Overview of the 12 Things program

[For the skim readers among you the most pertinent parts have been bolded for your convenience.]

The structure for this professional development is built on the premise of the '23 Things model' (Gross and Leslie, 2008). With the adoption of G Suite, the need for a preemptive plan for ensuring success for teachers and staff who are going to be using this new integrated web tool set became apparent. Once the decision had been reached to utilize this model it made sense to look at expanding the scope beyond the tools contained within the default G Suite and use this opportunity to introduce staff to Web 2.0 tools that would enhance their teaching practice or provide professional development opportunities for them. This list was then whittled down to those that were felt to be the highest leverage and/or the most underutilized for educational purpose in each area.

Core G Suite: Google Classroom, Google Forms, YouTube

For use with students: Scratch, Goodreads, Adobe Spark, Bubbl.us, Book Creator

For enhancing professional development: Pinterest, Piktochart, Screen-cast-o-matic, Blogging

Though they were initially divided up in this way it is not meant as a reflection on how they can be utilized. There is much overlap to be had between those for students and those for professional use as can be seen in the modules; this was done more to balance the portfolio of tools that would be presented than a hard and fast categorization.

Further they can be divided into four categories of tools:

Communication: Google Classroom, Screencast-o-Matic, Piktochart, Goodreads, Adobe Spark, YouTube, Book Creator, Bubbl.us

Creation: YouTube, Piktochart, Adobe Spark, Book Creator, Scratch

Collaboration: Google Classroom, Google Forms

Curation: Pinterest, Goodreads

As you can tell there's significant overlap between the tool types.

Two mandatory sessions were decided upon: one outside the scope of the modules and one that uses the module format as an introduction, setting the scene for the rest of the time within the 12 Things program.

The first of these sessions is a school wide tech norming where conventions and required information on how staff are expected to utilize their new email system, calendars and shared calendar system will be presented. Though a part of this professional development the exact nature of this was decided on by the administrators as part of district wide tech standards and so falls beyond the scope of this professional development and lands squarely in the in-service category.

The second session is again school wide, but this time focused on the use of Google Classroom. All participants are required to take this module, first as part of learning the new system, but also as a way of introducing the manner in which the rest of the modules will be conducted. As the only one that everyone is guaranteed to take, the introduction in person includes some details about how to share in growth groups, meeting schedules and so forth.

Once past the initial stage of the Google Classroom module, the 12 Things program becomes considerably more open to participant choice. Participants are to select three modules they wish to do and then are grouped so that at least one other person in each group is doing at least one other module. The groups will also be mixed-ability, based on self-assessed comfort levels with Web 2.0 tools in general. The Tech Integration Team will not be members of a growth group, but instead they will float between a number of growth groups allocated to each member, to provide support, guidance and encouragement. Each month one module is completed and then there is a sharing session at the end of the first semester. During this sharing session there will be refreshments provided as it is a busy time of year and time is valuable.

The decision to use growth groups and the main vehicle for learning and sharing was based on the findings of Gross and Leslie (2008) as they evaluated a similar program. Their focus group members commented that they found that the online exercises to be instructive, but "that they “learned more afterwards when talking with others in the group”, and they “learned from others by reading their blogs and getting ideas of what to do and how to take things further” " (Gross & Leslie, 2008, p. 798). The social aspect of the growth groups provides both incentive and follow-up, as well as peer support and sharing ideas in a more personalised and relevant setting.

In the second semester another 3 modules are chosen and new groups are formed. This time modules may be selected from the predetermined 12 things or from those mentioned in the ‘Where next’ of a tool already selected or of which the participant is already familiar. This allows those who are already experts a chance to flex their muscles and those who were intrigued by a mentioned option an avenue for exploration. In June a final sharing session will take place, again with refreshments, and participants will be encouraged to continue their learning over the summer months and on into the new school year.

To maximize the ease of use of these modules the decision was made to have a clear and consistent style guide. The style guide was created to draw the eye and be visually appealing and dynamic. By alternating row colour and the side the content and title sat on, it clearly delineated the sections. White and a light grey were selected for row colours so as to make the distinction subtle, but noticeable avoiding the cardinal sin of being unobtrusive or obnoxious. The school colours of blue and white are reflected throughout the site from the titles to the backgrounds. Lastly a modern serif font was used to adopt a bold look that would stand out from the page.

Aside from the more focused pieces such as the rationale and this overview, the decision was made to reduce text to a minimum using clear headings, bullet points and leaning on screencasts wherever possible to give tangible examples that can be followed along. As the focus of this is teachers who already have a lot of information thrown at them on a daily basis, the idea was to minimize information overload at every juncture. Your tech integration team welcomes feedback if you feel we missed the mark. Send us an email through your shiny new email system or fill out our feedback form.

To see the Tech Integration Team's 12 Things plan for this school year, go to the Roadmap.