As mentioned in my last update, Trevor and I had begun the creation of our self-guided professional development resource. However, before we got too deep into content creation, we felt it was important to take a step back and further evaluate the resource we were creating. While we felt strongly about our idea, we wanted to ensure that this was something that was going to be beneficial in the future for our division, and not something that would quickly become irrelevant. As a result, Trevor and I developed three essential questions regarding the Connected Educator Project and contacted various individuals in our system that included teachers, administrators, consultants, coordinators and senior administration. While we were able to gather a large amount of valuable data, we will be unable to use direct quotes from individuals in our blog posts due to a privacy policy within our division. Instead, we have both decided to summarize the important information gathered from each question and discuss within our respective blogs. We would like to thank the Regina Catholic School Division for allowing us to further our research, as well as all those individuals who took the time to provide detailed and insightful answers to our questions. How has the Connected Educator Project enhanced student learning? After exploring the feedback, most of the responses addressed this question from the perspective of an educator as well as that of a student. When looking at it through the lens of an educator, the common theme that continually popped up, was the notion that the Connected Educator Project fosters and encourages professional growth. Through utilizing tools such as the ISTE Standards and SAMR model, educators are reflecting and actively improving on their practice through a technological lens. In addition, the Connected Educator Project also enable participants to further connect with other like-minded educators, through the use of Skype Chats, Twitter Book Clubs, Communities of Professional Practice (COPP) and innovate and exciting projects. Because of these opportunities, participants are engaging in meaningful discussions with other educators, and are actively improving their own pedagogy and understanding of student-centred learning. This type of professional growth is incredibly important as many of the responses also explained that simply adding devices would not change a teacher, as technology cannot fix poor teaching. Instead, through the different opportunities allotted by the project, educators are continually growing professionally, which will certainly have a major impact on student learning. In addition to examining the benefits from the perspective of an educator, many of the responses also directly addressed the benefits for student learning. Some of the main benefits that individuals discussed in each of their responses were:
What do you imagine the Connected Educator Project will look like in five years? When looking at the data, all individuals felt that the Connected Educator Project would continue to grow at a manageable pace, so that more teachers would be able to join the community of Connected Educators. In particular, one response explained that currently in the division, 21% of the total teaching population (161 educators) are participants of the project - a number that reflects diverse teaching assignments and not simply classroom teachers. It further explained that within the next five years, the project aims to grow by at least 25-30 participants per year, which would total around 40% of the teaching staff at the conclusion of the 2023-2024 school year. Another key point addressed in the responses was the notion that Connected Educators would play a larger role in the mentorship of other teachers within the division. Currently, there is a mentorship program in place for veteran Connected Educators to mentor new participants to the program. However, many see this model shifting to an approach that would have the Connected Educators becoming leaders and mentors of smaller communities of profession practice around the division in an effort to demonstrate ways technology can be integrated into teaching and learning. With the growth of the project, do you see a need for additional professional development or training for new Connected Educators? Out of the three questions posed to the stakeholders within our division, Trevor and I were most excited to read the responses for this question as it had the biggest impact on our project. As we examined all responses, the consensus was that professional development is an integral part of the project, especially for new participants. They further explained that all Connected Educators are encouraged to model what we expect from our students – to be self-driven learners. This was referenced multiple times when explaining the importance of the opportunities available to new and old Connected Educators during the year through the monthly Skype Chats, or over the summer through the Twitter Book Chat. One individual also touched on the notion that additional training for new Connected Educators may not be necessary, but changing the type of training might be more valuable. This was an intriguing thought as this individual explained that the new Connected Educators joining the program might no longer include as many early adopters as in previous years, and a new mode of development might be important to sustaining the growth and success of the project.
Overall Trevor and I were both incredibly grateful for the insightful responses we received as it not only reaffirmed our belief in our project, but also provided us with some more ideas for information to include in our project.
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Matt BrescianiI'm a middle years teacher in Regina, Saskatchewan, working towards a Masters Degree in Education. Archives
April 2019
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