Employee Development Plan

We had an initiative in our District a few years ago, where there were Digital Literacy coaches available in each school to help mentor other teachers in the application of technology within the classroom to help co-create lessons that would inspire wonder and innovation in our students beyond paper/pencil tasks.  I was one of those coaches and worked out of the School Board Office helping to promote digital literacy through whole school and small group workshops as well as one on one sessions.  We needed ways to help keep parents informed and ways for students to be able to access learning materials outside of class time. I helped teachers create their own websites, create flipped classrooms (where the  lesson is taught online and the work done in the classroom) and find innovative ways to share  student learning through programs like KidBlog or FreshGrade (a learning portfolio platform accessible by students, teachers and parents).  As digital literacy coaches, we wanted to avoid teachers simply replacing paper tasks with digital ones that basically did the same thing. Our goal was to help teachers move beyond the basics and find new ways for students to share their individual unique learning and focus on student strengths. We referred to the SAMR model developed by Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura frequently as a way to help explain how to create a hybrid model of technology and education for teachers.  Here is a link to a great video clip explaining the model and how it applies to the classroom.  Basically there are 4 levels as illustrated below with the first being simply a substitute activity leading all the way to an activity that would have originally been impossible to do without technology.  For example, the first two levels of the SAMR model enhance teaching but the final level transforms it and enables students to collaborate beyond the 4 walls of the classroom and have access to a global community for feedback and self-reflection.

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Our District has moved away from having Digital Literacy Coaches within schools to having two technology support mentors who work with teachers who are interested in providing opportunities for students to learn coding and robotics within the classroom.  Teachers can apply for grants each year to receive iPads, GoPros, mini robots and other tech gadgets.  Teachers are also supplied with one tech device for themselves to use within the classroom (an iPad or a laptop) and each teacher was asked this year to define their teaching style and how they use the device provided to support student learning.

Some ways in which my school district  provides innovation in a Service Oriented Culture is by offering Microsoft Office for free to all of our students.  Students can upload this program on up to 6 different personal devices and it will still be accessible to them after they graduate. We used to use Google Classroom to enable students to collaborate online, however, due to Google servers being located in places other than Canada, we wanted to ensure that our students privacy was protected under Canadian laws and switched to Microsoft Office.  By providing students with free access to Microsoft Office, student learning can take place both inside and outside school hours and on personal devices that are convenient for students to use. We used Microsoft Office forms  at our school this year with our Grade 9’s to conduct student surveys to better improve courses like Career Education that have recently become embedded and to promote student engagement in their learning. We also use it to create quick surveys for staff that allow for immediate responses. We also use apps like Remind to keep parents and students informed of upcoming events and assignments for individual classes. We utilize social media such as Instagram to post whole school messages that will make it more likely for high school students to see. Teachers can access lesson ideas and build their professional learning community through forums such as Pinterest, Twitter and Teachers Pay Teachers. Teachers and students are able to access and bring experts/mentors from the local and global communities into the classroom through programs like Skype. Virtual reality programs enable students to build and develop their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) skills.  Fun and engaging programs like Kahoot help enhance student learning and enable teachers to reflect on areas that need further work. Students can create and share their learning globally through student made podcasts, videos and blogs. Collaboration is no longer confined to the four walls of a classroom or building. Students can work together on the same document at the same time and provide peer feedback in real time.  We are currently using a program called MyBlueprint to enable students to create portfolios and collect artifacts of their learning that can be shared with Universities and parents.  This program ties into their highschool courses, provides transcripts, enables them to complete surveys that help them better understand their strengths and provides possible career suggestions.

Technology when used to promote student engagement, to assess emotional, social and intelligence needs of students and used to transform learning that goes beyond the four walls of the classroom is a very useful tool indeed.