3.3 Online and 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: A now-dismantled Weebly site featuring flipped classroom videos about Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers. Sample videos are embedded below.
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Reflection:
Standard 3.3 references extended opportunities for learning for both students and teachers. Because of the reference to teachers as well as students, I chose to use an artifact that I created for teachers. Originally, the artifact that I created was for my ITEC 7460, Professional Learning and Technological Innovation course. The artifact that was created for the course was a Weebly site on which I embedded a number of self-created flipped classroom style videos about using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. I researched the available web 2.0 tools, created a list of the tools that would be most useful to my colleagues at my school then created screencasts about using each of those tools. Additionally, I sought out videos that the manufacturers of the web 2.0 tools had created previously that introduced each product. Finally, I created a Weebly site on which I posted the videos and I created introduction videos for each of several categories. Unfortunately, I dismantled the Weebly site itself in order to make space in my ten sites limit, but the videos that I created were preserved in my YouTube account.
The Weebly site that I developed was aligned to a goal that the professional learning team at my school had at that time. Our goal was to increase the meaningful use of technology by teachers at the school. Through team brainstorming, we decided that we would increase the meaningfulness of the use of technology by teaching teachers about Web 2.0 and the different tools available for teachers and students that utilize the principles of web 2.0. The site that I created was designed to include approximately two hours of videos of which teachers would choose an hour’s worth to watch independently. The payoff was designed to occur on a professional learning/teacher workday on which the teachers would form groups based on their choices and collaboratively create lessons using the web 2.0 tools that they chose.
In the course of developing my website, I collaborated with other members of the professional learning team at my school as well as school administrators and the media specialist. The collaboration that took place involved brainstorming a list of possible tools for inclusion in the course as well as choosing the final set of tools that would be included and delegating the creation of other videos. The administrators at the school assisted us in completing the paperwork to register our professional learning course as an official course that would offer professional learning unit credit. The media specialist also assisted in uploading the videos from YouTube to PD360, an online professional development tool that we used at the time.
The lesson that I learned in creating this artifact was that even when you think you have considered and planned for all the ways that people will misunderstand a lesson or activity, there will still be people who do not understand. In this case, many teachers did not understand that they should choose half of the videos to watch and thus many complained about being forced to watch all of the videos. Additionally, many teachers did not register for the professional learning course, so they did not receive PLU credit for their work. Finally, the in-person portion of the professional learning course as optional, as was the overall course, so many teachers chose not to participate. In the future, I would more carefully consider and plan for the struggles of others, and I would work to create a mandatory course.
The overall impact of this artifact was designed to be primarily on teacher professional development. The teachers who followed through with the course self-reported that it helped them use more and different web 2.0 tools in their classrooms. That impact was echoed in the new Teacher Keys Effectiveness Survey that is used to evaluate teachers. The results that our administrators scared with teachers showed that a majority of teachers use technology effectively in their classrooms. Additionally, anecdotal evidence from our media specialist indicates that many teachers use the school iPad cart to allow students to complete web 2.0 projects and activities. Based on this impact in teacher development, the student learning experience is also being impacted.
Standard 3.3 references extended opportunities for learning for both students and teachers. Because of the reference to teachers as well as students, I chose to use an artifact that I created for teachers. Originally, the artifact that I created was for my ITEC 7460, Professional Learning and Technological Innovation course. The artifact that was created for the course was a Weebly site on which I embedded a number of self-created flipped classroom style videos about using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. I researched the available web 2.0 tools, created a list of the tools that would be most useful to my colleagues at my school then created screencasts about using each of those tools. Additionally, I sought out videos that the manufacturers of the web 2.0 tools had created previously that introduced each product. Finally, I created a Weebly site on which I posted the videos and I created introduction videos for each of several categories. Unfortunately, I dismantled the Weebly site itself in order to make space in my ten sites limit, but the videos that I created were preserved in my YouTube account.
The Weebly site that I developed was aligned to a goal that the professional learning team at my school had at that time. Our goal was to increase the meaningful use of technology by teachers at the school. Through team brainstorming, we decided that we would increase the meaningfulness of the use of technology by teaching teachers about Web 2.0 and the different tools available for teachers and students that utilize the principles of web 2.0. The site that I created was designed to include approximately two hours of videos of which teachers would choose an hour’s worth to watch independently. The payoff was designed to occur on a professional learning/teacher workday on which the teachers would form groups based on their choices and collaboratively create lessons using the web 2.0 tools that they chose.
In the course of developing my website, I collaborated with other members of the professional learning team at my school as well as school administrators and the media specialist. The collaboration that took place involved brainstorming a list of possible tools for inclusion in the course as well as choosing the final set of tools that would be included and delegating the creation of other videos. The administrators at the school assisted us in completing the paperwork to register our professional learning course as an official course that would offer professional learning unit credit. The media specialist also assisted in uploading the videos from YouTube to PD360, an online professional development tool that we used at the time.
The lesson that I learned in creating this artifact was that even when you think you have considered and planned for all the ways that people will misunderstand a lesson or activity, there will still be people who do not understand. In this case, many teachers did not understand that they should choose half of the videos to watch and thus many complained about being forced to watch all of the videos. Additionally, many teachers did not register for the professional learning course, so they did not receive PLU credit for their work. Finally, the in-person portion of the professional learning course as optional, as was the overall course, so many teachers chose not to participate. In the future, I would more carefully consider and plan for the struggles of others, and I would work to create a mandatory course.
The overall impact of this artifact was designed to be primarily on teacher professional development. The teachers who followed through with the course self-reported that it helped them use more and different web 2.0 tools in their classrooms. That impact was echoed in the new Teacher Keys Effectiveness Survey that is used to evaluate teachers. The results that our administrators scared with teachers showed that a majority of teachers use technology effectively in their classrooms. Additionally, anecdotal evidence from our media specialist indicates that many teachers use the school iPad cart to allow students to complete web 2.0 projects and activities. Based on this impact in teacher development, the student learning experience is also being impacted.