Transcript Online Teaching and Learning

Can Web 2.0 Save Teacher
Professional Development?
Sponsored by:
Gerald Herbert/AP
View all upcoming webinars @ www.edweek.org/go/webinar
Our Moderator:
Anthony Rebora
Managing editor of Education Week Teacher
and the Teacher Professional Development
Sourcebook.
www.edweek.org/tm
www.teachersourcebook.org
Our Guests:
Barbara Treacy
Director, EdTech Leaders Online, Education
Development Center
Christopher Sessums
Assistant professor in the College of Education
at the University of Florida
Follow today’s conversation on Twitter.
Go to Twitter, and search using keyword
#edweeklive. Use the hashtag to converse,
share resources, tips, and URLs with our live
audience.
Can Web 2.0 Save
Professional Development?
Barbara Treacy
Director, EdTech Leaders Online (ETLO)
Education Development Center (EDC)
Today’s Webinar
Can Web 2.0 “save”
professional
development? NO!
Can Web 2.0 support effective professional
development? YES!
Questions for today
What are the elements of effective PD?
 How can Web 2.0 and online tools help
educators implement PD more effectively?
 What are some online PD tools and models
we’ve found useful at EDC?

Elements of Effective PD
Professional development should:
1. be intensive, ongoing, connected to practice
2. focus on student learning
3. address teaching of specific curriculum content
4. align with school improvement priorities & goals
5. build strong working relationships among teachers
-Professional Learning in the Learning Profession by Linda Darling-Hammond et al, NSDC
(2009) http://www.nsdc.org/stateproflearning.cfm
Web 2.0 Tools Can Support
“Web 2.0 Definition: Online application that uses the
World Wide Web (www) as a platform and allows
for participatory involvement, collaboration, and
interactions among users. Web 2.0 is also
characterized by the creation and sharing of
intellectual and social resources by end users.”
-Leadership for Web2.0 in Education: Promise & Reality by Cheryl Lemke & Ed
Coughlin, CoSN (2009)
But there are so many
tools!
“In education…we have not really
seized upon the power and the
tools that are now available to us in
the Internet age”
-Eric Schmidt, Google CEO
http://www.google.com/events/digitalage/index.html
How do we know which tools to use?
“Technology is a vehicle, not a destination...
Rather, aspects of technology – like all components
of an effective course – should be chosen according
to how they help meet the learning objectives.”
-Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching by Jim Henry and Jeff
Meadows http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/179/177
Examples of types of tools
Course management tools
Enable educators to:
 organize & share content, research, multimedia
 engage in ongoing discussions
 assess and document learning
 build formal & informal communities of practice
 share and analyze student work
 examples:
Voice and Content Tools
Enable educators to:
 personalize introductions and discussions
 provide learning or project summaries
 explain a technical piece
 create online discussions
 address auditory learners and accessibility
 examples:
Collaboration Tools
Enable educators to:
collaborate & co-create documents, plans,
materials, media
 brainstorm and share ideas, resources, data, etc
 discuss and communicate with team members
 examples:

Communication tools
Enable educators to
conduct “live” discussions and meetings
 blends synchronous and asynchronous learning
 address varying learning styles
 collaborate and share documents and resources
 examples:

More tool types…
•
Blogging and micro-blogging tools
to share ideas or focus on a specific topic or
project, such as
•
Social bookmarking tools to share/save resources,
such as
Lessons from EdTech Leaders Online
Web 2.0 and Online PD enable:
1.
PD to be extended over time (intensive, ongoing, connected to
practice)
2.
3.
Teachers to implement what they’re learning in the
classroom (focused on student learning)
Strong focus on content and pedagogy through rich
readings, multimedia activities, online explorations
(address teaching of specific curriculum content)
Lessons, cont.
4.
Capacity building approaches with local educators
leading the PD (align with school improvement priorities and goals)
5.
Learning community models with rich online
discussions with participants and facilitator (build
strong working relationships among teachers)
A final word
“Some online tools have some affordances
that, if the training takes advantage of
them, can help with some of the classic
issues of professional development.”
-Dr. Chris Dede, EdWeek interview 10/1/09
http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2009/10/01/01dede.h03.html
Thank you!
Contact:
Barbara Treacy
[email protected]
EdTech Leaders Online
http://edtechleaders.org
Education Development Center
http://edc.org
Can Web 2.0 Save Teacher
Professional Development?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009.
presenter:
Christopher D. Sessums, Ph.D.
Post Doctoral Associate in Educational Technology
School of Teaching and Learning
College of Education | University of Florida
areas of interest:
learning sciences,
learning organizations, and
participatory media design
teacher professional development research:
Much of what passes for TPD has been described
as "fragmented, intellectually superficial"
(Borko, 2004).
On-going support for meaningful TPD is limited
(Barnett, 2002).
teacher professional development research:
Lack of day-to-day support and mentoring
is related to the 50% attrition rate of new
teachers w/in their first 5 years of practice
(National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003).
online teacher professional development research
(Dede, et al., 2009):
oTPD is a relatively nascent field of study.
Which design features, tools, and strategies work
best are still being analyzed.
Evidence is mostly anecdotal
with relatively few empirical studies.
my oTPD research examined (Sessums, 2009):
• what works
• for action research coaches
• spread throughout NE Florida
• how digital media supported a PLC
• how this approach can be effective.
my oTPD research implications for facilitators (Sessums, 2009):
• social artist
an understanding of community-building & developing social connections
• educative mentor
sufficient knowledge of the practice itself to demonstrate credibility
• community organization
nurturing and strengthening connections
• expressed expectations/ground rules
my oTPD research implications for facilitators:
Good online community facilitation requires
special skills by the facilitator to progress
conversations from trivial surface level
discussion and social exchange to deeper
levels of engagement.
(Ambrose 2001; Sherry,Tavalin & Billig 2001; Collison et al. 2000; Sessums, 2009).
my oTPD research implications for facilitators:
Create a culture of collaboration –
provide activities that require
collaboration, sharing, & reflection.
my oTPD research implications for facilitators:
Create activities that support dedication to
the endeavor (commitment) and dedication
to the comm(unity).
Involve participants in project planning,
defining team identity, goals, and
processes.
oTPD facilitator challenges:
• technical frustrations
• size of community
• lack of time due to competing priorities
• participants feeling they have nothing to share
• info overload after community absence
• motivations
• how closely should a facil. monitor individuals
participation?
• standing back and letting participants work through
issues
oTPD research implications for community designers:
Technical designs should
reflect/support the community’s goals.
E.g. Task-based, practice-based,
knowledge-based, mash-ups
(Riel & Polin, 2004)
my oTPD research take-aways (Sessums, 2009):
New resource constraints and
continuing economic re-organization
provides the opportunity to transform
TPD activities and processes using
newer and more meaningful models.
my oTPD research take-aways (Sessums, 2009):
Rethinking management techniques—
Use Web 2.0 tools to allow all
participants to serve as reservoirs of
innovation, contribution, collaboration.
my oTPD research take-aways (Sessums, 2009):
Design community activities around
your practice. Use Web 2.0 tools to
document and share what you’ve
learned/accomplished.
my oTPD research take-aways (Dede, et al., 2009):
design based research needed—
• document and share what works;
• for whom;
• under what conditions; and
• how & why this approach is effective.
Question & Answer Session
Questions and Answers
Question #1
With budgets tight, how can school districts
and teachers alike know good online teacher
development opportunities any more than we
know which 1-day workshops might be
valuable?
Question #2
How do we still keep learning personal when
doing online professional development? How
important is the role of "human interaction" in
online PD experiences.
Question #3
What kind of structure is needed to maintain
any professional development done through
Web 2.0 technologies? What are the
components of P.D. as it becomes a
continuous process rather than an event.
Question #4
How do you ensure that the quality of the
content and teaching and learning objectives
do not get subsumed by the nature of the
tools available?
Question #5
What kinds of funding & resources do schools
need to support staff development via online
services?
Question #6
How does one work around barriers set
up by conservative systems that block
important communication technologies
without putting users at risk?
Question #7
What district is doing this well?
What objective data/research is there to show
using Web 2.0 tools is having an impact?
Question #8
Are online conversations as effective as
face to-face conversations in supporting
the kinds of interaction needed for
building trust and consensus within a
group?
Question #9
I present staff development training each year
to various school staff. How will this trend
affect my role? How can I prepare for this new
environment?
Question #10
Should administrations allow PD credit for
time spent on professional social networking
sites. If so, then how do they monitor the
time?
Question #11
What has been the success of PD
delivered in Second Life-like virtual
environments?
An on-demand archive of this
webinar is going to be
available at
www.edweek.org/go/webinar
in less than 24hrs.
Please visit often, and send this link to your friends.
Thanks for taking part today. We really appreciate it.
The Editors @ edweek.org
Real-time professional development
•
•
•
•
Improves teacher effectiveness
Helps teachers develop 21st century skills
Emphasizes research-based practices
Supports data-infused decision making for instruction
52
The Pinnacle Suite
An integrated approach to Instructional ERP
• A standards-based gradebook
• Tools to create, manage and align curriculum,
assessments, standards and supplementals
• Analytics and advanced reporting
• A student-centered SIS
• Job-embedded continuous PD
For more information...
www.pinnaclesuite.com
[email protected]