TIE 2009 – Online Professional Development – Randy Stall and Dana Levesque June 25, 2009
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions.trackback
LPS Learning Development
- Monday Models – 3 hour sessions on variety of topics. Face to face hold my hand training. No prior sign-up, drop-in model.
- In-Building PD
- whole staff
- grade level teams
- content teams
- individuals
- Co-teaching
- Modeling
Still needed another option that wasn’t met by the above. What kinds of options are there, and what needs to be offered? Examined tools like Moodle or BlackBoard. Looked closer at 23 Things, http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com and Personal Learning environment (PLN, etc). They use a wiki. Wiki also models the instruction. Wikispaces allows you to create any number of wikis. Educator version is advertising free.
PD has class credit options (Adams State extended studies). Completion of units was published for everyone to see in the class. Semester class length. Specific syllabus listed on the link above. Rubrics posted as a Google Doc., as well as the classroom ‘gradebook’. Green cells indicate someone is done with an activity. Feedback to participant wikis done with email. This model used to develop proficiencies. 30 students per session with 2 instructors. Each module had a specific instructor rather than assigning instructors to specific students. Check list version of the progress spread sheet (identical items) also available.
- Topic 1: Introduction – Classmates – Used dotSUB to view videos housed on YouTube to avoid the filter. Included background information with Common Craft videos, as assignment section, a link to the progress spreadsheet, rubrics, and a classmates page to list (and link) the members of the class. The class page is where people post their information. Instructions did not include step-by-step instructions which fosters self-reliance, discovery, and proficiency. There are instructions, just not complete details. Also offered alternatives and prompts about how the topic relates back to the classroom. Use of discussion tab in each module to connect students, and give them a forum to communicate with each other.
- Topic 2: Wiki. each topic had a features section where each person had to find a feature and describe step-by-step instructions on how to use the feature.
- Topic 3: Blogs. Five posts over the course of the whole class. Course blog also acted as a model. Course blog also served as a place to encourage additional conversations.
- Topic 4: Social Bookmarking. Topic 5: Podcasting. Topic 6: Online Communications. Topic 7: Web Albums. Topic 8: Google Earth. Topic 9: Online Tools. Final project module which became a wiki collection or portfolio of their work in the course, and a reflection. RSS Module also included, but not required.
- Paras and teachers and anyone else could sign-up. 3 credit class.
- Face-to-face meeting at the beginning to make sure expectations were clear, logistical things worked, etc. Some visits for struggling students were made.
- Prerequisites: classroom experience, basic Internet skills.
Observations
- Instructor
- Some teachers need 1-on-1 attention
- Consider the class timeline
- Time to check and respond back with participants
- one instructor per module
- Keep people aware of timeline
- Participant
- Difficult class but worth it
- See other participants work
- Procrastination can be a problem
- Online Community: you get out of it what you put in to it
Each module can be broken out into a separate mini-course. Courses developed over the summer. Developed courses can also serve as content for Monday Models. Two buildings will be implementing this process at the building level. Fall works better that Spring.
Reflection: Online courses can be a valuable option to deliver PD. Consideration needs to be give to differentiation. Probably want to have a menu of 12 options, 10 of which need to be completed, with some offerings as required.
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