- 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
- 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.
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.
Possible Staff Development Opportunities
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Strengths and Weaknesses
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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.
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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.
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.
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:
- Carrollton High School, Carrollton, IL - Three phase of staff development are described in this plan: the introduction, the weekly sessions, and the final review.
- Lemont-Bromberek S.D. 113a, Lemont, IL -This plan shows several different kinds of dissemination strategies thus allowing for differentiation of staff development for teachers.
- Woodrow Wilson Foundation -This plan illustrates how teachers in different locations of the United States can facilitate the LInC Online together.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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: