Last year I designed and implemented workshop sessions where I introduced I-pads to the Early Years classrooms at my school. These workshops were designed in a previous Walden course and comprised of four teachers who were generally not familiar with I-pads. Planning and delivering actual workshops helped me gain experience with instructional design but it was not necessarily realistic in that each teacher would not be receiving an I-pad for future use. However, at the beginning of this year teachers at my school were informed that we would be getting Learn Pads for different classes to share. These are also small tablets, much more durable and arguably more educationally focused.
I had discovered from my learners’ analysis for the I-pad
training that most of the teachers had never downloaded an app for any ‘tablet’
and were not at all familiar with these as teaching tools. I was happy to see that at the beginning of
the training sessions for the new Learn Pads implemented this year, all of the
teachers who had participated in my workshops had signed up for an intermediate
class and felt fairly confident with using tablets. I can reflect that the learners’ analysis
stage significantly contributed to the workshop’s success. I had originally
planned sessions pitched at teachers with experience with I-pads and needed to modify
and simplify my workshop based on my learners’ needs.
I do have concerns about the effectiveness of my workshop,
as, especially now that we have these learn pads, we are not using them as
often as I would like us to. If I were
to manage the project of implementing Learn Pads into the school, I would
suggest using Portny et al’s (2008) recommended process of guiding a project: planning,
organizing and controlling (p. 4). There
are many reasons why teachers do not embrace technology as much as we would
like and the blog “11 Reasons Why Teachers Aren’t Using Technology” lists
many. Reason #7 tells us teachers may
lack personal experience and reason #9 tells us these technologies are often
optional. Considering these two factors,
and utilizing Portny et al’s (2008)
guide, I would be sure to identify in my planning an outcome specifying how
often teachers use the Learn Pads in the classroom, schedule several workshop
sessions to help increase familiarity and comfort with the Learn Pads and most
importantly be fully aware of the controlling element where I would ‘monitor
actions and results, addressing problems encountered’ (p. 4). A project of this scale and with such diverse
learners needs close monitoring and support.
References:
Portny, S. E.,
Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B.
E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling
projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Spencer, J. & Segersten, C. (2012, July 14). 11 Reasons
Why Teachers Aren’t Using Technology #edchat #edtech. Retrieved from: http://www.educationrethink.com/2012/07/11-reasons-teachers-arent-using.html
Hi Layla,
ReplyDeleteOur projects as described in our blogs are similar in several ways. First, both projects attempted to implement something new (technology, teaching model) into the school setting. Second, on both accounts what was learned through the projects is not being fully implemented in the classroom.
In the case of my project which sought to shift teachers to more inquiry or project based learning, teachers attended a consultant-led workshop at our school during the school day. No additional training has been offered since then, just the expectation that you are using this approach. Boss (2012) describes research that emphasizes the need for staff development in this area of project-based learning to help teachers gain confidence with this classroom approach.
I think the same is true for your iPad project. If the teachers had ongoing training/practice or classroom support with iPads (or Learn Pads) they would begin to feel more comfortable and consistently use this newer technology in the classroom. What do you think? Would this encourage teachers to incorporate new technology?
Reference
Boss, S. (2012). The challenge of assessing project-based learning. District Administration, 38(9), 46-52.
Hey Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI agree that ongoing training/practice is key! I am so fortunate to experience PD in a positive light now and will share what I have found to work well:
At my new school, we meet weekly for brief staff meetings, twice a week. We try to only take on a few 'projects' at a time. Last year was guided reading for the first half of the year and then math. This year we are now working on social studies. Any new implementation is over an extended period of time with initial meetings of development and then eventually follow ups and feedback sessions. We also decide as a team when to roll these initiatives into the classroom. Feeling involved makes things feel so much easier and such less work. These implementations are still time consuming and not every teacher agrees with every project, but there is often little resistance.
I honestly thought when I saw the regularly scheduled meetings that they would be time consuming and not effective of my time. Because of their frequency they can afford to be short and they are planned well so they are effective.