Part One: The InterviewI’m excited to say that in the three weeks since my last update, Trevor and I have made some great progress in our Major Project. As mentioned in my previous post, we planned to create a self-guided professional development resource that new Connected Educators could utilize to ease their transition into the project. While we definitely had our own ideas about how we wanted to actualize with our vision for this resource, we thought it would also be a good idea to get some insight from the very people who are in charge of the implementation and administration of the Connected Educator Project. After contacting the Education Technology Department, Jennifer Stewart-Mitchell, who is the Technology Design & Training Coordinator, agreed to meet with us to discuss the current state of the project as well as our idea for a professional development resource. We felt that Jennifer was the perfect person to meet with as she is not only in charge of the project now, but has been involved with the it from the very beginning three years ago. In talking with Jennifer, she confirmed what Trevor and I had assumed when we first proposed our idea- the growth of the project has created a gap in the professional development that the division is able to supply for new participants. She recalled that in the early rounds of the project, new participants were provided with multiple opportunities for training and professional development due to the fact there were less than 30 people involved in the project. However, with the number of participants for next year expected to increase to around 150, Jennifer indicated that the division would be unable to continue with the same professional development model that had been utilized for the previous three years. As a result, the Education Technology department had created a visionary committee comprised of members from each round of the Connected Educator Project to discuss the future vision for the project. When Trevor and I had asked her about our project idea, she was very receptive to it as she explained that this was something the committee had been discussing in their last meeting and were brainstorming ways to combat this issue for next year. In our meeting, Jennifer also shared the data from a Mentimeter survey that was sent out to all current Connected Educators about the project. The survey consisted of three key questions that committee had come up with as a way to gather important feedback from all parties involved. These questions were:
When exploring the data, it was exciting to see so many great ideas from other Connected Educators, but in particular, there were a few answers like the one below that really reinforced our own understanding of the importance of our project. After both the interview with Jennifer Stewart-Mitchell as well as investigating the data from the Connected Educator Survey, it was clear that we were definitely on the right path with the direction we chose for our major project. Part Two: The Creation of the ResourceInitially Trevor and I had kicked around a few different ideas for what platform we felt would best suit our professional development resource. Eventually we landed on the idea of a Weebly website as we felt it would not only provide easy access for participants, but the drop down menu function would keep all our resources organized and sorted by category. While the website isn't live yet, here's a sneak peak of the design that we've been working on: In addition to the creation of the website, we also took some time to decide on the key resources that would benefit new Connected Educators the most when they begin the project. After carefully examining each category, we decided that the tools and resources that we wanted our professional development project to include would be:
Implementation:
Are there any other resources or tools that you would recommend we include in the five categories listed above? Trevor and I would love your feedback!
1 Comment
Jennifer Resch
4/1/2019 05:53:46 pm
Matt, this is a great resource. What a fantastic idea! I am remembering my first year as a Connected Ed and being completely overwhelmed with everything and I felt like I needed to do it all at once! This website and tutorials will absolutely help out and will provide support for anyone who is new to the program!
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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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