the five
phases of the instructional design
model.
In designing staff development workshops, consider
six
primary models for professional
development. Glenn Brand wrote "What Research Says: Training Teachers
for Using Technology" in the Journal of Staff Development and
summarizes the ten
elements for successful staff
development.
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Train
the Trainer Models
Santa Cruz City Schools Education Technology has implemented a
Train
the Trainer model at the district level
that incorporate technology leaders at each of its school sites.
These "Liaisons" act as troubleshooters, trainers, and communication
conduit between the sites and Education Technology in the district
office.
Through regional consortia throughout Los Angeles county, the
Technology Teacher Leader program is a model
in "scaling up" with a large organization. Companion Administrator
Leadership Training and Parent Leadership Training round out the
package. Through a private/public partnership, the Teach
the Teachers program will provide Southern
California teachers a five-day residential program of research-based
classroom practices, technology training, and year-round support.
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Support
- Building a Team
Building a team involves not only teachers but all stakeholders. When
you include technology as part of the curriculum, it changes the way
teachers teach and students learn. You will have some teachers that
are resistant. Surprise! So here is a list on how to deal with
resistance.
NCREL has put together a site
that provides background information and articles on change.
National School Boards Association developed a
resource
to be used for planning staff development and when working with the
community and school board. The
Center for Education Reform provides
issues, questions, and resources on school reform. If you involve all
stakeholders as you begin to develop a plan, you will get more
ownership from the teachers. They need to know they are being heard
and listened to. Change is scary! A great resource for all tech
leaders is the
Snorkel, a place to find others in the
same boat.
Some Incentive Programs:
Los Angeles County Office staff
development program provides free software
and training.
Pomano School District
is piloting a
one-time bonus for teachers proficient in
various areas of technology.
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Learning
Opportunities
Wested in San Francisco gives examples
of strategies to reach different learners. From Online K-12 Levels:
Librarian's Information Network for Essential Curriculum website,
they have a rich collection
of resources of opportunities for staff development. Gaston County in
North Carolina gives a layered
approach to staff development.
Link2Learn
Professional Development developed by the
state of Pennsylvania with extensive and rich links to resources
developed by teachers and curriculum specialists. A member from each
team meet with another team member and spend a few minutes sharing
what they have done for staff development. NCREL's Pathways to School
Improvement is a vast resource for tech leaders. One great
opportunity for your teachers is forming study
groups or having them participate in
action
research (collaborative inquiry) and
giving them time to read, research, share ideas and design new
strategies of teaching and learning.
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Online
Opportunities
BCOE Online
Certain products and methods like WebCT, Authorware Attain, CGI,
Scripting for forms & discussion threads, plus methods used to
include video, voice, graphics, text, indexing, and interactive
questions with responses will be of interest to those interested in
delivering training electronically. CTAP
online courses include CTAP 101 for
personal proficiency and CTAP 210 for Digital High Schools.
Apple Staff Development Online
Apple provides an array on self-paced
online courses.
Thinki Interactive, Inc. Online Professional Development
Think
Interactive, Inc. has interactive lessons
that are easy for the busy teacher. There are lessons for all levels
of learners including lessons you may need for your credential.
Contra Costa County Office
"So, you want to offer a web based training/teaching component?"
This online
environment was developed in-house at
Contra Costa County Office. for free for teachers. In developing any
online course, there are
do's and
don't's that we need to be aware of to be
successful and to engage teachers.
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Examples
& Case Studies
Core
Values is a Technology Literacy Challenge
Grant program for the 6th-8th core curriculum classes in Oakland
Unified School District. The first year began with the 6th grade core
teachers and Ancient Civilizations. This website contains a wealth of
resources for the teachers and some student examples plus how staff
development progressed. 5th grade was just added with Foundations
Technology Literacy Challenge Grant.
These are examples of the range of Los Angeles
County Office of Education's regional consortia's offerings.
http://scvc.saugus.k12.ca.us/
http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Jefferson_Cluster/create.htm
http://mkhs.alhambra.k12.ca.us/EdTech/
New
Haven Unified School District in Union
City, CA has a model of staff development that all of us could learn
from. They provide all the key factors: people on-site, district
support, resources in the classroom, a help desk and more.
Making
Inroads to the Backroads is a Technology
Challenge Grant in Concordia Parish in Louisiana. The goal of this
project is to train teachers to embed the use of technology into the
curriculum.
Kids
Compute 2001 in Boston is building a
successful professional development model by providing resources and
support to all the teachers in all 128 schools. After a teacher
completes a required number of workshops, they can participate in
coaching sessions.
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Create
an Action Plan
To create an action plan, collect all the individual learning plans,
information from all the surveys and interviews. Assemble a team that
is not afraid to work. Give them time. From all of this information
and background info from several resources: The Elements of High
Quality Professional Development and articles on change,
article
that covers the taxonomy of how technology is an effective tool in
the classroom, Filling
the Toolbox,
an online journal created by Jamie MacKenzie,
and the other resources
listed on the Staff Development Resource site. Have them use this
form
to begin designing their action plan: where they are today, where
they want to go, and how they plan to get there.
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