Running head: HEREFORD HIGH SCHOOL

Hereford High School Three Year Professional Development Plan Weston Fellows Towson University

HEREFORD HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract This paper is a professional development plan covering three years, the goal of which is to implement edline WebPages for teachers as well as current digital content on the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) webpage. The school the plan is to be implemented in is a high school in rural Baltimore County; a review of literature for the three ISTE National Educational Standards to be implemented in the technology development plan is also included. The most essential section of the paper is the project plan which walks step by step through a three year period covering the implementation of edline class pages for each teacher, as well as a review on how to implement digital content resources already provided by the county. Keywords: Professional Development Plan, Educational Technology

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Hereford High School Three Year Professional Development Plan Educators need to be willing and able to learn new skills; as technology changes educators need to be prepared to partake in professional development to keep up with the rapidly changing technology. This professional development plan is intended to help bring High School

educators up to speed with some of the Web 2.0 tools at their disposal as well as try to instill a willingness in them to use the aforementioned tools. Educators need to prepare students to enter the 21st century work force and in order to do this must be as current as possible in their own teaching practices. The goals for this plan came from the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards, the three performance goals all fall under Standard II Learning and Teaching. Background Hereford High School is a high achieving school in Northern, rural Baltimore County, as such; the school is placed low on the list of needs of assistance from the county for technology funding and needs. The students are leaving school in much better shape than many of their counterparts in lower achieving schools in the county and therefore the main offices dont put a lot of funding into the school. This creates a challenge for teachers who wish to prepare students to enter the 21st century as technologically savvy as possible. Along with numerous other schools in the county Hereford High recently purchased a subscription to the website edline.net. The site is designed to give teachers a medium to reach and contact parents and students; unfortunately not all teachers are invested in the new communication tool. The first step of this plan is to try and

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get all teachers to become invested in using edline and then to incorporate web 2.0 tools into the program thereby creating a hybridization of tools that can be used to foster a learning and communicative environment. Needs Analysis As one of the edline administrators for the schools edline account I was able to conduct an informal needs analysis of the following components: how comfortable teachers are with using the technology, how invested they are, and what they need help with. Most of the data comes from questions received; most questions dealt with are in relation to how to set up class WebPages, how to include assignments, and how to use the grade book. The grade book questions were taken care of fairly early on in the life of edline for the simple reason that it was given priority by administration. This lead to a realization that in order to move to the next level of edline there needs to be professional development done with teachers in regards to the other areas teachers are still having difficulty with. It is also important to note that these are merely the teachers who have questions; the majority of the faculty does not utilize edline to a fraction of its potential, so not only is it necessary to help those who have questions but it is important to help those who feel too unsure to even attempt using the tool to give it a shot. In dealing with teacher issues with edline I realized that there is a great need for professional development in regards to edline, this set the stage for the professional development plan. Learning Needs Throughout the three year professional development plan the performance indicator related to the learners needs is Standard II: Learning and Teaching. This standard relates to the portion of educationally change that deals directly with the curriculum side of the development design. It focuses on helping the learner use new knowledge in valuable ways. For example,

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being introduced to a new program or learning tool that can be used to implement new technology to the fullest potential. Standard II: Learning and Teaching Educational leaders ensure that curricular design, instructional strategies, and learning environments integrate appropriate technologies to maximize learning and teaching. (BrooksYoung, 2009 p. 69) performance indicator II. A Identify, use, evaluate, and promote appropriate technologies to enhance and support instruction and standards-based curriculum leading to high levels of student achievement. (Brooks-Young, 2009 p. 69) rationale. Professional development is essential to all teachers and the quality of instruction they deliver to students within in the classroom. The Baltimore County Blueprint for Progress specifically states that as a school system, Baltimore County will, Optimize the use of all technology resources to attract and retain highly qualified teachers and paraprofessionals. (p. 10). In addition, the Blueprint for Progress also states, All students, teachers, and office staff will have access to technology to support student achievement, a highly qualified teaching staff, and stakeholder involvement in the educational process. (p. 20). While Baltimore County has given teachers some access to these resources, it is the responsibility of the teacher to become familiar with and integrate such resources; attained mainly through professional development. At the basic level, professional development often comes from other staff members within the building; such as this development plan will be implemented.

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performance indicator II. B Facilitate and support collaborative technology-enriched learning environments conducive to innovation for improved learning. rationale. According to Bower, Hedberg and Kuswara (2010) the use of Web 2.0 tools holds a permanent place in the future of education. These tools are being used more and more in a face-to-face class setting to enhance student centered learning. Bower, Hedberg and Kuswara (2010) stress the balance that is needed between the Web 2.0 tools and the instruction taking place in the classroom. In order to achieve this balance, it is suggested that educators follow the TPACK (Technology Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) approach present by Mishra and Koehler (2006). This approach allows the educators to see the importance and value in understanding the relationship between Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge and Content Knowledge. Within Standard II, Performance indicator B. the staff will be shown how to use specific Web 2.0 tools as a way to enhance instruction instead of completely taking over the classroom learning. Teachers will first gain information about these tools to help for better understanding of how these tools can be used along with regular classroom instruction. Setting the purpose of these tools will also allow the educators to pick when and where these tools should be used. performance indicator II E. Provide for and ensure that faculty and staff take advantage of quality professional learning opportunities for improved learning and teaching with technology. (Brooks-Young, 2009 p. 69) rationale. In regards to teachers implementing professional development OConnell and Phye (2005) found that The problem was that once professional development was conducted, no

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one monitored or supported the fidelity of implementation of the strategies in the classroom. In many cases, the teachers did not receive follow-up support, or the principal/curriculum director did not completely understand the strategy (OConnell & Phye, 2005). This idea is the whole idea behind the professional development plan being discussed, in order for the students to benefit from the professional development educators actually need to implement the strategies learned. The solution OConnell and Phye have come up with is to get administration invested and actually participating in the same professional development as the teachers so that they can provide support in the classroom. There was also a push for a support system for teachers who still had questions about how to use the technology; finally, OConnell and Phye made sure the teachers involved in their study had the technology demonstrated for them and practiced how to implement it in their classroom. The largest component of successful implementation was that there was a support structure for teachers following the introduction of the new technology (OConnell & Phye, 2005). This research sets the cornerstone for the entire professional development plan. Project Plan Standard II: Learning and Teaching Educational leaders ensure that curricular design, instructional strategies, and learning environments integrate appropriate technologies to maximize learning and teaching. Performance Indicator II. A. Identify, use, evaluate, and promote appropriate technologies to enhance and support instruction and standards-based curriculum leading to high levels of student achievement. Action Steps & Timeline - Teachers will be introduced to Edline and a webbased version of Person(s) Responsible - Technology liaison, School level Edline administrator, Technologies Employed - Edline, EasyGrade Pro -Google Doc Assessment Method(s) - Teachers will - Regular dates for have a basic uploading grades to knowledge of Edline. Survey Edline and results from teachers Benefits

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EasyGrade Pro. Teachers will initially be expected to use the grade reporting features of Edline and EasyGrade. (August 2011 and ongoing) - Teachers will setup a class page in Edline to communicate with parents/students (November 2011ongoing)

Staff members experienced with Edline

survey to determine prior knowledge of teachers related to Edline and EasyGrade

- Technology liaison, School level Edline administrator, Staff members experienced with Edline

- Edline - BCPS Blueprint for Progress

EasyGrade. This integration also allows teachers to upload and effectively inform parents and students of their academic status. - Teachers will provide content for students to use outside of class as references -Class pages will provide an extension for class material.

on benefits/knowledge of Edline and EasyGrade.

- Observation of teacher class pages. - Content loaded will include will be curriculum related

- Teachers will identify and evaluate Web 2.0 tools to determine which tools can be implemented in their curriculum

-Technology liaison, Staff members experienced with Web 2.0 tools or other digital content

- Various Web 2.0 tools

- Identifying Web 2.0 and digital content - Kathy will provide Schrocks classroom Discovery resources to be Teachers Guide used by (online teachers and resource) integrated with their Edline page

- Teachers application of tools in classroom -Formal/ informal observations to determine the level of usage of tools by teachers.

Performance Indicator II.B. Facilitate and support collaborative technology-enriched learning environments conducive to innovation for improved learning.
Action Steps & Timeline Person(s) Responsible ~Technology liaison, School Technologies Employed ~ Edline, EasyGrade Pro Benefit(s) ~ This stage will help teachers become Assessment Method(s) ~Teachers regularly updating: Grades and

~Teach the basics

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of the Edline program (emailing parents and students, posting grades, updating homework) ~ Teacher will be able to discuss what works, what they would like more knowledge about and the Web 2.0 tools they would like to see implemented within the Edline program (Needs analysis) (August 2013)
~ Teacher will learn a variety of Web 2.0 Tools to incorporate into their Edline page. (to be used alongside instruction as homework, classwork or quizzes)(Fall 2013) ~Teachers will be required to implement Web 2.0 tools into their Edline Webpage ~Teachers will be required to implement Web 2.0 Tools into the classroom instruction (Spring 2014)

level Edline administrator, Staff members experienced with Edline

comfortable using the Edline program, and EasyGrade Pro. ~Teachers will give feedback that will create affective instruction in the next two stages of the project plan.

homework on Edline

~Technology liaison, School level Edline administrator, Staff members experienced with Edline

~Edline ~BCPS Digital Content Webpage

~Teachers learn tools that can be accompanied with the Edline program. ~Teachers will be comfortable with various Web 2.0 Tools. ~Teachers will learn how to use Web 2.0 tools alongside classroom instruction.

~Examine end product of teachers during training (have teachers create something to take our of professional development)

~ Technology liaison, School level Edline administrator, Staff members experienced with Edline

~Edline ~BCPS Digital Content Webpage

~Observe technology being used in lesson during teacher observations (by administration and department chairs) ~Observe tools being used on teacher edline websites

Indicator II E. Provide for and ensure that faculty and staff take advantage of quality professional learning opportunities for improved learning and teaching with technology.
Action Steps & Timeline Person(s) Responsible Technologies Employed Benefit(s) Assessment Method(s)

~ Create and complete a needs analysis on

~ Edline administrators/

~Edline, Survey

Will provide information in

~Survey set up on edline

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what percentage of teachers need assistance with setting up a class page, and use the BCPS Digital Content available (Winter 2011) ~ Create scaffolded professional development based on needs of teachers. (Spring 2012 and ongoing)

Technology Liaison ~Staff complete survey

order to guide professional development needs

~Edline administrators/ Technology Liaison

~ Edline ~BCPS Digital Content

~ Teachers need to demonstrate/implement one of the tools either in edline or Digital Content in their teaching or edline page. (Fall 2012 ongoing) A new tool must be included each consecutive year.

~Teachers ~Edline ~Administration ~BCPS (to monitor and website follow through in observation write up)

~Scaffolding development will allow for more advanced development for those who need it and more basic for others ~Will foster a learning environment for teachers as well as utilize tools already at the disposal of educators

~Break into groups during faculty meeting on PD days. Tech Liason can run one more advanced group while edline administrator can run another. ~Formal/informal observation by administration

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References: Baltimore County Public Schools (2011). Baltimore County Schools: Blueprint for progress Retrieved November 27, 2011 from http://www.bcps.org/offices/super/pdf/Blueprint-forProgress.pdf Bower, M., Hedberg, J., & Andreas K. (2010). A framework for Web 2.0 learning design. Educational Media International, 47(3), 177-198. Brooks-Young, S. (2009). Making technology standards work for you: A guide to the NETS-A for school administrators with self assessment activities. (2nd edition) Eugene, OR International Society for Technology in Education O'Connell, J., & Phye, G. (2005). Creating strategies for improved teaching and learning. T H E Journal, 32(12), 26-29. Mishra, P., & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Technology pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.