Anchored in PD: My Design Process in Creating Successful Professional Development
Have you ever had a passion for something that you had to share with others? It is a great thing when this feeling happens in a professional setting. In 2023, a colleague and I decided to turn our professional development dreams into action by designing a course to help students and teachers engage with Google Applications. We spent many hours designing purposeful and engaging lessons for our students in preparation. Keep reading to learn how we developed a successful professional development course.
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Our Goal:
Our ultimate goal was to motivate educators to integrate at least one Google application into their current instruction. According to Sheninger (2019), as technology becomes more prevalent in society, it is appropriate to integrate it purposefully to prepare learners for future applications. We also wanted students to become more engaged in their learning with the help of tech tools. Amin (2021) notes how Google applications can be used to support blended learning. We wanted to explore this idea in our professional work and share our learning with others.
What We Wanted:
We wanted to create a professional development where teachers could take their learning into the classroom.
What We Hoped to Avoid:
We hoped to avoid a professional development design that did not include participant interaction. We wanted session participants to actively engage in the session.
Design Process:
We began by reflecting on what we already knew about Google applications. We worked through Google Workspace modules each week and tested our knowledge of Google apps. We quickly realized there was so much more to Google apps than our initial understanding. We also studied a professional development text called Google Apps for Littles (Keeler & Pinto, 2017). In the text, Keeler & Pinto (2017) This book was helpful with our design process because it provided real classroom applications of Google apps for early childhood students.
We discussed a medium for presenting our information and decided the best platform to use was Google Slides. We agreed it was most appropriate to highlight each Google app one at a time, and then provide ways to apply learning to academic content.
We also developed a Kahoot for participants to engage in at the end of the session and provided the winner with a copy of Keeler and Pinto's book.
Reflection
We enjoyed presenting our session during our conference, however, we had hoped for a larger number of attendees. We left the session feeling that we provided lots of good tools for educators to use in their classrooms. Upon further reflection, I would have liked to have found a better way to connect with participants beyond the session. At the end of our session, we asked participants to fill out a short survey, stating how they might use Google Applications in their classroom. We also gathered contact information from those who were interested, and we sent them a copy of our slideshow. After learning about Personal Learning Networks (PLN) in my graduate course, I now wish I would have connected with participants over social media. I now know the importance of staying connected with other educators and how PLNs allow educators to connect, collaborate, and exchange resources with other educators (Sheninger, 2019). Perhaps, we could have stayed in contact professionally and we could have checked in on them to see if we could support them in integrating tech tools into their instruction.
Curious to see how our presentation turned out? Click the link below to view.
Teaching With Tech Presentation
References
Amin, E. A.-R. (2020). A review of research into google apps in the process of english language learning and teaching. Arab World English Journal, 11(1), 399–418.
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Sage Publications.
Ditch That Textbook. (2016, Aug 20). Google apps 4 littles with christine pinto (ditch that textbook). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGD1wBCIorc
Pinto, C. (n.d.). Image of a google apps for littles book cover. [Image]. ChristinePinto.com. https://christinepinto.com/book-information/
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Your presentation looks great! I was upset when Google announced they were discontinuing Jamboard. Many of my teachers had become proficient at utilizing this tool when Google announced they were sunsetting the app. I have already started training my folks to use FigJam as a replacement tool. Your comments about PLNs made me think about a similar situation we had last year. Our district tech department encouraged our teachers to participate in an online professional learning opportunity to dive into how Google Apps could be used to support students and enhance instruction. Traditionally, our district has not offered online professional learning opportunities. They are usually all face-to-face interactions. This online opportunity had more participants than our usual face-to-face summer sessions. I think the asynchronous format allowed teachers to participate around their different family obligations during the summer. Sheninger (2019) discusses this in the dynamics of PLNs when we utilize digital tools. Time, location, and access to people are no longer obstacles to engaging with one another. Bragg (2021) found that online learning opportunities have the added benefits of accommodating individual differences in learning styles, fostering engagement, providing learner support, and focusing on acquiring further development of pedagogical content knowledge. We found this to be true as we designed our online learning community. The elementary and secondary tech specialists worked together to design the activities and lead different components. Participants were offered choices based on the grade(s) they teach, their subject area, and their comfort level with technology. Many participants commented that they appreciated being able to share ideas with teachers from other grade levels. They found the insights from other teachers helpful in thinking about the use of Google apps in a different way. This would have been difficult to accomplish in a face-to-face format where teachers are normally grouped by grade bands.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Bragg, L. A., Walsh, C., & Heyeres, M. (2021). Successful design and delivery of online professional development for teachers: A systematic review of the literature. Computers & Education, 166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104158
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times (2nd ed.). Corwin; International Center for Leadership in Education.
Your presentation is amazing! This is great PD for the teachers in your building as well as any other teacher you can present it to! Learning from other teachers is always the best PD. Stebick et al. (2023), mentions that teachers often seek authentic professional development led by other teachers in the classroom. Learning from other educators is usually relevant and the most useful. Sheninger (2019), mentions that a shift to professional learning, which consists of collaborative, job-embedded learning, is necessary for the adequate growth of educators. Professional development is so important in order for educators to grow in our profession.
ReplyDeleteSheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times.
Corwin.
Stebick, D., Hart, J., Glick, L., Kindervatter, J., Nagel, J., & Patrick, C. (2023). Teacher Inquiry: A Catalyst for Professional Development. Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research, 24(1).
Your presentation was wonderful. I really enjoyed the information you shared both in your presentation and this post explaining your thought process. This was a great example of how to be a digital leader! Sheninger (2019) states "Digital leaders work to improve professional learning in their respective districts, schools, classrooms, or organizations based on what is known to actually work" (p.142). I believe the course you created and presented exemplifies this perfectly. I wish more individuals would work to develop professional learning that was beneficial to us such as this one and shows how much passion the creator has for the topic. Holland & Tate (2022) explain "Well-designed personalized professional learning opportunities can positively impact learner growth." Thank you for your passion and time in designing this resource.
ReplyDeleteHolland, B., & Tate, T. (2022, June 10). Keys to successful professional learning. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/keys-successful-professional-learning/
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times (2nd ed.). Corwin; International Center for Leadership in Education.
Hi Tanisha!
ReplyDeleteI am in awe of you presenting at a conference! Although I think I have great ideas, I'm afraid that others will dismiss or already know what ever topic I choose. (IDK, it may be imposter syndrome! lol) I am so happy that you presented on how to use technology with younger students. I feel that most PDs and studies are geared towards older elementary to high school students and we, sometimes, forget that our younger learners need tech interaction too!
According to Sheninger, professional development options have evolved and I am glad that you have thought of how to evolve with them! Many times, teachers stay with what they know and don't try to think outside the box.
According to a study completed on teacher views of professional development, the authors suggest "that teachers orient themselves more towards resources than towards outcomes of PD. They also found that teachers prioritised emotions" (Elhart and Souvingnier, 2023).
Mareike Ehlert, Elmar Souvignier,
Effective professional development in implementation processes – the teachers' view, Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 134, 2023, 104329, ISSN 0742-051X,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104329.
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times (2nd ed.). Corwin; International Center for Leadership in Education.