Technology Integration for Learning

Supporting the learning of teachers and students is the primary goal of technology integration in education. For our Week 5 post, I'm going to focus on providing answers to the prompts about teachers' professional learning.

Teachers' Professional Learning

What structures and practices are already in place in your community to support professional learning?

My campus & district already implement several practices that support the professional learning of educators. 

• Weekly PD on Thursdays given by peers; with a rotating schedule of literacy, AVID, technology, and a book study (Currently: Teach Like a Champion)
• Leadership committees - there are a variety to select from to join at the start of the year; at least 1 is required per teacher
• Summer PD with many choices for educators to select from
• Online PD to extend skills; most courses don't offer actual PD credits though
• Peer coaching
• Administrative support to investigate and implement new technologies

What practices show promise for adoption in your community to support professional learning?

• Teacher Technology Leaders - Some teachers have moved up to Digital Learning Specialist positions, but there aren't enough to have one on each campus. Allowing teachers to step into this role to have a person available throughout the day would be amazing!
• Getting feedback more often - either from peers or from administrators - would be helpful, especially for newer teachers. The more feedback we get, the more we can adjust our practices to improve learning.
• Learning Portfolios - Having teachers present a record at their summative conference of all the training they participate in throughout the year would be very revealing. Both the teacher and administrator would be able to reflect on the learning that happened and discuss what was effective and where there is more opportunity for growth.

Identify synchronous and asynchronous opportunities to develop or grow a professional learning community.

Synchronous - Many of these afford opportunities to grow your PLC face-to-face since you get to participate with people outside of your campus.

• Summer Training/PD Opportunities - the whole district participates
• Start/Mid-Semester PD Sessions - department & campus-level sessions
• Weekly PD - all participants share a planning time
• Committee Meetings - a mix of educators from the entire campus with a shared passion for the selected committee 

Asynchronous - While you can still grow your PLC with these, they require more effort to stay up-to-date due to their formats.

• Twitter - subscribe to content you are interested in; join live chats or participate after by responding to prompts; many great resources
• Webinar - can be done live, but some prefer to watch the playback so they can pause if needed; can still be involved with discussion after the fact
• Facebook Groups - a great way to build relationships with people; opportunities to join groups that have similar interests/goals
• Discussion Boards/Forums - easy to share and find information; many topics to choose from
• Blogs - a great way to see other perspectives and get feedback on ideas
• E-mail - can be used to communicate with one or more people; great for private discussions

How will you plan for successful professional learning activities and network development?

• Gather feedback from educators about what format and topics they'd prefer to learn about.
• Allow educators to choose what they attend, with the understanding that they must attend something and know they will walk away with tools to increase learning.
• Offer the same topic at different levels so beginners, mid-level, and advanced learners are all challenged.
• Offer sessions during designated PD time and before/after school.
• Record sessions or have presentations available for asynchronous use if needed. (Someone is always absent.)
• Ensure there is time for educators to practice their new skills while help is available.
• Offer information for who to contact if further help is needed after the session.
• Encourage teachers to use social media tools in a professional manner: Blogs, Chats, Forums, Hangouts, Twitter, Skype, Google+, Pinterest... 
• At the beginning of the year, ask educators to share the topic and presenter info for any summer PD they attended and enjoyed; same for any books they read. Create a PD Sharing Sheet (and share with all staff) by having educators complete a Google Form to populate the list with opportunities & brief summaries for others to look into for the future. Continue asking participants to update this list as they attend worthwhile events.
• Use information gathered on the PD Sharing Sheet to consider for potential PD ideas or presenters.

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