Change Agent

Coaches inspire educators and leaders to use technology to create equitable and ongoing access to high-quality learning.

A. Fortier De and AUP Presentation

Impact: The initial transition to distance learning was made after a considerable amount of time had passed since students, parents, and teachers had seen the AUP. Initially, there was no attempt to reiterate to students and parents expectations when using these devices and services. Since most students were using the device for both school and personal reasons, there was an increased emphasis on making sure that students understood the district’s policies with regards to the use of digital resources. This presentation was made with the goal of being easy to understand the key points of the district’s policies in a very accessible manner. It was an easy refresher to point to when engaging in a conversation with a student about violating the policy. Moving forward, I would encourage my colleagues to use the video or slides to communicate with their students or parents if they are experiencing behaviors that are not meeting the standards set forth by the district.

1A. Create a shared vision and culture for using technology to learn and accelerate transformation through the coaching process.

Artifact Description: This artifact is a presentation created about Distance Education and Acceptable Use Policies. It is an overview of the Tustin Unified School District’s Acceptable Use Policy to ensure that parents, students, and staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities when using district-provided technology resources. This can include devices, email servers, websites, and applications.

Implementation: The city of Tustin passed the Measure S technology bond in November of 2012. This bond provided extensive funds to integrate technology into classes. One of the outcomes was providing all students in the district with one-to-one devices. At the elementary and middle school levels, each student was given an iPad. At the high school level, each student was given a Surface Pro laptop device. At the start of every school year, staff and students are given a copy of the AUP to review and sign prior to being issued their device. As a response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, TUSD transitioned to distance learning in March of 2020. This presentation was created at the start of the 2020-2021 school year which initially remained in a distance learning setup. I used this to review with my students the policies put in place by the district to keep them safe while using district internet servers and devices. I had this posted on my Schoology page for students and parents to reference moving forward.

Reflection: By creating this overview of district policies I am contributing to the promotion of a shared vision of technology use in the classroom. I feel that I am gaining competence toward indicator 1A by creating and sharing this presentation with my students. However, I feel that I could be doing more to support my colleagues from a coaching aspect by sharing this resource with them. They could then use it to review expectations with their students, rather than just simply going over the large document that is provided by the district and is far less student-friendly.

1B. Facilitate equitable use of digital learning tools and content that meet the needs of each learner.

1E. Connect leaders, educators, instructional support, technical support, domain experts and solution providers to maximize the potential of technology for learning.

Artifact Description: This artifact is my Schoology profile as created for each of my classes during the 2021-2022 school year. Schoology is a learning management system that allows both students and parents to have access to the course content from any and all teachers housed in one location. Schoology gives teachers the ability to customize their pages to include folders with linked assignments, video resources, daily agendas, assessments, and much more. It also ensures that all students in the district are reporting to the same website to find their resources, thus improving the accessibility of course content.

Implementation: Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Tustin Unified School District did not have one consistent learning management system. Elementary school teachers relied heavily on a platform called Haiku, while middle and high school teachers largely used Google Classroom. When schools initially shut down in March of 2020, many parents remarked that it was difficult to manage to find all of their student’s assignments across various platforms. The district then made the decision to purchase a contract with Schoology to streamline this process for students of all ages. We as teachers are now required to use Schoology to house all instructional material. Teachers have used the platform to access classroom activities, assignments, assessments, additional support resources, and much more. Additionally, parents can make an account to be able to view all of their student’s materials as well. This has allowed for increased parent accessibility and transparency within the classroom. At the beginning of the school year, my students and I spent a day doing a Schoology scavenger hunt to familiarize them with the various features of my Schoology page. They spent time finding the agendas, their digital notebooks, how to send a message, and how to find resources in the folders. Additionally, as the Chemistry teacher who collaborates with our RSP program, I am able to add the RSP teachers and support staff to my Schoology page so that they may be able to track their student’s work as well.

Impact: Using one consistent platform for all students TK through 12th grade has been very beneficial to all stakeholders. The content material has become increasingly more accessible to all parties. Schoology has provided teachers with the ability to create an organized digital space with all the instructional materials readily available to students. Since the pandemic began, students have relied on Schoology to find their assignments, take assessments, and get caught up if they were in fact sick with the virus. During the current 21-22 school year, those students who have tested positive or were in close contact and have had to quarantine, are relying on Schoology in order to keep up with their school work through its ability to be used in both a synchronous and an asynchronous manner. Because many other applications such as Google Suite can be easily integrated into the interface, teachers, and students who are already familiar with Google products have not had to learn how to use yet another tech tool, which has allowed for the focus to be on content learning and not necessarily learning how to use the platform.

Reflection: By implementing this platform, it shows that I am being a change agent by promoting equitable access to content materials for my students and parents. It specifically demonstrates competence towards indicator 1B by providing equitable use of Schoology, the digital tool, to meet the content needs of all students. I am able to provide additional support resources and ensure that all students have access to the necessary materials through visual and auditory channels. Through Schoology, I am able to provide support to both the students in class and the students who are at home quarantining without having to worry about a learning loss. Additionally, this demonstrates competence towards standard 1E by connecting all stakeholders to one platform to access materials and provide solutions to enhance the use of technology in classes. It helps to streamline the use of technology in the classroom and support learners in their journey in the digital space.

Impact: The TTF has been increasingly beneficial to my practice as a technology leader on campus. It has allowed me to collaborate with teachers that I would not normally have access to since we work at different levels (elementary, middle, and high school) as well as different sites. We have worked together to create technology goals for the district as well as our personal school sites. These goals are then supported by the group and we work as a team to develop action plans to ensure that they are being met. There is a culture of sharing best practices to ensure that all students are receiving an education that is benefitted by the use of technology, not hindered. By having a representative from all the different campuses, we are able to create a well-rounded forum of information that has allowed me to best serve my colleagues and students.

Reflection: The Technology Task Force has been crucial in my journey to be a technology leader. As a technology advocate, I appreciate having a space to be heard by like-minded people who share a similar vision for integrating technology into the classroom. This supports indicator 1C by creating a task force that supports a culture of coaching others to achieve goals relevant to the use of technology. Leaders from each campus create a shared vision and then work to implement that vision over the course of the year. It also supports competence in indicator 1D by recognizing the teachers throughout the district who are using technology in a powerful way to drive engagement, instruction, and student outcomes. These connections are then used to translate those best practices to other campuses in order to better serve the greater student community.

1C. Cultivate a supportive coaching culture that encourages educators and leaders to achieve a shared vision and individual goals.

1D. Recognize educators across the organization who use technology effectively to enable high-impact teaching and learning.

Artifact Description: This is an agenda for Tustin Unified School District Technology Task Force (TTF). As a committee that meets once a month, there is a representative from every school in the district who is a technology leader on campus, who brings questions, concerns, and new technology to the group for discussion. This group was formed in response to Measure S, the District’s $135 million bond measure that passed in November 2012, when teachers began to realize that they had unparalleled access to technology but were not sure how best to use it. This group serves as a jumping-off point for tech leaders in the district to talk about how tech is being used on their campus, share tips and tricks, and talk about any technology needs that remain outstanding.

Implementation: I have been a member of the Technology Task Force (TTF) for the past four years. This has allowed me to learn and grow in a community of tech leaders across the different school sites in the district. It has also allowed me to grow a professional network of teachers to look to for implementation strategies and technology best practices. I am able to share what is working for me personally, as well as concerns raised by colleagues at my campus. The TTF serves as an open space for discussions about the current technology being used. It also provides the space to learn about new tech adoptions and provide training so that I may be able to train the teachers at my site in the future.

Overall Standard Reflection

I feel that I have been making steady progress towards becoming a change agent on my campus. I have worked hard to establish norms that facilitate the equitable use of digital learning tools both with my students and with my colleagues. I can appreciate that coaches inspire educators to make the necessary changes in their classrooms to create a learning experience that leverages student’s voices and integrating technology effectively can do just that. I believe that my use of the learning management system Schoology shows my competence in both standards 1B and 1E. The platform has allowed me to connect all stakeholders involved in the education process and provide them with a consistent place to locate classroom content and resources. This was initially set up as a reaction to schools being shut down by the COVID-19 global pandemic but has grown into an extremely important resource. Since all students in the district are using Schoology, equitable access to resources for both on-campus and at-home learners has been crucial. I believe that my work in the Technology Task Force has demonstrated my competence in 1D in recognizing the other technology leaders who are doing incredible work to enable high-impact technology-based teaching to take place across the district. I also believe my involvement supports standard 1C by creating a space to cultivate the culture of technology leaders in the district. I feel as though I could grow in this area by creating a similar culture on my campus. There is a need to increase technology awareness amongst some teachers on campus and I am striving to get them involved in using technology in their classrooms since many of them have moved away from tech now that students are back in person. Lastly, standard 1A is also an area of growth for me. While I have taken steps to create a vision and culture for technology use in my classroom, I am working on spreading that message across my campus and sharing that with other teachers.

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