Staff Development Plan Components

"CHANGE: the Educational Paradigm"

Prerequisites:

Clear mind
Good connection
Supportive team
Basic browser skills
Working knowledge of electronic discussion tools
Completion of Staff Development Lesson 1
Persistent concern about the issue

Purpose:

To develop a plan for disseminating Engaged learning, effective technology integration, and/or technical skills for other educators in your school/district. This may be done via a workshop or by more informal means such as working through a project together, a study group, peer coaching, etc.
One of the goals of LInC is to provide Staff Development for Engaged Learning and Best Use of Technology. It is our belief that effective change takes place through Staff Development and support. To create successful Staff Development, you must have a plan that meets the needs of your audience. Most school districts have unique needs and one plan will not match the needs of all of your teachers. The LInC Project is for your teacher leaders and staff developers. These types of individuals are willing to commit long term and participate in this level of staff development. Other staff members may wish to learn the content but aren't willing to commit long term.

With these teachers in mind, you do not have to offer a full 4.5 credit LInC Course. You do not have to offer your staff development online. It can be face-to-face or partial online.

The reason that we are asking you to think through your Staff Development Plan at this time in the LInC Course is so that you will have a plan to share with your administrator's before the Facilitators Academy. Without their support and buy-in your work at the Facilitator's Academy will be in vain.

There are key issues to review before you begin your plan.
Possible Staff Development Opportunities
Strengths and Weaknesses

Option 1: Share your project at a Faculty Meeting and conduct a few after school workshops building technology skills

Option 2: Present Engaged Learning at a Two-Day Workshop

Quick to implement --a non-threatening experience

Not a huge time commitment

Builds an awareness of Engaged Learning and Best Use of Technology

Option 3: Teachers or peers participate and assist you in an Engaged Learning experience

Option 4:With your support, teacher selects an Engaged Learning project and implements it with the class.

 

Moderate commitment --requires some risk taking

Greater depth of understanding of Engaged Learning and Best Use of Technology

Better chance of replication by those participating
Option 5: "LInC Lite": 4-12 week LInC Workshop

Time intensive -requires risk taking

Satisfies the needs of teacher who want to understand theory and practice of Engaged Learning and Best Use of Technology

Good chance of replication of project and transfer by those participating
Option 6: Teacher offers a LInC Course

More time intensive -requires risk taking

Satisfies the needs of teacher/leaders who want to understand theory and practice of Engaged Learning and Best Use of Technology

Good chance of replication and transfer by those participating

Prepares participants to lead Staff Development

Remember that these options listed above are only a few of the many Staff Development possibilities. It is important to know the needs of your staff/peers and plan accordingly. Combine ideas, create your own, or use any of the above suggestions. Check with your facilitator for specific requirements for these types of courses.

 

PREPARATION TIPS:

1. Try to apply and model what you have learned about engaged learning in the staff development you are planning.
2. Read the staff development resource articles as assigned and as needed.
3. Start a dialog (schedule an appointment) with the key people in your school/district to get the needed support to create and conduct the plan. Including these people from the start in the discussion and creation of your plan will increase their buy-in and hopefully future support for these activities.
4. Use your teams' past experience, input from staff in your school/district, the staff development readings (as needed), and the staff development discussions to design a staff development action plan for integrating technology-supported engaged learning into the curriculum.
5. Your LInC projects may be very useful as examples during these sessions, but your projects are not the focus of the plan. The focus of the plan is transferring:
  • Engaged learning techniques.
  • Internet skills and awareness.
  • Strategies for effective use of the Internet to enhance/support your existing curriculum in ways that would not be feasible without the Internet.

 

Develop one plan together with your team. Use what you know about your school/district to make your plan useful and effective for your needs.

Components to Address in your Staff Development Action Plan

1. Mission Statement - The mission statement defines the goals for all learners for the beliefs and values of the school/district. There may be a separate technology mission which supports the whole school/district vision statement.
 
2. Current Situation - The current reality of the school/district is a narrative that includes the status quo of: school/community interaction, engaged learning, professional development, technology hardware, infrastructure, software, and technology support.
 
3. Community/School Support - A descriptive statement which addresses: increasing community awareness to the need and importance of technology to learners in the 21st Century, implementation goals and strategies, persons responsible for overseeing implementation, and costs and funding for implementation. This needs to address the public relations aspect of your plan. Identify the type of support and resources needed from your district.

4. Engaged Learning Goals and Activities - Activities and goals reflect many indicators of engaged learning and best use of technology.

Examples would be:
  • activities support standards and benchmarks of learner outcomes
  • indicators of engaged learning are reflected in the activities of the learners
  • tasks are authentic and driven by higher order cognitive skills
  • focus is on the changing student role in learning
  • activities that demonstrate effective technology integration

5. Timeline - A timeline for implementation of the of your project. Don't forget to address the before, the during, and the after.

6. Assessment/Evaluation - Data is collected for effective evaluation (quantitative and qualitative) for goals and indicators of achievement, integration into the curriculum, and realistic accomplishments for the given situation. This process should be ongoing, including initial and ending assessment pieces to provide direction for future improvement in staff development.

 

A guiding questions page is available for those who need a jump start. LInC Online has a Web page template for use in your plan. This page already has the header and footer in place. Your team will need to customize for your school/district and add your action plan. You also might wish to view the rubric used for plan evaluation.

Here are a few examples of plans submitted by past participating teams.

Full LInC Course Staff Development Plans:

Shorter LInC Course Staff Development Plans:

  • Macatawa Bay School, Holland, MI - This plan shows a nine class session.
  • Engaged Learning -1 graduate credit course - In this plan the participants are required to complete a proposal, presentation page, and student page. The student page does not have to be a web page.
  • Engaged Learning -2 graduate credit course - In this plan the participants are required to complete a proposal, presentation page, student pages and rubric. . All products are web pages.
  • Engaged Learning -3 graduate credit course -In this plan the participants are required to complete a proposal, presentation page, student pages, and Rubric. The participants are expected to have a completed project which has been through several revisions.
  • Vital Signs: The Good Health Network - This group had other teachers use their LInC project with students and used peer coaching during this process. This example is not a full staff development plan.
  • End-Users Plan - This is an outline for a LInC program for working with those teachers who want the information for themselves and do not wish to be a part of conducting further staff development. The time frame is extended to two semester-long 3 credit courses and the staff development component is omitted. This is not a full staff development plan. (All other plan, except the LInC plans are for end users, too.)

There are certainly other ways to plan staff development opportunities for your school/district/community. Many ideas have been brainstormed, but at this time there are no written staff development plans to use with them. Sometimes it is best to start by presenting an overview of Engaged Learning and Best Use of Technology after which the participants will be able to sign up for the aspects of the presentation they would like to learn more about in the next sessions. At this point you have many options for staff development. Three suggestions are listed below:

  1. Study Groups could be formed based on the topics they indicated they wanted to know more about. After learning about the strategies, teachers could try them in their classrooms and report back to the group what worked, what didn't work, and what they learned from the experience.
  2. A series of Mini-Sessions on Engaged Learning and/or Best Use of Technology could be organized and presented to participants. These sessions could be held after school, on Institute Days, or during other staff development times.
  3. Peer Coaching - Participants could work in teams to try out the new strategies. Each would observe the other, comment and suggest, and then the roles would be reversed.

 

Remember that systemic change may take several years before results are noticed. Your plan should be a spring board for that change. It should consist of concrete steps you can take to get or continue the ball rolling based on your past experience and the expertise you have gained from this LInC course.

What to send:

Where to send: