Professional Learning

Direct link to Popplet: http://popplet.com/app/#/2575595

Reflection:

In this module you learned about the foundations of adult theory, creating engaging presentations, different types of professional learning and benefits of each, and finally assisting stakeholders in professional goal setting. Based on this information and the assignments completed, what are three things you will do differently in your role of professional learning leader?

I am not sure that I will do things entirely different, but three areas in which I will focus more attention on are better meeting needs the of the adult learner, developing professional development experiences that are more aligned to SAMR, ISTE Standards, and TIMs and also include a balance of technology, content, and pedagogy (TPaCK), and provide a variety in learning experiences. Although I currently do these to some degree, they are all areas for improvement and will be observable in future professional development.

For meeting the needs of the adult learners, I will continue to provide a climate that is comfortable, safe, and respectful, supports the transitional phases of learner assumptions, and provides tasks that are logical and sequential. In developing the tasks, I will focus on bringing in authentic, real-life problems that better link to more immediate interests. These tasks will need to be designed with more of a constructivist approach, which is something that I do not always do.

In designing these types of tasks, more attention needs to be placed on how the learning experience meets the ISTE standards, the progression from simply enhancing a lesson to truly transforming it using the SAMR model, and how to create learning environments that truly support technology integration. These components must be apparent in all professional development going forward.

Over the past year, the majority of the professional development delivered by my department included traditional face-to-face with some coaching. There were a lot of reasons why this happened, but going forward, there will be more opportunities in a variety of modes. My department will introduce blended PD, pending union agreements/MOU, as well as have an ongoing book study. A robust plan for face-to-face PD has been created, however, bringing in flipped PD model will elevate accountability for learning the content. Monthly Google Hangouts is something that I have had on my agenda for last year, but because of the relative newness of Google Apps to our district, it is not something I have tried. Going forward, I believe that teachers have had enough awareness that they are ready to begin using this tool as a way to learn and collaborate.

With all of these areas in mind, I will create a template for designing professional development that includes these areas and will review it with my training team. With their input and feedback, the template will become the foundation for designing effective and meaningful learning experiences and will be used for all future educational technology professional development in the district.

Direct link to Module 2 Reflection document: https://goo.gl/xSSVTh