3.3 Online & Blended Learning
Candidates develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks to support and extend student learning and expand opportunities and choices for professional learning for teachers and administrators. (PSC 3.3/ISTE 3c)
Artifact: One Hour Technology Workshop
Reflection:
During the fall of 2015, I designed and implemented a one-hour technology based workshop for teachers for the ITEC 7460- Professional Learning and Technology Innovation course. After speaking with my administration, it was determined that there was a strong need for more training on blended learning with our teachers who are currently using 1:1 devices. I created a Canvas course on our LMS to house all of our materials and then met with the fifteen teachers for one hour for the training workshop in addition to informal meetings with teachers after the workshop to conference with them about how this might look in their classrooms with their students. My individual contribution for this artifact was to take the concept of online and blended learning and develop and facilitate a workshop that would be meaningful for teachers who had the technology to implement this in their classrooms.
For this artifact I developed an online course for fellow teachers to guide them through some basic ideas of an effective blended learning classroom. My goal was to model and facilitate an experience that the participants could replicate with their students. Using digital content in the LMS course, I was able to provide resources and tools for teachers and administrators to use with students and teachers as they worked to create their own blended learning courses. Included in these resources were tips on what leads to higher motivation and achievement by students when engaged in a blended learning course. This course was also shared with administrators so that they could invoke some of the same principles when designing future professional learning opportunities for teachers using an online or blended learning approach to cut down on the amount of required face-to-face meetings and professional learning sessions.
I continued to learn through the designing and implementation of this workshop that even those teachers in your building who are innovative and strive to use more technology in their classroom need professional development opportunities. When I mentioned to the teachers that I would be conducting this workshop they seemed shocked and relieved because they typically are left to figure things out on their own and then share what they have learned with others. They enjoyed being able to sit back and be a participant in a workshop that directly impacted their classroom and instructional strategies they practice. If I were to recreate this workshop, I would send out a quick survey to the teachers beforehand to get a better feel for where they each stood in terms of the content before it was all planned so that I could ensure that everyone would walk away with some piece of new learning regardless of their level.
This artifact directly impacted school improvement and faculty development within my school and in the future will impact student achievement as teachers implement what they learn. Although there are currently only fifteen teachers that are truly using 1:1 devices in our school, the goal of the school and district is to increase this number dramatically next year. Before we begin asking teachers to use technology, and more specifically online and blended learning, it is important that we decide as a school what that means and how we think it should look in our classrooms. By working with this core group of teachers, a model will be developed and strengthened so that they can go out and continue spreading this change throughout the building. The impact will be assessed through observations and conversations with teachers as the training on online and blended learning continues.
During the fall of 2015, I designed and implemented a one-hour technology based workshop for teachers for the ITEC 7460- Professional Learning and Technology Innovation course. After speaking with my administration, it was determined that there was a strong need for more training on blended learning with our teachers who are currently using 1:1 devices. I created a Canvas course on our LMS to house all of our materials and then met with the fifteen teachers for one hour for the training workshop in addition to informal meetings with teachers after the workshop to conference with them about how this might look in their classrooms with their students. My individual contribution for this artifact was to take the concept of online and blended learning and develop and facilitate a workshop that would be meaningful for teachers who had the technology to implement this in their classrooms.
For this artifact I developed an online course for fellow teachers to guide them through some basic ideas of an effective blended learning classroom. My goal was to model and facilitate an experience that the participants could replicate with their students. Using digital content in the LMS course, I was able to provide resources and tools for teachers and administrators to use with students and teachers as they worked to create their own blended learning courses. Included in these resources were tips on what leads to higher motivation and achievement by students when engaged in a blended learning course. This course was also shared with administrators so that they could invoke some of the same principles when designing future professional learning opportunities for teachers using an online or blended learning approach to cut down on the amount of required face-to-face meetings and professional learning sessions.
I continued to learn through the designing and implementation of this workshop that even those teachers in your building who are innovative and strive to use more technology in their classroom need professional development opportunities. When I mentioned to the teachers that I would be conducting this workshop they seemed shocked and relieved because they typically are left to figure things out on their own and then share what they have learned with others. They enjoyed being able to sit back and be a participant in a workshop that directly impacted their classroom and instructional strategies they practice. If I were to recreate this workshop, I would send out a quick survey to the teachers beforehand to get a better feel for where they each stood in terms of the content before it was all planned so that I could ensure that everyone would walk away with some piece of new learning regardless of their level.
This artifact directly impacted school improvement and faculty development within my school and in the future will impact student achievement as teachers implement what they learn. Although there are currently only fifteen teachers that are truly using 1:1 devices in our school, the goal of the school and district is to increase this number dramatically next year. Before we begin asking teachers to use technology, and more specifically online and blended learning, it is important that we decide as a school what that means and how we think it should look in our classrooms. By working with this core group of teachers, a model will be developed and strengthened so that they can go out and continue spreading this change throughout the building. The impact will be assessed through observations and conversations with teachers as the training on online and blended learning continues.