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As a professional development (PD) provider for a Public Ed Department in Australia, I lead and coordinate the strategic delivery of PD to support the use of tech in schools in all its different forms and flavours. If feedback counts for anything, I am very good at what I do. I have been in this position for 3 years and have seen countless teachers and schools improve their practice.
However, one thing I have noticed when it comes to integrating information communication technologies (ICT), is that the teachers and the schools that really fly, the high performing schools...they don’t come to my PD. They don’t go to any PD. They understand that they, and their professional networks, are their own PD.
Our beliefs limit our potential
The following video sums up for me what is wrong with the ‘I need PD’ way of the world. It is this belief that limits our potential as teachers.
“There are two teachers, we have just been given (insert your technology here) and we need help”. As you can see from the video it is not a helpful attitude to have.
The problem with PD is that on the whole it treats teachers as ‘consumers’ of professional knowledge, and discourages teachers from thinking for themselves. The reality is that most of good practice with ICT is still to be developed. Teachers need to be ‘creators’ of professional knowledge.
A mindset that insists on PD before you integrate ICT, is flawed because the world is changing too fast. New technologies, new Web2.0 (and soon Web3.0) tools are being developed on almost a weekly basis, and this rate of development is only going to increase. While these new tools are being created other old ones are becoming redundant, does anyone use ICQ anymore. It is not possible to create PD courses to keep pace. There is a concept in ‘futures thinking’ that is important here:
If the world is changing faster than you can change, then you lose control of the future.
The context of education is changing very rapidly. Teachers and schools that cannot change fast enough to keep up lose control. When you lose control you become frustrated and angry. I occasionally hear people say that it has never been harder to be a teacher. If you cannot change and adapt your practice as your students and ICT changes, then yes – it will be very hard for you to be successful as a teacher.
However I think it has never been easier to be a teacher. No teacher throughout history has had access to the powerful ICT tools that we have. We can bring richer content into our classrooms, we have access to high quality student data on which to base our lesson planning, and we have the capacity to allow students to be creators of their own knowledge and controllers of their own learning. So while it has never been easier to be a teacher, the proviso is that you use technology well, and for that to occur you need to let go of the notion of PD.
Great teachers see themselves as ‘creators’ of professional knowledge. Through a continuous cycle of ‘planning, application, reflection’ great teachers develop improved ways to educate students, tailoring their teaching to the specific needs of the context within which they teach.
I use three key questions to guide the reflection within this cycles – the reflection being the most important part:
How well did that go? (what I tried to do?)
How do I know how well it went? (what data am I relying on?)
How well could that have gone? (this is probably the most important question)
It is best if you get the others, including students, to help you answer these questions.
Growing your professional practice, becoming a high performing teacher is a journey. Like all good journeys they are best done in groups. This is why your professional learning network (PLN) is so important.
I go to quite a lot of conferences each year. When I started out teaching in the mid 90s I used to judge a conference as a good one if I learnt two or three new skills that I could adapt to my classroom. I still look for good ideas, but now a conference is a good one if I met two or three people who will add richness and diversity to my professional network.
But this is just my view, my thinking. What is important is what you think.
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The digital age has made the development of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) easier than ever before. The PLN is a network created by an individual learner, specific to the learner’s needs extending relevant learning connections to those around the globe who share interests, passions, and talents. PLNs provide individuals with an unprecedented ability to access and connect with leaders and experts around the world bringing together communities, resources and information impossible to access solely from within school walls. Personal learning networks can be comprised of people you know via face-to-face (f2f) and virtual connections. In the best of all worlds they are people you connect with in both ways.
Personal Learning Networks can be described as 1.0 and 2.0. In the 1.0 stage participants are mainly consumers of information. In the 2.0 stage participants are actually producing/creating information.
Most who are just beginning to build personal learning networks may start by engaging in 1.0 activities. As they begin to get a lay of the land and feel comfortable they may be ready to dip their toes into some 2.0 activities. To follow are ideas to get started.
Five ways to build your personal learning network
1-Face to Face Although most educators are familiar with face-to-face options, even the most traditional of connection building can be difficult to create and maintain. Some ideas for doing so though include place-based connections with those in your school and district. Here are two ideas for developing such connections.
1.0 - Find Classroom Teachers With Whom You Can Connect One terrific way to build your personal learning network is to find out if there are other teachers in your school and district doing innovative work with which you connect. The hard part, is knowing who is doing what. Here in New York, I’ve developed a site called Innovate My Class. Any school can use this site to showcase the innovative work of classroom teachers who have integrated various tech tools into instruction. Teachers can visit this site to share what they’re doing and learn who is doing similar work within their school or district. This makes it much easier to connect with those interested in engaging learners in similar ways with similar tools.
2.0 - Publish the work that is taking place is your classroom Teachers around the globe have great things going on in their classroom, but in most cases do not share what they are doing beyond their classroom or school community. In the 21st century teachers can share the great work they are doing in their classrooms with sites like Innovate My Class, on blogs, via Twitter, Facebook, and more. Build your personal learning network by sharing what you’re doing and connecting with others who are doing (or interested in doing) the same.
1.0 Discover What Other Schools Are Doing Visiting other schools is another great way to make f2f connections. I developed a site called Innovation Field Trips which enables schools engaged in innovative work to share with other schools when they are hosting open houses. Visiting and connecting with educators at other schools who are pursuing similar work can result in powerful learning. Following the field trips schools post reflections that include narratives, photos, and video that capture what they learned in relation to their selected problem of practice.
2.0 - Host an Innovation Field Trip / Open House An innovation field trip is both a great way for host schools to get better at incorporating innovative practices into their work and for visitors to learn about innovative practices. Use this School Innovation Field Trip Quick Guide if you are interested in hosting one at your school site.
When you want to extend your f2f beyond your personal learning time, here are some additional ideas.
2-Learning Networks
1.0 Check out some learning networks Learning networks provide a terrific way to begin instantly learning about topics of interest. Recommendations:
Classroom 2.0 (for educators using Web 2.0 technology)
Transforming Ed for The 21st Century
2.0 Participate in a learning network Once you’ve had some time to look around (also known as lurking), go ahead and respond to or start your own discussion. Learning networks are a great tool to communicate with other innovative educators and leaders.
1.0 Subscribe to Your Blogs Subscribe to the blogs you selected inGoogle Reader. Caution: Limit your reader to five to start. Keeping up with more blogs will be difficult. Watch: Google Reader in Plain English
2.0 Start Commenting Become a part of the conversation and start commenting on the blogs you read. You’ll be amazed but how well participating in the read/write web helps your professional growth.
1.0 - Read Tweets of Edubloggers Select 5 well-known Edubloggers to follow and watch all the great stuff they have to share. You'll find out a lot of information that fits into 140 character sound bytes. Recommendations:
1.0 - Read Tweets of Search Terms Pick a topic you’re interested in and do a Twitter search for that term. See who is Tweeting about these topics and follow those who have Tweets you find meaningful. Recommendations
Edchat
ellchat
ela
dyslexia
assessment
2.0 - Reply to Tweets Set up an account on Twitter so you can reply to some of those who are Tweeting about topics of interest.
1.0 Join Facebook Friend colleagues and experts who effectively use Facebook as an educational tool. See what they write. Read and learn. Recommendations:
2.0 Interact with Facebook Update your status. Comment on an update of your of your friends. Use the “@” symbol to tag a friend(s) who you think might be interested in an update. This might be an interesting article you’ve read or something about which you’d like their opinion.
If you’d like to begin building your personal learning network pick one or two of these ideas and get started building your learning network. Join a social network, subscribe to blogs, comment and Tweet. If you do, you’ll not only learn a lot, but you will contribute to the learning of others as well.
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