Planning into Practice Resources for Planning, Implementing and Integrating Instructional Technology

1
Planning into PracticeResources for Planning,
Implementing and Integrating Instructional
Technology

• Professional Development for
• Instructional Technology

2
Introductions

• Regional Technology in Education Consortium
  serving the SE states, PR, and the US Virgin
  Islands
• Jeff Sun, consultant service provider for
  SEIRTEC and author of Planning into Practice
• jsun_at_sun-associates.com

3
Objectives

• To understand what constitutes an effective
  technology plan
• To examine the specific case of technology
  professional development
• To consider various professional development
  strategies in light of levels of teacher awareness

4
Focus on Curriculum

• Technology is of little value if not linked with
  your curriculum and curriculum goals.
• Curriculum, not the technology itself, must drive
  your planning process

5
Skeletal Plan Format
6
Overview of Technology Plan Elements

• Executive Summary
• Vision
• Current Status
• Goals and Objectives
• Curriculum Integration
• Professional Development
• Administration
• Infrastructure
• Other?
• Infrastructure Design
• Staffing
• Action Plan (follows goals and objectives)
• Budget
• Evaluation Plan

7
Establishing Vision

• Vision establishes the purpose of the plan, and
  more importantly, the purpose behind bringing
  technology into your schools.
• Guides the planning process
• Firmly establishes the value you place upon
  technology

8
Creating Goals

• Goals are statements of particular ways in which
  you intend to actualize your vision.
• Goals break down the vision into manageable (and
  measurable) pieces.
• Most plans have groups of goals around various
  elements of the vision...

9
Types of Goals

• Curriculum Integration
• Professional Development
• Administration
• Community Involvement
• and other areas that are critically important to
  your vision

10
Professional Development

• Lets talk about technology professional
  development as a specific area in your strategic
  technology plan.
• How do you decide what professional development
  to offer?
• Particularly now that your plan is in operation?

11
A Framework for Review
12
Types of PD Strategies

• Immersion
• Curriculum
• Examining Practice
• Collaborative Work
• Vehicles and Mechanisms
• (page 4-24 of Planning into Practice)

13

• The basic idea is that different strategies are
  appropriate for addressing and developing
  different levels of teacher awareness
• A Developing Awareness
• B Building Knowledge
• T Translating into Practice
• P Practicing Teaching
• R Reflection
• Because integrating technology is all about
  teaching and learning!

14
The New Yorker, 2/22 and 3/1/99
15
For Example...

• Workshops, Institutes, Courses, etc.
• B -- Building Knowledge (primary)
• A -- Developing Awareness (secondary)
• T -- Translating into Practice (secondary)
• Curriculum Development and Adaptation
• T -- Translating into Practice (primary)
• B -- Building Knowledge (secondary)
• Also see the ACOT research on stages of teacher
  awareness visa vis technology

16
Assess Your Needs

• In your strategic technology plan, you needed to
  assess needs and create the mechanisms for
  on-going assessment and review.
• Use this knowledge to inform your choice of
  appropriate professional development strategies.

17
Whats Your Current Strategy?

• Workshops!
• But what about those people who arent reached by
  workshops?
• How do you know whether workshops are a sound
  strategy given your needs?

18
Maximizing Workshops

• Schedule dedicated staff development days and
  time
• Pay stipends for anything that goes beyond
  scheduled days
• Create your schedule way in advance
• Use a combination of outside and in-house
  trainers
• Use new faces to build upon known expertise
• Assign follow-up tasks

19
So, What Else Might Work?

• Walk the Talk!
• Workshops are like teacher-centered classrooms
• Can you adopt a collaborative an constructivist
  approach to technology staff development?

20
Learning Teams

• Teachers team in collaborative groups with a
  common goal to develop technology integration
  skills
• Fits Study Groups and Coaching and Mentoring
  strategies
• Primary P and R strategies
• Kansas and Beyond
• http//lps.lexingtonma.org/Tech/Kansas

21

• Advantages...
• Spreads the technical support burden
• Professional development becomes authentic
• Develops a learning community useful well beyond
  technology skills development
• Disadvantages...
• Huge time commitment
• Homogenous vs. heterogeneous groups

22
Other Benefits...

• Study groups, Learning Teams, provide time to
  develop deep understanding of both technology and
  curriculum (reflection)
• Ultimately encourages creation of
  cross-disciplinary and integrated curriculum
  units (practice teaching)
• Although dont be surprised if in the beginning,
  you spend less time on these higher order
  purposes and more time mousing around.

23
Pilot Projects

• Groups or individuals are chosen to develop
  technology-enriched projects
• Fit into the Curriculum strategies on our chart
• Primary P and T strategies
• The Crucible Project
• http//www.shawsheen.tec.ma.us90/crucible/index-2
  .html

24

• Rewards for participation
• They get the technology first
• They receive dedicated professional development
• Costs of participation -- accountability
• They have to produce!
• You require that they become trainers

25
Remember...

• Professional development activities should always
  produce concrete products!
• Sample/Outlined lessons
• Templates
• Examples of actual student or teacher work
• Distribute the products
• Produce a guidebook or facilitators guide
• Publish materials on the web

26

• Think about your range of strategies
• Maximize your strategies...one approach doesnt
  fit all needs
• Workshops work best as B (building knowledge)
  strategies
• Learning teams -- Practicing and Reflecting
• Pilot projects -- Translating and Practicing

27

• Create rewards and responsibilities
• Accountability is the key!
• All staff development needs to...
• Have anticipated follow up
• Produce tangible products

28
So Lets Try One

• Using the Professional Development Idea
  worksheets, and perhaps some of the ideas on
  pages 4-14 through 16, fully map out a PD idea
  for your school/district
• Think about...
• What awareness level you are addressing
• How you will know that your strategy has had
  impact

29
Evaluation

• A good technology plan provides a logical
  framework for the evaluation of your technology
  implementation.
• Goals show you what you are looking for
• Progress towards fulfillment of goals and
  objectives can be measured
• Activities can be recorded

30
Summary

• A strong educational technology plan is rooted in
  a strong vision for technologys role in
  education
• This role needs to be centered around the
  anticipated and desired student impacts
• Training must be adapted to the various needs of
  your staff at different stages in their
  technology development.
• One size will not fit all!
• Understand the stages, and then pick the
  appropriate strategy

31

• Eventually, evaluation will become the emphasis
  of your districts technology efforts.
• Take the time to write a strong evaluation
  component for your plan
• Evaluate -- review and reflect -- on a regular
  basis so that you can formatively assess your
  progress and fine tune your strategy

32
For More Information

• On-line resources (including this presentation)
• www.sun-associates.com/resources/stuff.html
• Email or Call
• jsun_at_sun-associates.com
• 978.449.0200

33
(No Transcript)