My Musings

A look into the mind of a Tech Integration Specialist

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Update on My Innovation Plan

What is innovation? George Couros (2015) defines innovation as “a way of thinking that creates something new and better” (p.19). As I have progressed through my Digital Learning and Leading (DLL) program at Lamar University, I was asked to develop and implement an innovation project. I didn't want to choose any random topic that didn't make any sense to me, I wanted whatever I chose to be useful to a Technology Integration Specialist since I would be spending so many months o

Reflection: Designing an Online Course for Educators

Reflection: Designing an Online Course for Educators

Today’s educators have a unique challenge of preparing students for a workforce that is always changing and therefore they must change how they teach. The students of today need to be able to communicate, learn independently, think critically, collaborate with others, apply digital skills, and manage knowledge (Bates, 2015). For teachers to learn how to teach these skills, professional development must change also. Educators need to experience blended learning in order to bet

Creating an Online Course from Scratch Part 2

Creating an Online Course from Scratch Part 2

I have officially re-named my course! It is now called; Technology Integration: Creating Significant Learning Environments. The focus of the course is increasing student choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning. The basic outline is: Technology in the Classroom 21st-Century Skills COVA + CSLE Personalized Learning Blended Learning Wrapping it All Up Last week I added more meat to the first half of the outline, this week I fleshed out the second half. Now that t

Creating an Online Course from Scratch: Part 1

Creating an Online Course from Scratch: Part 1

As a learner, I have taken many classes but this is the first time I've had the opportunity to create a class of my own. There is a lot of behind the scenes work to be done! Many questions have to be answered, resources to be found or created, and assessments to be developed. The very first thing I had to do was to identify the outcomes of the course. What did I want my learners to know and how could they prove their learning. I used my previously created 3 Column Table and U

Reflections on Action Research

Reflections on Action Research

If you've followed my blog, then you know that I've been working on an Action Research Plan on the effectiveness of a tech coach on technology integration and teachers' perception of technology integration. I started the whole process by creating an outline that I would use to develop my plan. Next, I continued to research the role of a technology coach, the coaching cycle, and technology integration. I found many resources to add to my coaching toolbox! There are micro-crede

Action Research

Action Research

What is Action Research? It's pretty much an inquiry system of research conducted by people in the educational field that want to learn more about the learning process and how they can improve upon it (Mertler, 2017). Teachers perform an informal form of action research on a daily basis when they reflect on how their lessons went and what they could do to improve them. Formal action research is made of 4 stages that contain 9 steps. I am currently in the gathering information

Looking Back with Global Perspectives

Looking Back with Global Perspectives

Now that I have completed my class on global perspectives in regards to innovation and technology integration, I took a look back at my innovation plan and made changes based off lessons learned from others around the world. In the process of creating my new Call To Action video and my Literature Review, I discovered teachers, no matter where they live, are wanting more control over their professional learning. They are beginning to participate in massive open online courses

Jifunzeni!

Jifunzeni!

Jifunzeni is a Swahili word inviting all to learn. Here is my personal Jifunzeni to all of you! Join me in personalized professional learning! References: Boston Consulting Group. (2014). Teachers Know Best: Teacher's Views on Professional Development. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.teachersknowbest.org/reports Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., Gardner, M. (2017). Effective Teacher Professional Development (research brief). Palo Alto, CA: Learning

Planning for Professional Learning

Planning for Professional Learning

When I first took the position as a technology integration specialist, I knew I would have to facilitate learning sessions with educators; but as a teacher, my only role was to attend and learn. Now, I am helping to plan and run them, a big change of perspective! This past summer I helped with the expo portion of our Know Your Impact conference organized by my district and runs for 3 days in early June. That was my first look into the behind the scenes aspect of professional

Professional Learning; Not your mamma's PD

Professional Learning; Not your mamma's PD

It's time to switch from old-school, sit-and-get professional development to the ongoing, interactive professional learning. Gulamhussein (2013) states that Professional Learning should have 5 key principals: Extended throughout the year. Ongoing support through all stages of implementation. Active learning and hands-on application Modeling and coaching included Specific and authentic to the learner. I agree with these principals and I intend to use these as I facilitate prof

Thoughts on Creating a Significant Learning Environments

Thoughts on Creating a Significant Learning Environments

In my grad school journey, I learned many new things and a few of those I get to revisit regularly. One of those topics was the growth mindset. I was first introduced to Carol Dweck's (2006) book on the growth mindset back in January when we were asked to develop a plan for how we would share the growth mindset with others. Here is my website on Growth Mindset that I created to help others learn about it. I've made some changes to this site since it originally held the slide

Using Backwards Design

Using Backwards Design

Designing Professional Learning using Backwards Design As I continue to develop my innovation plan on blended learning to create personalized professional development, I had an opportunity to explore the Backwards Design in Wiggins and McTighe's book, Understanding by Design to design a unit within my plan. I had already used Fink's 3 column table to design the course, therefore, I knew my goals for the course. UbD has you start with your standards and the ISTE Standards for

BHAG and Designing a Professional Development Course

BHAG and Designing a Professional Development Course

Planning with the End in Mind For my innovation project, I developed a course design using Fink's (n.d.) guide in order to create significant learning to be used for my blended learning of professional development of technology integration. At first, I was intimidated to write a whole course guide but then I fell back on my curriculum writing experience. The two are not so different, both start with you thinking of your end goal and then you work backward to determine the ski

A New Culture of Learning

A New Culture of Learning

Here's my reflection on A New Culture of Learning by Thomas and Brown. The three principals from A New Culture of Learning: * The internet has the most up-to-date information for learners. * * Peer-to-peer learning is most natural for learners. * * Collaboration happens in a collective of learners. * Application within my Innovation Plan: - Online resources for teachers to reference. - Working within the collective to build understanding. Resources ChangSchool. (2015, Dec 14)

Micro-Credentials, What are They?

Micro-Credentials, What are They?

When most people think of micro-credentials, they think of badges, and they are similar in some ways but different in others. Both are ways for people to show what they have learned, while badges tend to be specific to a particular app, micro-credentials are linked to specific skills. Badges tend to show an ability to use a specific technology, micro-credentials are earned by submitting proof of application of knowledge in specific areas. My innovation project is to bring mic

Innovation Plan - Micro-Credentials!

It is my plan to implement a micro-credential system into our technology training for teachers at Mabank ISD to allow teachers to learn new ways to implement technology effectively into their daily classroom activities. Phase I: Development Recruitment - June 2019 Pitch to Instructional Media Team (IMT) idea of micro-credentials Survey teachers at our Know Your Impact Summer Conference (June 5-7) and seek volunteers. What do they like about the current badging system? What ch

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