Crafting Quality Teacher Professional Development

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Used with permission under a Creative Commons license

I've been thinking a lot lately about educator professional development. As an instructional technology specialist, I have the privilege of helping my colleagues grow in their knowledge and implementation of technology in the classroom. This happens in a myriad of ways. In just the last few weeks, I have taught planned sessions to groups of teachers, I have made one-on-one appointments to assist individuals with specific needs, and I've even helped to design and facilitate my district's first completely online PD experience.

As I design these learning opportunities, I am constantly thinking about how to make them meaningful for teachers so that in turn the information shared will make an impact on student learning. Regardless of the topic, I've found that there are some consistent practices on my part that seem to contribute to making the sessions successful.

Before I delve into what I think those consistent practices are, I have to share what started my wheels turning on this topic. It goes all the way back to this year's summer staff development in my school district, where a colleague and I who often plan and teach PD together received some of the highest compliments either us could remember receiving. We received these comments from several teachers who took time to speak to us face-to-face, rather than just leaving their thoughts on the end-of-class surveys, which is why they made such a profound impact on me. I will have to paraphrase a bit because I've slept some since then, but the gist of the comments was that my colleague and I were greatly appreciated because we were knowledgeable in the topics we were covering, organized in our delivery of the content, and we were not arrogant in our manner of presenting the material to the teachers.

I distinctly remember one teacher telling me, "You haven't forgotten what it's like to be in the classroom." That last comment touched me deeply because of a personal/professional commitment I made when I moved out of the classroom into a full-time instructional technology position in 2001: For as long as I held a position supporting instruction, I would never forget the perspective of the classroom teacher and the realities of the environments they work in every day. I worry sometimes that despite my resolve, the longer I'm out of the classroom, and especially the longer I am not stationed on a campus, I will lose touch with reality as teachers know it. The colleague who made this comment to me this summer has no idea what he did for my own professional morale.

So now you know what got my wheels turning. Although it is important to seek continuous improvement in our professional practices, I think it is equally important to reflect on what you already do well so you don't throw out the good stuff when seeking improvement. Here are the things, based on my own observations and participant feedback, that I think contribute to impactful professional development experiences for teachers. They are not listed in order of importance, because I think they are all equally important.

• Begin with the end in mind when planning a PD session/experience. Ask yourself, "At the end of this session, what should teachers be able to accomplish back in their classrooms?" Then work backwards in planning the content and activities for the session. A valuable skill I've learned from my colleague is to make an agenda for myself with allotted time frames for each section of the presentation. This helps me keep focused on sharing just what is needed to accomplish the goal.

• It is highly unlikely that in one face-to-face session anyone is going to become a total expert with a tool. I try to keep in mind the goal of helping the participants become comfortable enough with the tool to be able to start using it and be able to explore further from there. Whenever possible, I provide additional resources for them to use in further exploration, and one of those resources is always contacting me. The mantra is "Comfort, not expertise," and I often share this goal with the participants to set their expectations as well.

• Participants need time to practice with or process whatever we are learning, especially if it is a brand-new-to-them technology tool/concept. When at all possible, I try to plan a session as 50% "show-and-tell" and 50% "hands-on." The longer the session is, the easier this is to do. When I have the flexibility, I plan for a longer session to build in more "hands-on" time. For example, last summer we offered a session on digital storytelling using Microsoft PhotoStory. I knew from experience that an overview of digital storytelling (at a high level) and the basics of the software could be covered in three hours. So I asked if we could have an all day session - six hours. The entire afternoon was left for the teachers to create their own stories, something they could use back in their classrooms if they wanted to. This was one of our most highly rated sessions of the summer because of the time we gave teachers to create a product.

• No matter what tool/topic/concept I am presenting or how convinced I am of its value, I never present it as "the silver bullet" or "the most amazing tool ever" or "if you don't learn this and use it with your students you are a bad teacher." I will not hold back on my enthusiasm for the topic or the benefits I believe it will have, but I also do not make promises about the effectiveness of its use. There are variables in each classroom, including the teacher's style/strengths and the educational needs of the students, which can render an otherwise effective strategy completely useless, so promises of efficacy/outcomes are highly risky. I think this is an area where PD presenters can be perceived as arrogant if they are not careful.

• Instead of planning a chunk of my presentation to be "How this should be implemented in the classroom," I trust the teachers to figure a lot of that out for themselves. I do interweave suggestions for use with students throughout my presentation, and at points I will stop and ask for feedback on when/where/how they might use a certain approach with their students. I don't, however, proscribe exact implementation plans. The teachers know themselves and their students needs/learning styles intimately; I do not. I will serve as an "idea bouncing board" if they want me to, though.

• Remember that regardless of their ability or confidence level with technology, everyone in the room is an intelligent, capable person. The fact that they are professional educators with college degrees is evidence of this.

• Everyone has something valuable to contribute. We love it when PD participants contribute new knowledge, insights, or enthusiasm over something learned. But even complaints, frustration, or other "negative" contributions can create learning opportunities for all involved. Especially me!

• At least one person in the room is smarter or more technology capable than I am in one way or another. And that is ok! If they can share something with the rest of the group that I couldn't have, we are all now a little smarter. Corollary: If the smart person starts to overwhelm others because they are way ahead of the group in certain aspects, it is ok and necessary for me to redirect the flow of the learning so the majority does not become discouraged. I usually offer to pursue the "advanced" track with this person one-on-one at another time.

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As I've been ruminating about what I do that contributes to quality professional development experiences for teachers, these are the things that came out on the top of the list. I hope these are helpful to you if you are in a position to plan professional development. I also hope you will share your own insights in the comments below so we can continue to develop our professional practices together!

Are Technology Trainers No Longer a Need in Education? - Part II

Last month when I first posted on this topic, I stated I would share my own thoughts in the comments or possibly in a follow-up post after giving readers a chance to comment. (Reader comments were wonderful for adding to my perspective; thank you!) I did share some thoughts in the comments, but I'm not done, so here I am with a follow-up post as well. You may want to go read the original post to gather some context for what you are about to read below.

Cutting to the chase, I believe technology trainers are still needed in education. Of course technology training is part of my day job, so I am obviously not unbiased. But I think some insider bias is ok in this case, because it is my investment and experience in my work that gives me insight into this question. Read on for my reasons that tech trainers are still important in education.

Facebook Fallacy

In my previous post, I related a story about a CTO who implied that the fact most of us learned to use Facebook without ever having taken a training class on it is a perfect example of why teachers don't need technology trainers. In his example, teachers have proven by independently learning about Facebook that they can train themselves. 

I'll grant you that teachers (really, most members of Facebook) have learned the basics on their own. Filling out your profile, making posts, and adding friends are pretty easy to figure out independently. But without any formal training, how many people are using Facebook well? Consider these points:

• How many of your friends have ever dug deeply into their privacy settings and/or frequently check their privacy settings? Several of my Facebook friends do this only occasionally, usually when I or another one of their connections takes time to post something to Facebook about privacy concerns or changes.
• How many educators have lost their jobs because they shared unprofessionally on Facebook?
• How many of your Facebook friends have created strong passwords to keep their information, and ultimately your information, safe? (Corollary question: How many of your Facebook friends have ever had their accounts hacked or clicked on links that started sending spam out from their accounts?)
• With credit to Ann Witherspoon's comment on my previous blog post, how many of your Facebook friends "have created groups, fan pages, or events within Facebook"? In other words, how many of them have used Facebook at a deeper level?

These questions regarding self-taught users of Facebook, who have not received or sought further training resources to help them understand safety measures or dig deeper into the platform, can be asked of any program or platform an educator uses for productivity or instruction. The answers to those questions when applied to educational applications are far more critical. How many people dig beyond the surface of technology tools on their own? How many of them are ultimately encouraged to do so because they receive some basic level of training?

Learning Styles

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In the education field, we recognize that our students are individuals and that each of them has strengths and weaknesses, or at the very least preferences, in the way they learn. Likewise, adults in all areas of education from the classroom to the administration office have different learning styles. If we ignore all we know about learning theory for the sake of expediency or because providing in-person training is more expensive, we begin to ignore the heart of our mission - to reach people where they are and facilitate them moving to the next level in their learning, regardless of whether they are a student or an educator. Whenever possible, we should offer online or print materials on using technology tools for those who are able to learn in this way, but we should also offer in-person training on technology resources as well.

Some people learn better in in-person settings. They need to be able to watch someone else or have a chance to ask questions on the spot as they experiment with a new program or tool. The face-to-face training can give them the start they need to explore a technology tool further on their own.

I know people who feel intimated or even "stupid" when they are reading a manual or watching an online demonstration, but in a show-and-do Q & A session with an experienced trainer, they pick up everything they need to gain a little confidence and get started. When the trainer has more experience in the tool being taught, they can also save the teacher the hassle of getting stuck on tricky parts because they can steer the teachers around those spots. And there are always going to be people who won't make an independent effort to learn something on their own because it is not in their area of interest; requiring a face-to-face training is the only way to ensure they will be properly exposed to the material.

Support the Mission

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In educational technology departments, there is usually a mixture of staff whose background is on the education side of things with teaching experience as well as staff whose background is more technical without teaching training or experience. The "educator vs. technical" background is not a distinction I like to play up much, because in my mind no matter what your background, we're all on the same team with the same mission - to support educators and students in teaching and learning. If there is something technical I need to understand to help with the mission, then I rely on the technical people on the team to help me understand it. And I hope that if the technical people need to understand an educational purpose or practice behind something we are doing they will rely on me and my teaching background as well.

Teacher training is an area where I hope CTOs will rely on the experience of the educators on their team. When I hear of statements like "It's just part of their job to know how to use the tools" without the follow-up statement "So let's design the training to teach them," I become concerned that the lack of teaching/training  experience in some members of the technology team is impacting the quality with which a new program or tool is rolled out and implemented. If your school or district acquires or upgrades technology for the purpose of positively impacting student learning, then I believe it is the responsibility of the school or district to provide appropriate training in meaningful use of the technology.

Students Deserve the Best

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Yes, this post is about teacher professional development, but ultimately, it's about impacting learning. Just as you and I expect our peace officers, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, and lawyers to be "up to date" on all of the latest techniques and information for performing their duties to the best of their ability, and therefore impacting our lives for the better, we should expect teachers to be well informed on the latest instructional practices so they may provide the best educational experiences possible for the students in their charge. In today's classroom, being well informed includes being versed in the use and integration of technology.

I think this quote from an Edutopia article sums it up best:

It is critical for veteran teachers to have ongoing and regular opportunities to learn from each other. Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date on new research on how children learn, emerging technology tools for the classroom, new curriculum resources, and more. The best professional development is ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to and derived from working with students and understanding their culture.

"Learning from each other" includes learning from dedicated specialists in instructional technology. It is a given in our personal and professional lives that technology evolves constantly and rapidly. For the sake of keeping student learning relevant and having our pedagogical practices benefit from the latest technology infused approaches, I believe it is critical that schools and districts place an emphasis on technology training for teachers, and that part of the training menu includes opportunities for face-to-face staff development experiences.

Face-to-face is how the majority of educators still teach. It is not unreasonable for educators to continue to expect similar opportunities for their own learning, with a healthy dose of online learning experiences thrown in. Keeping instructional technologists on staff is a valuable investment in bringing multiple opportunities and styles of learning to today's teachers, which is ultimately in the best interest of today's students.

Are Technology Trainers No Longer a Need in Education?

I have to start this post with a disclaimer.  Please note that in this post I am referencing "second-hand" information from a meeting/workshop I did not attend.

I was conversing with a colleague today and he shared that at a recent gathering of K-12 Chief Technology Officers, the topic of training educators on new technology came up. There seemed to a prevailing tendency reported among the CTOs to roll out new technologies without setting up formalized training for the end users. My take on this new trend was that it was not out of necessity that formalized training was not part of the equation, but rather part of a new "process" for introducing new technologies to educators.

As an example of how this works, the presenter asked how many people at the presentation were on Facebook.  Almost every hand in the room went up. The presenter then asked how many of the Facebook users had taken a training class in how to use Facebook. All of the hands went down. His point was they had all learned to use Facebook without participating in a formalized training event.

The presenter did not advocate for leaving educators completely on their own. Training resources that can be accessed when needed would be made available in this approach.

These ideas relayed second-hand to me were intriguing. As I ponder this method/possible trend, I have some definite thoughts and questions. But before I share mine, I'd like to see how readers of this blog post might react.

What do you think of this approach?

Have you used this approach or something simliar to it in your school/district? If so, how did it go?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you share. I will share my thoughts in the comments later, or possibly in a follow-up blog post.

Post image from Flikr user superkimbo, used under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superkimbo/5131434958/

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NOTE: Please continue learning from the comments  below, and also my follow-up blog post of July 26, 2011.

TEA Update: New Options with Digital Content in Texas

Notes from a TCEA 2011 Concurrent Session

John Lopez
Texas Education Agency

All TEA Power Points from TCEA will be uploaded to TCEA Project Share group for this conference.

Commissioner's List added Electronic Textbooks. These became available for districts to order in the Spring of 2011.

Format of digital materials being submitted is all over the map. Some are PDFs and some are more robust and interactive.

HB 4294 - Passed in 81st Legislative Session - Electronic Textbooks

• Established Commissioner's List
• Materials were reviewed by a panel of experts
• Commissioner Rules have been approved
• Commissioner shall update the list
• Commissioner can remove materials from the list
• Must be recommended by a panel of experts prior to removal
• State will pay for electronic textbooks on Commissionaer's list
• Districts may choose from either the SBOE list or the Commissioner's list
• State textbook funds can be used to purchase technological equipment
• Technological equipment used to support instruction for digital content
• Section 5 (C-1)
  Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a school district or open enrollment charter school must purchase a classroom set of textbooks adoped by SBOE

Some rules are going to need to be aligned. For example, fines for errors need to be restructured to give time for correction (these corrections were not as feasable with print textbooks).

Commissioner's List of Approved Vendors for Proclamation 2010 and 2011

• AWARD Publishing
• iStation
• Compass Learning
• APEX Leaarning
• Achieve 3000
• A+Rise - ELPS - every teacher in Texas has access to these resources through Project Share Epsilen
• Glencoe/McGraw Hill
• Pearson Longman

How do you get to the products?

• TEA Website
• A-Z Index
• Instructional Materials & Educational Technology
• Scroll down to see the Commissioner's List of Electronic Textbooks
• Also see Commissioner's List of Technological Equipment - for approved equipment to access digital content. Can only order technology from this list if you want to use textbook funds. List is dynamic so vendors can add products and delete out of date products.

 If a district selects these products, TEA sends the money to the district, and the district contacts the vendor to order the books. There are Conforming and NonConforming lists.

 Aside: No guarantees Project Share will be funded in the next biennium although it is assumed it will be continued due to TEA's investment in it.

Open Source Textbooks - HB2488

• Electronic textbook available for downloading free of charge
• Cost may be incurred if district orderes printed copies
• Allows the SBOE to adopt an open-source textbook at the secondary level
• Districts shall annually certify that they cover the TEKS
• SBOE will place on conforming/nonconforming list
• Written by university faculty
• Eligible university determines the level of qualifications with TEKS
• Allows the Commissioner of Education to purchase state-developed open source textbooks.
• Property of state
• Commisssioner shal provide a license to school or district
• Commissioner shall seek to recover costs for developing, revising, and distributing open source textbooks
• Districts will be able to modify the open source textbooks

Attorney General's Opinion

• Does a classroom set apply to lower grades? YES
• Can a university open source textbook qualify as a classroom set? YES
• Does the right to take home a textbook extend to classroom set? YES
• Can the SBOE rfuse to place an open source book on the conforming or nonconforming list? NO
• Can the SBOE fine or sanctiona university as a publisher? YES
• Is the distict eligible for textbook creditif it selects an open source textbook? YES
• Who owns technological equipment? The state does not own the equipment.

What to Watch For?

• New legislation - set up keyword searches in Google to email you when there is activity! Will be effective September 1 - Appropriation is end of May so the timeline will be very compressed for getting materials to classrooms in the Fall. Also need time for PD.
• District Decisions with instructional materials - get teachers involved and professionally develop them to use digital materials
• Impact in the classroom - we need to allow mobile devices to be used in the classroom to leverage this content
• Mobile Devices
• Look at your district technology plan to make sure they are in place for eRate and Title II Part D funding

Meeting and Encouraging Teacher Learners Where They Are (Or, Hands off the Mouse!)

When you work with adult learners, especially adult learners who are teachers, it’s easy to forget that even though they are adults, they are also our students. And like any student, we have to meet them where they are and encourage them to move forward in their learning without frustrating them, judging them, making them feel guilty, or enabling them.


Having been comfortable with technology from the start of my career, I admit to having been frustrated at times when I observe teachers who have been around for a while but who have embraced technology on only the most basic, required level. These are the teachers who learn the online gradebook or learned how to use their email because the school required them to do it. Without those skills, they would not be able to function in their jobs. So they make an effort to become minimally functional, but they stop there.

I have realized in the past year or so, though, that I am partly to blame for the people who stagnate at a very basic technology skill level, because as their support person I have done things FOR them for so many years. There is often a time crunch when assistance is needed and it is usually faster to just do something for them instead of WITH them. But I have enabled them to stay at their basic levels by opting for the faster solution.

To become a better teacher of teachers, I'm learning (and it's HARD) to keep my hands behind my back and away from the keyboard and mouse even with the most basic (and sometimes slow) computer users.

This past year I helped several folks in a workshop copy a URL from their web browser into a spreadsheet so they could revisit good lesson plans they found online. (Yes, I know Delicious would have been a better solution, but these folks were not ready for that yet.) I talked the participants through the process instead of doing it for them. They thought it was the coolest thing in the world. For them it was, and that's ok, even though many of us in the edtech world would say that was just a basic skill. Hopefully those folks have acquired this basic skill and will be able to accomplish the task again on their own.

Recently, I was fortunate to receive first-hand testimony that my “no hands on the mouse if at all possible” rule is paying off. Within the last month during a workshop on digital storytelling using Microsoft PhotoStory, we had a couple of teachers who obviously were not super-comfortable with all of the computer skills it took to put a story together. My co-facilitator and I coached them through it. We coached A LOT! Toward the end of the day, one of them looked at me and said something to the effect of, “Thank you for all of your help today and your patience. And thank you for not taking the mouse from me. I learn so much more when I get to control the computer myself.” I wondered how many times impatient (but well intentioned) people had accomplished technology tasks for this teacher. And I felt myself grinning from ear-to-ear, because this teacher was excited about what he had learned, I was excited that my “hands-off” philosophy was working, and as an added bonus, the PhotoStory they turned out was well done and had all of us in stitches at the end of the day.

I'm also learning in more informal circumstances when calls for help come to make appointments with people if at all possible and teach them how to do the task they are struggling with. Talk them through it no matter how basic or complicated the skill. When they see they are capable, they often start to try more on their own. Or at least their questions change from "Can you do this for me?" to "Can you show me how to do this?"

And, yes, all of these folks are amazed when they learn what we more savvy users of tech think of as basic skills. But that’s where they are. Where I am, I’m amazed when I edit audio or video (and it works) or figure out what’s wrong with a web page that isn’t displaying properly. No matter what our baseline is, there is great power in amazement and wonder. Amazement and wonder are closely linked to curiosity, which is the doorway to learning. They create opportunities to for us to say, "You think this is amazing? You want to know what's even more amazing? You can learn to do this. Take the mouse. Let me show you how."


Image Source: http://mrg.bz/yqG8ia (used with permission)