Leveraging Online Tools for Teacher LearningNSDC- St Louis, MO

Moderator

Anthony Rebora Managing editor of Education Week’s teachermagazine.org channel and the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook.

www.teachermagazine.org

www.teachermagazine.org/tsb/

Gerald Herbert/AP

Elements of Effective PD: Consensus View

• Collaboration• Teacher inquiry• Focus on student work/relevant

subj. matter• Job embedded• Sustained activities• Consistent follow-up

Gerald Herbert/AP

What Online PD (Optimally) Enables:

• Training extended over time• Transference to classroom practice• Strong focus on content through readings,

multimedia, and online exploration• Capacity building through teacher-led

activities• Learning community, rich online discussions(Barbara Treacy, EdTech Leaders Online, Education Week

Webinar, Nov. 13, 2009: http://www.edweek.org/go/webinar/webpd)

Gerald Herbert/AP

Convergence of Trends

• Pressure on schools to improve/modernize PD

• Mainstreaming of interactive (Web 2.0) tools

• Growing interest in teacher collaboration• Growing interest on new (i.e., Web-

supported) models of teaching and learning

• Budgetary constraints and changes

Gerald Herbert/AP

Convergence of Trends

“New resource constraints and continuing economic re-organization provides the opportunity to transform TPD activities and processes using newer and more meaningful models.”

(Christopher Sessums, University of Florida, Education Week Webinar, Nov. 18, 2009: http://www.edweek.org/go/webinar/webpd )

Gerald Herbert/AP

Types of Tools and Platforms

• Course management platforms (Moodle, Blackboard, etc.)

• Voice and content tools (Voicethread, Gcast, etc.)

• Collaboration/networking tools (Wikispaces, Ning, etc.)

• Communication tools (Skype, Elluminate, etc.)

Gerald Herbert/AP

Types of Tools

• Resource sharing (delicious, diigo, etc.)

• Blogging and microblogging(Barbara Treacy, EdTech Leaders online)

Gerald Herbert/AP

Trend Lines: Teachers’ and the Web

• The Percentage of teachers who use the Internet at least once a week to get teaching ideas: 62 (MetLife, “Survey of the American Teacher,” 2008)

• Percentage of teachers who have read or written a blog about teaching: 28 (MetLife)

• Percentage of teachers who communicate online with an educator outside their district at least once a week: 11 (MetLife)

Gerald Herbert/AP

Trend Lines: Online Course Enrollment

• Percentage of teachers who have taken an online course for degree or professional credit: 39 (MetLife, 2008)

• Percent growth in teachers who have taken an online PD course between 2007 and 2008: 51 (Project Tomorrow, “Learning in the 21st Century: 2009 Trends Update)

Gerald Herbert/AP

Trend Lines: Teachers and Social Networking

• Percentage of educators who have joined a social networking Web site: 61 (edWeb.net, 2009)

• Percentage of educators who have participated in a professionally-oriented SNS: 15 (MetLife, 2008)

• Percentage of teachers who see the value of SNS for sharing information and resources with other educators: 58 (most commonly identified value) (edWeb.net, 2009)

TrendLines: Teachers and Social Networking

• Number of members on the English Companion Ning (begun Dec. 2008): 9,830

Gerald Herbert/AP

Food for Thought

“I think that online professional development does have the promise to [overcome teachers’ frustrations with PD], but that promised is only realized if people use the tools well. … But I do think some online tools, if the training takes advantage of them, can help with some of the classic issues of professional development.”

(Chris Dede, Interview, Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook, Fall 2009: http://www.edweek.org/go/tsb/dede)

Gerald Herbert/AP

Food For Thought

“With online PD, I can work at home while my littlest one is napping. I love that. I love to tell my learners at the beginning of my course, ‘Hey, I’m teaching these courses in my pajamas.’ It’s great!”

(Alethea Setser, PBS TeacherLine Course facilitator, Interview, Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook, Fall 2009: http://www.edweek.org/go/tsb/setser)

Resources

• Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook, Fall 2009: Leveraging Online Learning: http://www.teachersourcebook.org

• Chat Transcript: “Social Networking and Professional Development,” Nov. 12, 2009: http://www.edweek.org/ew/events/chats/2009/11/12/index.html

• Webinar: “Can Web 2.0 Save Professional Development,” Nov. 18, 2009: http://www.edweek.org/go/webinar/webpd

Online Professional

Learning

Ideas from the Field

Some Lessons Learned

• Convenience is key for teachers

• Good content emerges with time—relationships first

• “Technology skills” are a side benefit—not the goal

• Plan to change plans• Have fun

Models & Strategies • Real-time and lots of time• Pairs, trios, small & large

groups• Requiring a response• Nifty ideas: polling,

recording, slides and videos, case studies

• KEY PRINCIPLE: Nobody likes to feel dumb

Student Characteristics (pair-share review)

LIST three things about your students that influence the way you set learning goals for them, and plan instruction that will meet their needs. What would another teacher need to know about this class to understand its “learning personality?”

Share with a partner…

Setting Learning Goals (whole-group discussion, individual posts, asynchronous

discussion prompts)

• What makes a learning goal useful, for teachers and students? What makes it worthy?

• What are some examples of high and worthwhile learning goals that you have set for your students?

• How specific does a learning goal need to be?

• Can you identify some inappropriate or lower-quality learning goals?

Sample Learning Goals (evaluation polling, deconstruction/reconstruction)

My learning goals are:For all students to get 80% or above on the quizExploring the concepts of density and massManipulate three measurement tools; compare results,

using two different graphic representationsHaving students build a model volcano, in cooperating

teamsFor my students to understand what “democracy” isWrite three drafts of a persuasive essay; students will

improve vocabulary and mechanics in each draft

What are your learning goals? Why are they important?

“In this lesson, I want my students to fully understand linear equations. Linear equations are an integral and vital part of the 8th grade math curriculum. They represent the rigorous content that my students will need to know to become scientists and mathematicians. Linear equations are now part of the state curriculum benchmarks and are referenced in the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics standards. My students will have to have this content mastered to meet the new state High School Merit Curriculum Standards, which require four years of formal mathematics coursework, so it’s very important that they understand them now.”

What are your learning goals?Why are they important?

“This is the first lesson as we begin a unit on linear equations. My goals for this lesson include having every student set up the problems correctly, and then explore the concept of scale. I want them to notice how changing the scale will give the graphs a different appearance without changing the function. Students will experiment to find scales that fit common data points best. It will be messy work, a kind of trial and error. An abstract concept like linear function is really tough for 7th graders who have been working with arithmetic and more concrete problems; another goal is to make the students feel comfortable and competent in working with the tools of graphing.”

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail — Abraham Maslow

Housekeeping

Paperless handouts

http://21stcenturylearning.wikispaces.com

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Co-Founder & CEO Powerful Learning Practice, LLChttp://plpnetwork.comsheryl@plpnetwork.com

President21st Century Collaborative, LLChttp://21stcenturycollaborative.comsnbeach@cox.net

Are you Ready for Leading/Learning in the

21st Century?

It isn’t just “coming”… it has arrived! And schools who aren’t redefining themselves, risk becoming irrelevant in preparing students for the future.

Web 1.0 Web 2.0 Web 3.0

We are living in a new economy – powered by technology, fueled by information, and driven by knowledge.

-- Futureworks: Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century

By the year 2011 80% of all Fortune 500 companies will be using immersive worlds – Gartner Vice President Jackie Fenn

New Media Literacies- What are they?

http://newmedialiteracies.org/ *Will the future of education include broad-based, global reflection and inquiry?

What role will Professional Learning Communities and Personal Learning Networks play?

Will your current level of new media literacy skills allow you to take part in learning through these mediums?

Trend 1 – Social and intellectual capital are the new economic values in the world economy.

This new economy will be held together and advanced through the building of relationships. Unleashing and connecting the collective knowledge, ideas, and experiences of people creates and heightens value.

Source:Journal of School Improvement, Volume 3, Issue 1, Spring 2002

Personal Learning Networks *

Community-Dots On Your Map

Are you “clickable”- Are your students?

Schools are one node in a network of learning options.

FORMAL INFORMAL

You go where the bus goes You go where you choose

Jay Cross – Internet Time

Teacher 2.0The Emergent 21st Century Teacher

Teacher 2.0Source: Mark Treadwell - http://www.i-learnt.com

http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/google_whitepaper.pdf

MULTI-CHANNEL APPROACHSYNCHRONOUS

ASYNCHRONOUS

PEER TO PEER WEBCAST

Instant messenger

forumsf2f

blogsphotoblogs

vlogs

wikis

folksonomies

Conference rooms

email Mailing lists

CMS

Community platformsVoIP

webcam

podcasts

PLE

Worldbridges

Mobile Computing

Smart PhonesThe mobile market has: 4 billion subscribers, three-fourths of whom live in developingcountries.

Over a billion new phones are produced each year, and the fastest-growing sales segment belongs to smart phones —

Open Content

Relevance for Teaching, Learning & Creative Expression

Open content allows teachers to customize their courses quickly and inexpensively and keepup with emerging information and ideas.

Communities of practice and learner groups that form around open content provide a sourceof support for independent or life-long learners.

Electronic Books

Electronic books are now accessible via a wide variety of readers, from dedicated reader platforms like the Kindle to applications designed for mobile phones, and are enjoying wide consumer adoption.

Electronic books can be a portable and cost-effective alternative to buying printed books, although most platforms lack featuresto support advanced reading and editing tasks such as annotation, collaboration, real-time updates, and content remixing.

Question

What does it mean to work

in a participatory 2.0 world?

PD of the 21st Century will be—

teacher directed through:Connections (PLN & CoP)

44

Learning

One-on-one Classroom Informal

How people learn their jobs

46

Free range learnersFree-range learners choose how and what they learn. Self-service is less expensive and more timely than the alternative. Informal learning has no need for the busywork, chrome, and bureaucracy that accompany typical classroom instruction.

Two all day workshops that build capacity, community and develop 21st Century skills.

WorkshopsLive meetings where teams meet, listen and then reflect in small groups.

ElluminateWhere we deepen understanding, network, share resources and grow as a community of practice.

VLC

Professional Learning Teams

Job embedded teams who meet f2f and work towards scale and alignment of 21st C skills with school improvement goals

Powerful Learning Practice Delivery Model

http://plpnetwork.com *

The driving engine of the collaborative culture of a PLC is the team. They work together in an ongoing effort to discover best practices and to expand their professional expertise.

PLCs are our best hope for reculturing schools. We want to focus on shifting from a culture of teacher isolation to a culture of deep and meaningful collaboration.

Professional Learning Communities

FOCUS: Local , F2F, Job-embedded- in Real Time

Communities of Practice

FOCUS: Situated, Synchronous, Asynchronous- Online and Walled Garden

Characteristics of a healthy community

Personal Learning Networks

FOCUS: Individual, Connecting to Learning Objects, Resources and People – Social Network Driven

Last Generation