My ETEC 565a e-portfolio

I just finished reading Will Richardson’s post on his blogsite Weblogged-ed  http://weblogg-ed.com/ about Professional Development for  teachers. His tag line as part of the title was what really caught my attention: PD for Teachers (Like students Do It). I am sure that it is not a coincidence that Richardson’s post on PD came the very day after the first day in my district, and after trying to figure out what we should work on, I think I am going to suggest this for our next day in October.

Here’s an idea for your next PD day around technology (assuming you’ve already started a conversation around social learning tools and curricular change…no small assumption, I know.)

Step 2: When people arrive in the rooms where the sessions are scheduled, write this on the board, whiteboard, smartboard, etc: “YOU HAVE 90 MINUTES. FIGURE IT OUT.”

So often we spend our precious PD time discussing where we want to go. We have some amazing philosophical discussions around the pedagogy of what we are doing, what we aren’t doing, and what we want to do. But now it is time to Just Do It! (if I can borrow the Nike slogan…)

In my building, there are 4 or 5 of us that are very excited about integrating technology in to our teaching. All of us have either a Smartboard or a projector in our classroom, and we have been working collaboratively to work specific web 2.0 tools into our teaching. Baby steps are good. But, these baby steps have been very isolated to a small group of us, and I was struggling with how to expand our group and share the knowledge with the rest of the staff. It felt wrong to try and run a PD day, when I have so many unanswered questions myself. That is why I love Richardson’s idea of igniting the spark, then allowing it to become its own flame.

It is very overwhelming to read through the ISTE Standards for Teaching, but on the other hand, I found it somewhat comforting. I feel like this type of document gives me a bit of a focus or starting ground. So often with new initiatives, we as teachers re-create the wheel, and I know the same can be said for technology in my building. I am actually going to share this with some of the other tech-minded teachers I am collaborating with!

Here is a snapshot of the main principles:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

As for my focus…hmmmm….where to start. I know that my weakness lies in #4 –  Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility. This is really not even an area that I have thought about, let alone worked on. I do think it is important, it just doesn’t seem to be the meat and potatoes that I need right now to get my students up and running.

I think (hope) that my strengths and focus are on #1 and #2. I feel pretty confident that I have allowed and encouraged the parts of number one. I like nothing better than when my students teach me how to use a program. I think having them be the experts in the classroom works well for some of the technology I have worked with. One of my kids taught me how to use screencasting, because he and his cousin are online gamers and like to share info about some of their favourite games and the cousin lives in Saskatchewan. I then had him teach the class and we did a peer editing activity that worked very well in English 9. (Not to mention, how neat it was to see him shine in a group of hockey jocks and cowgirls, where the gamer doesn’t always fit in…)

As for my focus within this course, I think it will be on #2 d – creating assessment that fits what I am trying to accomplish with technology. I feel that I don’t always hit the mark on that one!

We have been looking at two different frameworks for use with technology and education. The first one is “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education”, by Chickering and Gamon, and the second is “SECTIONS”, by Bates and Poole (2003). I had used the SECTIONS framework by Bates and Poole (2003) in a previous MET course, so felt a bit of familiarity there, however I really found myself connecting to Chickering and Gamon’s work.

Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort that a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one’s own ideas and responding to others’ reactions sharpens thinking and deepens understanding (Chickering & Gamson, 1987 ).

Most of the technology that I have been introducing into my classroom has had a collaborative nature to it. I did not intend for this to be my focus area, possibly it just lent itself to my way of thinking and my teaching style to try something new when the students are working together. Not sure… but either way, the 7 principles outlined in Chickering and Gamon have helped put into place a sort of checklist for me to use when I am creating my lessons. Actually, the 7 principles are good practice for all my teaching, whether it incorporates technology or not.

References:

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996).  Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6.

Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987).  Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.  American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), 3-7.

Here goes my first post on my new UBC WordPress site. I am excited about trying this one out, as I have my MET e-portfolio started on a google site. It will be nice to see what the differences are and possibly make a decision as to which one I like better.

Now to try and figure out the part about the ‘feed’…

Ciao!