Practice of problem context: Design a better format for professional development regarding technology integration. Create a “foolproof” structure that can be applied to any type of technology professional development specifically in regards to my current staff and their needs as educators and individuals. A plan that will encourage all users regardless of their individual background with technology to experiment with tech integration for the specific purpose of using these tools to enhance the learning outcomes of our 21st century learners.
I started my empathy search by first looking for articles online to guide my thinking. I came across many articles, but one stood out specifically. Even though it revolves around general professional development design, it can easily be connected to technology professional development as well. On page 6 of this article (http://goo.gl/36QgfU ) they talked specifically about where they began to develop this professional development model. “We began by assessing the needs for professional learning, starting with what educators liked and what they didn’t about the opportunities they were given to learn. We surveyed over 400 educators and did user interviews with over 50 educators. Once we developed a solid idea of what types of support were needed, we turned to the tools.” (p.6 edSurge 2014). Inside this article it also talked about using the Teaching Channel https://www.teachingchannel.org/ to show perspectives of teachers. I found the video below describing a leadership team who approached professional development from the first mode of the Stanford Design model: Empathy.
I started my empathy search by first looking for articles online to guide my thinking. I came across many articles, but one stood out specifically. Even though it revolves around general professional development design, it can easily be connected to technology professional development as well. On page 6 of this article (http://goo.gl/36QgfU ) they talked specifically about where they began to develop this professional development model. “We began by assessing the needs for professional learning, starting with what educators liked and what they didn’t about the opportunities they were given to learn. We surveyed over 400 educators and did user interviews with over 50 educators. Once we developed a solid idea of what types of support were needed, we turned to the tools.” (p.6 edSurge 2014). Inside this article it also talked about using the Teaching Channel https://www.teachingchannel.org/ to show perspectives of teachers. I found the video below describing a leadership team who approached professional development from the first mode of the Stanford Design model: Empathy.
As part of the Standard Design Model, this is exactly what it talks about doing - getting to know your user and building empathy for who they are and what is most important to them. Last summer as part of some MSU coursework, I sent out a building technology survey to collect data specifically to empathize with the general feelings in our building. At school I work with another colleague for the tech chair position in our building. We just recently sent out another survey to try and figure out what types of technology teachers were interested in, and what were the most efficient and effective delivery methods for this technology.
Some of the results really stood out to me in regards to Empathy:
I have also had the chance to talk to some colleagues through some of the PD sessions we have already offered throughout the school year. I have found that the “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” (Mark Prensky http://goo.gl/sstkzp) perspective is a “fact” to most people. They truly believe that younger students are “born into technology” and can figure it out within seconds, while older folks have a major learning curve because this knowledge does not come naturally to them. This thought will definitely be a hurdle to overcome because I think this is a stereotype that needs to be changed.
Overall I feel like I have a good beginning to the empathy mode in the Stanford Design Model - I would like to also conduct some informal interviews to actually get an explanation to some of these results and continue to do some research to get an even better view of empathy from the user’s perspective.
Websites/Articles:
- Our newest survey can be found here: http://goo.gl/kAA4Tg
- Results: http://goo.gl/w3sRtV
- My previous survey can be found here: http://goo.gl/QQtE5g
- Results: http://goo.gl/GnSo8R
Some of the results really stood out to me in regards to Empathy:
- Question: Think of all the professional development you’ve attended in regards to technology. On a scale of 1-10, how useful have these experiences been in your teaching? The average rating turned out to be a 4.6! If you look at the modes of this question they were 2 and 3 out of 10. Clearly the ways in which districts, administrators, and teachers are delivering professional development in relation to technology are not effective and the approach needs to change to be centered around what the user needs and wants.
- Question: What type of professional development do/would you find the most useful when learning about technology integration? Top responses here are one-on-one instruction with an expert, as well as professional learning networks. This really speaks to the fact that teachers are craving more help! The latter response is positive because this is something that teachers can get involved in on their own time. Twitter, feedly, and other blogs offer the affordances of creating professional networks at home! Unfortunately this is also something that teachers will have to learn about first before using.
- Question: When my students use technology, they mostly... (choose one) The responses to this one actually surprised me. I have the majority of the results (55%) of respondents replied they would like students to work individually, and the second highest (35%) said work in pairs. I was shocked that only 15% of responders said they would have students work in groups. I would think that technology is so collaborative that most people would say this, but I guess it makes sense if they do not understand how technology can be used, then they are thinking that it is mostly an individual activity.
I have also had the chance to talk to some colleagues through some of the PD sessions we have already offered throughout the school year. I have found that the “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” (Mark Prensky http://goo.gl/sstkzp) perspective is a “fact” to most people. They truly believe that younger students are “born into technology” and can figure it out within seconds, while older folks have a major learning curve because this knowledge does not come naturally to them. This thought will definitely be a hurdle to overcome because I think this is a stereotype that needs to be changed.
Overall I feel like I have a good beginning to the empathy mode in the Stanford Design Model - I would like to also conduct some informal interviews to actually get an explanation to some of these results and continue to do some research to get an even better view of empathy from the user’s perspective.
Websites/Articles:
- https://d3e7x39d4i7wbe.cloudfront.net/uploads/report/pdf_free/6/PD-Remix-EdSurge-Report-2014.pdf (EdSurge)
- http://www.ictinedtoolkit.org/usere/library/tech_for_ed_chapters/08.pdf (Another article to read regarding technology PD)
- https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/professional-learning-action-plan# (video)
- http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf (Digital Natives)
- https://www.teachingchannel.org/ (Teaching Channel)