B.S. Elementary Education
M.S.Ed. Instructional Technology
Ed.D. Instructional Technology & Leadership
3.a. : Allocate time, resources, and access to ensure ongoing professional growth in technology fluency and integration.
Artifact:
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Professional development artifacts
Description:
In fall 2017, I took GDIT 718: Instructional Technology Policy, Planning and Management with Dr. David Carbonara. During this course, one of our assignments was dedicated to professional development. We had to read an article and then use information from the article to discuss how we would personally revamp professional development in schools.
This course looked at instructional technology implementation from an administrator’s or leader’s perspective. I found this course to be particularly useful to me as a professional because I would like to be the director of instructional technology for a school district. GDIT 718 gave me the freedom to explore educational topics and look at how I would tackle them from a different viewpoint.
I have also included artifacts that I created during my time as a technology facilitator in the Seneca Valley School District. These demonstrate my commitment to ensuring professional growth in technology, specifically, to both my colleagues and myself.
Reflection:
In my time teaching at Seneca Valley, I have participated in more professional development sessions than I can count. As part of the new teacher induction process, we have additional trainings and professional development on a monthly basis. In addition, in my role as technology facilitator, I have conducted several professional development trainings for the staff at my school. Artifacts from those trainings can be found above. Through both the trainings that I have conducted and the sessions in which I have participated, I have learned more about what types of professional development works best for me. I included these artifacts as a way to demonstrate what I have found works best for my colleagues. If I want my teachers to do something effective with a tool, my directions have to be explicit and include many visuals. I have found that tailoring my handouts to meet the needs of my colleagues that struggle with technology the most, ultimately benefits everyone.
In this paper, I was able to use my personal experiences, the information in the provided article, and an additional resource to imagine the redesign of professional development in an educational setting. I thought about what would engage educators the most in order to help their practice. As professionals, teachers should have the option to have a say in what they are learning. If they have no connection to a specific topic, they are not going to actively participate and later use the training in their classrooms. My vision for this type of training would take the form of teacher-selected EdCamps to encourage both flexibility and reflective practice. My ultimate hope is that this paper can one day be put into practice when I have more of an administrator-type role in a school district.
Microsoft Teams training handout
