IDD

Using Hatch Insights™ to Inform Small-Group Instruction

Fig. 1. Kids learning technology (Source: Stockcake.com, n.d.)

This course will assist Prince George's County Public School Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) teachers to successfully use an online teacher platform called Hatch Insights™  to plan small group instruction. The essential question addressed by this minicourse is: "How can teachers use the Hatch Insights™ platform to inform small group instruction in the Pre-K classroom?"

School districts are increasingly turning to digital learning platforms to offer learning experiences to their youngest learners. Pre-K teachers don't always know how to access and use data from these platforms to inform small group instruction in their classrooms. This minicourse aims to build Pre-K teachers’ confidence and skills in using data from the Hatch Insights™ online platform to inform their small group instruction. 

Target Audience

Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) Pre-K teachers whose students use the Ignite by Hatch™ learning platform in their classrooms. PGCPS is a district located in the state of Maryland

Demographics

• Adult learners. 

• Full-time professionals

• PGCPS classroom teachers of children ages 4 to 5 years old.

• Able to understand and communicate in English.

• Residents of the United States of America.

• Diverse ethnic backgrounds.

• All genders.

Prior Knowledge & Education

• Has a minimum of a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.

• Has completed a state-approved teacher preparation program.

• Has procedural knowledge on implementing the Ignite by Hatch™ program in their classroom.

Skills and Dispositions

• Has basic computer literacy skills and can use a computer to navigate an online website.

• New and seasoned educators who have no or little experience utilizing the Insights by Hatch™ teacher dashboard. 

• Has a desire to utilize tools and resources that can both inform and streamline the planning process for small group instruction in the classroom.

Technology and Accessibility

• Has access to either a work-issued or personal laptop or desktop computer. 

• Accessibility features will be incorporated into the design process to allow for an inclusive learning experience.

This course addresses the learning need of PGCPS Pre-K teachers who have little or no knowledge on how to access student performance data on an online teacher dashboard called Hatch Insights™  in order to plan for and implement effective small group instruction. This learning gap can be best addressed through a step-by-step and how-to course type. 

The step-by-step and how-to components of the course will show learners how to leverage resources on the Hatch Insights™ teacher dashboard to assist them in planning for small group instruction. 

The course will rely on a hybrid or blended modality. This course is designed to fit into regular Pre-K grade-level meetings. Pre-K teaching teams undergoing the course at the same time can decide on how they would want to proceed. They can choose to do the course asynchronously, which means completing everything online and not in-person, or synchronously, which means they can complete the online activities in-person during their regularly scheduled grade-level meetings. Or they can chose to do a mix of both synchronous and asynchronous modes for the different activities. 

The hybrid modality was chosen due to the following considerations:

• Learner Preference: Pre-K teachers are busy professionals with limited time. Providing them with an on-demand, self-paced, asynchronous component will allow for some flexibility and make it convenient for them to complete the course's procedural portion at their own time. 

• Compatibility with Learner's Work Context: Schools in PGCPS have regular in-person grade level meetings where teachers come together to discuss, among other things, classroom concerns, lesson plans, and teaching strategies. This course integrates well with these grade level meetings. The course will incorporate social learning through collaborative discussions with other Pre-K teachers.

• Resource Availability and Technical Requirements: PGCPS Pre-K teachers are issued work laptops. This gives them the ability to access Hatch Insights™ and any of the course's online resources.

The essential question addressed by this minicourse is: "How can teachers use the Hatch Insights™ platform to inform small group instruction in the Pre-K classroom?"

The following are the course learning outcomes (CLOs) for my minicourse on "Using Hatch Insights™ to Inform small group instruction":

• (CLO) 1.0 - By the end of this course, learners will be able to explain how key features of Hatch Insights™ digital platform can support targeted small group instruction in their classroom. 

• (CLO) 2.0 - By the end of this course, learners will be able to quickly access the Hatch Insights ™ digital platform on the PGCPS district website in order to generate a small-group lesson plan. 

The following table illustrates the alignment of module objectives, lesson activities, and assessment strategies for Modules 01 and 02 of this mini-course.

The following is a list of subject matter experts (SMEs) and resources that can help inform the content for my minicourse:

Subject Matter Experts

• SME 01: Prince George's County Public Schools Early Childhood Special Education Instructional Supervisor - Lynette M. Russell, M.S. 

• SME 02: Prince George's County Public Schools Early Childhood Special Education Instructional Specialist - Melinda Thomas, M.Ed.

• SME 03: Hatch Early Learning Director of Customer Support - Carlin Brown

Resources

• The Hatch Insights™ website support pages

• Internally created resources by the PGCPS Early Childhood Office on small group instruction best practices

Given the goals and objectives of the minicourse, its target audience, and its how-to course type, I will be utilizing the Understanding by Design (UbD) instructional design model, and supplement it by practices from the Rapid Instructional Design (RID) approach.

• Why UbD?

Public school Pre-K teachers are busy professionals with demanding jobs. Majority of them are women who have to constantly balance work-life expectations. The UbD model with its backward design of beginning with the end in mind and its focus on deep understandings, can be an advantage in that learners will be provided with the big picture on how this minicourse can directly support their work in the classroom. UbD aligns performance outcomes with authentic assessments that are then integrated into the learning activities themselves. Learning activities are all aligned to the end goals of the course, and therefore are purposeful and targeted. 

The minicourse has teachers applying higher-order skills such as creating a lesson plan that incorporates differentiated learning. UbD can effectively address these skills, since the model by nature emphasizes the meaningful transfer and application of knowledge and skills over rote learning. Moreover, this could also serve to bolster learner engagement when they see how the minicourse has immediate application to their work setting. Learners will get the sense that this minicourse is not just another thing on their plate, but something that can eventually streamline and support their efforts. Hence, this minicourse also strives to integrate itself into the existing routine structures of the public school system, with its regular grade-level team collaborative planning meetings. 

• Why RID Approach?  
  One of the limitations of UbD is that it could be time-consuming and resource-intensive. Therefore, I will also be utilizing the RID approach to capitalize on existing templates and resources that can help me streamline the design process. I would also seek out knowledgeable SMEs and speak to stakeholders to help guide me in my efforts in creating an effective and meaningful learning experience. 
  
  

The following section identifies and describes how the learning theories of andragogy, cognitivism, and constructivism could effectively drive the design of the learning activities and assessments within my minicourse.

Andragogy

• Real-life application - the teachers will be able to apply a small-group lesson plan they have created as part of the minicourse.

• Discussion - allow for thoughtful discussion along the way through a community discussion board or in-person meetings where the teachers can share amongst themselves how they've applied these procedural skills to small-group instruction in their classrooms. They can likewise seek solutions together for problems and challenges along the way. 

• Celebrating personal accomplishments - allow for group celebrations through community discussion boards on ways they have been utilizing Hatch Insights™ data to inform small group instruction. The teachers can also share observations of progress in their students. 

• Set their own learning goals - the teachers can formulate their personal reasons for participating in the minicourse. They will write about what they hope to achieve at the end of the course or how they hope it will help them manage their existing work load. 

• Formative Assessment - The teachers will engage in reflection about how Hatch Insights™ can be a valuable tool for them in the classroom. 

• Summative Assessment - The teachers will get the chance to reflect on how they have applied their new skill and knowledge to their final project of creating a differentiated small-group lesson plan using Hatch Insights™.

Cognitivism

• Tasks will be presented in a simple yet clear way

• Chunking - content will be broken down and presented in smaller parts that will demonstrate each step of the process. 

• Use of multi-media elements - steps in the process will be presented using text and visuals, paired closely to each other.

• Reducing extraneous cognitive load - presentation will use a minimal amount of text, accompanied by a video or image to demonstrate the idea/process.

• Flexibility of learning process - Teachers have the ability to return to and review past material in the course. 

• A visual job aid or just-in-time support - an infographic will provide the teachers with quick access to needed information. 

• Active learning - the teachers will actively participate in the process of accessing and utilizing Hatch Insights™ data to inform small group instruction. 

Constructivism

• Cooperative learning - the teachers will engage in peer discussions of small-group instruction plans and decision-making. 

• Situation Learning - The content and nature of this minicourse will have learners apply knowledge and skills to real-world scenarios in their work place---which is designing effective small-group instruction for the classroom.

• Formative Assessment - peer evaluation will be utilized to provide learners constructive feedback regarding their progress through this course. 

The following section is a list of digital media objects for my minicourse

Item 1: Completed Digital Media Checklist evaluating OER 

Resource URL: https://wikieducator.org/IICD/Resources/ICT4E_Facilitator_Manual#Training_methodology:

Item 02: Completed Digital Document and Audio Description 

Item 03: Completed Digital Image of Logo and Course Announcement

Note: Unused due to the decision to use an introductory video on the course's Home page instead. 

License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Item 04: Completed Minicourse Video

Note: Not used due to updated course structure, replaced with new introduction video. See updated video in Home page of minicourse on Canvas LMS. 

Video License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Item 05: Completed Screencast Video

Video License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Item 06: Completed Interactive Module

NOTE: Not used due to updated course structure on Canvas LMS. 

https://storage.googleapis.com/chua_minicourse/index.html

Item 07: Module 01 - Introduction Video

Item 08: Course Header

Completed Storyboard Draft for Module 01 of Minicourse

Note: This was an earlier draft that guided the process. Module 01 went through three revisions from this first draft to its final form.