Cycle 3
ACTION TAKEN: Teachers were invited to participate in an after school professional development session on two particular technology tools; Popplet and Weebly for Education. The session was offered on a Tuesday afternoon, an early release day for students, which would allow teachers time during the regular school day to attend this session. In my needs assessment, Tuesdays were indicated as the number one preferred day for professional development classes.
RESEARCH QUESTION: If I use an RSVP method for professional development classes offered to teachers, how will this affect the attendance of the class?
PREDICTED OUTCOME: I did not expect many teachers to attend my professional development session due to poor attendance numbers at similar workshops that had previously been held. I expected teachers to be excited about Popplet and see this as a tool that they could easily integrate into their classroom. My intention with Weebly for Education was to present the idea and see if teachers would be interested in learning more about this particular tool as a possible teacher website, or project based learning project idea for their students. I predicted that teachers would want more information about Weebly for Education. My overall concern was that teachers would see the lack of resources and time as a major hindrance in integrating these tools.
EVIDENCE USED TO EVALUATE THE ACTION: A week before the session I sent out an email with a link to a Google Form asking teachers to RSVP for the session. The day before the training, I resent the same Google form link to encourage teachers to RSVP. On the day of the session, I had a sign in sheet with everyone who RSVP’d. After the session, I had teachers complete a survey via Google Forms, which can be found at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Q8dAglTicsrvwQueJ6jWFVSH1zYwMv3U4B3QQXHheGE/viewform
EVALUATION: The evaluation of this cycle was based on attendance and a Google Form Survey. There were twenty-four teachers who RSVP’d to attend, and of those twenty-four, twenty-one attended.
The first survey question asked responders their overall feelings on Popplet, and, 78% stated that they loved Popplet and 22% said they thought, “it was ok”. Twenty-eight percent of the teachers thought it would be very easy to use in their classroom, where as 61% said it would be fairly easy, and 11% thought it would be difficult. When asked what would the most difficult part of implementing the program in the classroom, 41% of responded with lack of time while 34% said lack of resources would make it most difficult. 10% said lack of ideas, 3% said lack of support, and 10% said other, without further specification
The survey asked whether teachers would like more development class with Popplet and 44% of responders responded that they would, while 56% said they would not.
When asked their thoughts about Weebly for Education, 50% of responders said they loved it, 44% said they thought “it was ok” and 6% said they did not like it. 44% of teachers said they would use Weebly for Education in their classrooms, 6% said they would not use it in their classrooms, and 50% said they might use it. Of the attendees, 53% said they would most likely use Weebly for Education as a classroom or teacher website, 10% said they would use it for student E-portfolios, 30% said they would use it for student projects and 7% said other, which they did not specify. Seventy-eight percent of teachers said they would like more PD classes on Weebly, and 22% said they would not.
REFLECTION: Going into this professional development session, I felt more confident and more excited about the outcome than previous sessions. This was the first time I had sent out an RSVP form and I feel like this gave the teachers an added sense of accountability. Once they signed up they felt committed, whereas before, when there was no sign up sheet, they could decide that day whether they were going or not, and the majority would not attend. This was also the first time I made the survey at the end of the session anonymous. Teachers could put their name if they wanted, but it was not required. I feel like this made it much safer for the teachers to be honest and give their true feedback.
I was not surprised with the reaction of my coworkers. These two tools excited them, just as I expected them to. The teachers at my school are genuinely interested in integrating technology into their classrooms, however, just as I predicted, the two biggest factors that prevent them from doing so, are lack of time and lack of resources.
While this session was positive on the whole, I realized that the most difficult part of helping teachers integrate technology into their classrooms will be the follow up on my part. The easy part was for me to teach them the new tool. My job now is to help support each of the teachers that attended the workshop. I plan to do this by following up with them to see if they have used the tool or if there is anything else I can do to help them moving forward.
ACTION TAKEN: Teachers were invited to participate in an after school professional development session on two particular technology tools; Popplet and Weebly for Education. The session was offered on a Tuesday afternoon, an early release day for students, which would allow teachers time during the regular school day to attend this session. In my needs assessment, Tuesdays were indicated as the number one preferred day for professional development classes.
RESEARCH QUESTION: If I use an RSVP method for professional development classes offered to teachers, how will this affect the attendance of the class?
PREDICTED OUTCOME: I did not expect many teachers to attend my professional development session due to poor attendance numbers at similar workshops that had previously been held. I expected teachers to be excited about Popplet and see this as a tool that they could easily integrate into their classroom. My intention with Weebly for Education was to present the idea and see if teachers would be interested in learning more about this particular tool as a possible teacher website, or project based learning project idea for their students. I predicted that teachers would want more information about Weebly for Education. My overall concern was that teachers would see the lack of resources and time as a major hindrance in integrating these tools.
EVIDENCE USED TO EVALUATE THE ACTION: A week before the session I sent out an email with a link to a Google Form asking teachers to RSVP for the session. The day before the training, I resent the same Google form link to encourage teachers to RSVP. On the day of the session, I had a sign in sheet with everyone who RSVP’d. After the session, I had teachers complete a survey via Google Forms, which can be found at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Q8dAglTicsrvwQueJ6jWFVSH1zYwMv3U4B3QQXHheGE/viewform
EVALUATION: The evaluation of this cycle was based on attendance and a Google Form Survey. There were twenty-four teachers who RSVP’d to attend, and of those twenty-four, twenty-one attended.
The first survey question asked responders their overall feelings on Popplet, and, 78% stated that they loved Popplet and 22% said they thought, “it was ok”. Twenty-eight percent of the teachers thought it would be very easy to use in their classroom, where as 61% said it would be fairly easy, and 11% thought it would be difficult. When asked what would the most difficult part of implementing the program in the classroom, 41% of responded with lack of time while 34% said lack of resources would make it most difficult. 10% said lack of ideas, 3% said lack of support, and 10% said other, without further specification
The survey asked whether teachers would like more development class with Popplet and 44% of responders responded that they would, while 56% said they would not.
When asked their thoughts about Weebly for Education, 50% of responders said they loved it, 44% said they thought “it was ok” and 6% said they did not like it. 44% of teachers said they would use Weebly for Education in their classrooms, 6% said they would not use it in their classrooms, and 50% said they might use it. Of the attendees, 53% said they would most likely use Weebly for Education as a classroom or teacher website, 10% said they would use it for student E-portfolios, 30% said they would use it for student projects and 7% said other, which they did not specify. Seventy-eight percent of teachers said they would like more PD classes on Weebly, and 22% said they would not.
REFLECTION: Going into this professional development session, I felt more confident and more excited about the outcome than previous sessions. This was the first time I had sent out an RSVP form and I feel like this gave the teachers an added sense of accountability. Once they signed up they felt committed, whereas before, when there was no sign up sheet, they could decide that day whether they were going or not, and the majority would not attend. This was also the first time I made the survey at the end of the session anonymous. Teachers could put their name if they wanted, but it was not required. I feel like this made it much safer for the teachers to be honest and give their true feedback.
I was not surprised with the reaction of my coworkers. These two tools excited them, just as I expected them to. The teachers at my school are genuinely interested in integrating technology into their classrooms, however, just as I predicted, the two biggest factors that prevent them from doing so, are lack of time and lack of resources.
While this session was positive on the whole, I realized that the most difficult part of helping teachers integrate technology into their classrooms will be the follow up on my part. The easy part was for me to teach them the new tool. My job now is to help support each of the teachers that attended the workshop. I plan to do this by following up with them to see if they have used the tool or if there is anything else I can do to help them moving forward.