Jukowski states in Chapter 13 of Technology and the School Library that time and energy are usually the problems when it comes to participation in professional development. How true are those words? I don’t know about all the other schools out there, but when the words “mandatory training” are thrown around, the faculty does not respond positively. They are usually too busy or too tired to really take advantage of the benefits of professional training.
This year, the Hardaway R4 (Rigor+Relevance+Relationships=Results) team decided to put together a professional development plan centered around technology. The ultimate goal of the project is to teach a technology tool that will prove helpful in the classroom. The R4 committee gathered some “tech savvy” faculty members to help plan and implement PLU courses specifically for classroom teachers. The techies were encouraged to plan a course that focuses on one aspect of technology with which they are particularly comfortable. The topics were brainstormed and the following list was created:
October – SMART technology including Google Calendar, math graphing, stories/songs
November – ipods & smart phones
December – building & using weebly sites
January – engaging presentation (PowerPoint & Prezi)
February – SMART technology (specifically SMART Response)
February – xtranormal
March – edmodo
The above courses will add up to a PLU and equal about an hour to an hour and a half in length. Because these are quick, relevant opportunities for training, we are hoping the teachers will not only take advantage of the courses but actually be able to implement the technology into their classrooms, as well.
I am personally responsible for the December course on Weebly sites. I know that when I design my course, I am going to keep Jurkowski’s advice in mind. Here is his sage wisdom for implementing teacher trainings:
· Think about the needs of the audience. If time allows, perform a needs assessment. Figure out exactly what would be most useful for the group to learn so that you aren’t wasting time on unneeded information.
· Remember that the course is for adult learners. They have different needs than young people. Consider what they already know about your topic in order to save time.
· Consider your objectives carefully. Develop some specific goals and competencies you want the learners to achieve by the end of the course.
· Reward with incentives! Our incentive will be a PLU…but we will also have some snacks to keep the crowd happy!
· Make sure the lessons are practical and provide tip sheets for later use. If the audience cannot use the material you are teaching and they do not have a reference to use later, the class will be a waste of time for them.
· Allow time for hands-on application. Have the class actually use technology so that they can actually get a feel it and so that you can spot any weak spots immediately.
· Use small groups as much as possible. Large group activities can be cumbersome.
· Always evaluate at the end of the class. Have the participants fill out a quick Q&A on the session so that you can make improvements for the next time.
· Continue to provide support after the training is over. Make sure you follow up with participants to troubleshoot any issues.
As with any new idea, the initial buy-in from the faculty may be worriesome, but we think that we can build some momentum through our enthusiasm for the technologies we are teaching. Once the naysayers see the results of the technology trainings, they will hopefully give a tech tool a try.
Stay tuned! I will update you on the progress of this project. Until then… keep your fingers crossed for us!
Jurkowski, O.L. (2010). Technology and the school library: A comprehensive guies for media specialists and other educators (revised edition). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Wendi,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your school is really tackling technology training. I would attend for sure. So the trainings are 1.5 hrs each? Once a month? (After school, I would assume...) Our teachers are so touchy about after school, but I would attend for sure.
You gave a good overview of Jurkowski's main points and how they will apply to your trainings. In my case, being at a primary school, so much is beyond the scope of what our little ones can really use, so teachers think they won't be able to apply it in the classroom. We are supposed to be small group instructing basically all day, so a Presi just isn't necessary: the Smartboard will suffice for most any of their needs.
I hope in your school, teachers will love all the new opportunites.
Those trainings sound like a brilliant way to inform the staff about available technology without totally overwhelming them with information (or boring them to tears!) I like that you mention the 'follow-up/support' aspect of training. I can't count how many times I've been to a training, heard a good idea that I want to try in my classroom, then promptly forgot how to access the resources after the training was over. It might be a cool idea to video record your presentations and make them available to teachers to review later if necessary. Anyway, I think your school is doing a great thing by trying out this form of professional development and I hope it's a huge success.
ReplyDeleteWendi, Great Job! I appreciate the summary of Jurkowski's tips. The most salient are the needs assessment (both for selection of topics and starting points within topics), the provision of teachers actually USING the technology (vs. county inservices or trainings by company reps I've so often attended where we watch - or worse, hear - about what the product/program can do), and follow up support (tip sheets or quick how to's on the shared-drive).
ReplyDeleteI also strongly agree with your point of making trainings optional. The problem is... no matter how much the training may be something a teacher WANTS... there are too often more immediate demands and so turn out is LOW. I say this as the teacher who has often been unable to attend or one of the only two that showed up for a training.
Thus the solution from the administration so often that makes attendance mandatory. I'm considering a modification of the two strategies. Starting wih a needs assessment (for technologies and levels), I want to create a menu of items from which teachers may select and bargain with the admin to set a number of sessions vs. attendance at all.
I'm sure yours will go well and I KNOW the teachers will benefit from your expertise with Weebly.
What a wonderful design here! I know that when our faculty is introduced to something new, we are all piled into the media center to watch a presentation, which is usually boring. After a long day of teaching, this is not my idea of a good time. There are no tip sheets handed out, so unless you remember every little detail from the mundane presentation, you have no help when you try to do anything on your own.
ReplyDeleteOne such instant that was recent was the development of our teacher websites. The county has a new program and instead of having the faculty meeting in the computer lab where we could follow along and actually work on ours simultaneously with the IT guy, we are shown on the Smart Board and given no tip sheet or anything. And as predicted, when I go back to work on mine (during all the spare time I have), I couldn't remember half of what I was told.
I wouldn't mind these trainings if they were a little more productive. So kudos to you for helping design such a meaningful way to present new technology.
Showing teachers how to use one useful tool per month is a great idea. Also, making it "optional" is another great idea. Another alternative to that would be "requiring" or "requesting" that one person from each team attend and then they can share the info with their teammates. When everyone is forced to attend a training session, bad morale can spread quickly. Negative attitudes due to too much work/not enough time and bad past experiences with trainings can be a killer. If you can keep trainings short and on-point I think people will enjoy attending them!
ReplyDeleteIt is so true about what you say about required or mandatory trainings. It is something that most teachers roll their eyes at and believe that their time could be spent doing something a little but more productive. The ideas that you have listed for these trainings is interesting and something that I would be interested to see how teachers respond. I like the idea of making the triaing optional, but once again I'm interested to see how teachers respond and how many teachers actually come to the training. Great post.
ReplyDeleteSomething we did in my former school was really effective: Rather than having long tech trainings, we did a 10 minute "tech tip" to open our weekly faculty meetings. When PLU requirements were suspended,that incentive went away, so this was a way to get teachers the information they needed without them having to sit through long trainings.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the words “mandatory training.” Yuck! Sometimes they can just ruin someone’s day, or at the very least, someone’s planning period. It is nice when whoever is in charge realizes that and tries to make training as pleasant as possible. The idea of spreading the trainings out to a different topic once a month is great. That way it won’t be too monotonous. Also I really liked the hands on approach that is recommended. I personally can’t remember anything technology wise unless I do it myself. Incentives like PLUs and/or snacks can really make a difference too. People like to see a payoff.
ReplyDeleteI love how your team decided what topics to cover! These trainings were personalized for your faculty and not something just sent down the pipe. Sometimes I feel as if we are just doing something because everyone is doing it. Your school is allowing teachers (I'm guessing) who use these technologies to share their ideas with others. That is so refreshing!! I also like how the dates for the different topics are given and that trainings are not mandatory. I would offer one suggestion though. As a tech person, I would attend all of them! Many of the teachers who really need these trainings will probably opt out of all of them. It would probably be beneficial to give teachers a "mandatory" choice such as choose 3 of the 7 trainings to attend.
ReplyDeleteWendi,
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this idea!! What an amazing way to teach technology to those that want it/need it without repeating the same things to those that already know it. I have sat in numerous technology classes where I already knew the program or ideas and learned nothing new (and resented every second of it!) I would love to hear how it goes and would like to implement something like this at my school. With so many early release days mandated to teachers having something that would benefit us and our students quickly is always a blessing.