Cycles of Collaboration: Technology Enabled Learning @ VC

 

Since putting together some preliminary ideas about my action plan, a lot has happened at VC. The outstanding @lmcbeth provided our staff with an absolutely fantastic professional development session to introduce the concept of technology enabled learning. Through modelling Leslie showed us how to “leverage technology to engage students, while managing behaviour”. We were exposed to the potential of tools such as Todays Meet, EdPuzzle, Socrative, Poll Everywhere, Google Slides, and Padlet. But this PD was also grounded in theory; Leslie covered the SAMR and TPACK models of technology integration, providing us with an excellent foundation from which to begin our own inquiry into technology enabled learning.

At that staff meeting @egelleny and I announced a follow up twitter chat to extend the topics introduced by @lmcbeth. Building on Elissa’s own Cohort 21 Action Plan from last year, we hosted VC’s first ever twitter chat which was a success. We discussed topics such as how we might use the SAMR and/or TPACK models as lens for improving and reflecting on our technology use in the classroom, the definition of pedagogy, the process of choosing technology tools, and so much more.

The morning after this exciting twitter chat, when I was speaking with @jeniferm1971, a colleague, we expressed a desire to know more about how technology was being used in people’s classrooms. We recognized that we would be provided with another opportunity to engage in a F2F on our PD day. In discussion with @egelleny we arranged a Lunch & Learn where teachers could showcase the technology they were utilizing within their classrooms. This F2F was very well attended, and teachers shared amazingly engaging and creative projects with us. Our grade 10 science teacher, @Mr_Bornstein, utilized Wikia as a means of teaching researching skills to students studying a biology unit. @MsBitondo, our grade 9 English teacher, utilized EdPuzzle to engage students in their unit on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. We also discussed the use of Timetoast, Thinglink, and Blabberize. The best part about this F2F wasn’t necessarily the tools we introduced to each other, it was the open and free discussion about the successes and challenges we had using these tools as vehicles for student learning.

VC’s Cycles of Collaboration journey took a much needed pause for report card time and the March break.

When we returned from our much needed rest, we engaged in another F2F in our early April staff meeting. During this Professional Development opportunity teachers were group in their departments and asked to work collaboratively on a TPACK graphic organizer where they would identify the content, pedagogy, and technology of their subjects and examine the intersection of these knowledge fields. Teachers shared lessons and activities and collaboratively worked toward meaningfully integrating technology into their thinking about their practice. The focus in this professional development was to engage collaboration and extend our collective thinking about technology, so I decided to go relatively low tech for this F2F (check out the Google Slides).

All in all, it’s been an exciting roller-coaster ride. I have been challenged to push beyond my own comfort zone, reflect more deeply about my own learning, understand where my colleagues are coming from in terms of comfort with technology, and be open to any and all possibilities.

As a school, we have also been challenged. Since this is VC’s first year with our 1:1 laptop program, anxiety was high and we didn’t really know what to expect. If anything, what we are hoping these collaborative opportunities have done is helped everyone know that we can tackle any challenge (no matter how daunting!) when we pool our knowledge and skills.

We are an amazing staff, and this year has really helped us realize this fact. GO KNIGHTS! GO BLUE!

Check out my Action Plan Prezi!