1a. Create a shared vision and culture for using technology to learn and accelerate transformation through the coaching process.
1b. Facilitate equitable use of digital learning tools and content that meet the needs of each learner.
1c. Cultivate a supportive coaching culture that encourages educators and leaders to achieve a shared vision and individual goals.
1d. Recognize educators across the organization who use technology effectively to enable high-impact teaching and learning.
1e. Connect leaders, educators, instructional support, technical support, domain experts and solution providers to maximize the potential of technology for learning.
The intended impact for this document is for the school to adopt this AUP or one like it and easily access information on the AUP and its intended use. The video explanation of the AUP makes it convenient for staff members to revisit the AUPs intention, important policies and implementation of the policy without needing to re-train or consult with a busy administrator.
Although I have not been in a setting to implement this AUP, creating it and it’s accompanying explanatory video helped me understand the components of an AUP on a deeper level. I had never been given the opportunity to explore an AUP in my education programs before I created this one, through this experience I learned how important it can be to help create a culture of shared vision around technology and create the conditions for transformation through individual and group goals and how to do so (1a). When a community has guidelines on appropriate use of technology then leaders and learners spend less time regulating and patrolling use and can devote more energy on integration of technology. This leaves more time for educators and leaders to achieve a shared vision and individual goals (1c).
1a. Create a shared vision and culture for using technology to learn and accelerate transformation through the coaching process.
1c. Cultivate a supportive coaching culture that encourages educators and leaders to achieve a shared vision and individual goals.
This video explains the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) created for Center of Gravity Academy, a K-5 learning center where students brought their own devices or borrowed devices from the school to attend their individual district’s distance education during the 2020-2021 school year. During the 2020-2021 school year, districts were enacting distance education due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this Academy was created in response to a community need for a safe space for childcare. The video highlights the technology user policies for staff members and details how to use the student pledge in their classroom.
This video would be shared with staff members during onboarding. Staff members in charge of implementing this policy would be introduced to this policy in a setting where they would have the opportunity to ask questions of administration, give any feedback or suggestions on adding to the policy, and share ideas on how best to implement the policy. The video would be available via shared drive or other easily accessible location for staff members to revisit as needed. I plan to bring this document and the video to the administration this year in hopes to implement it for the 2021-2022 school year.
1b. Facilitate equitable use of digital learning tools and content that meet the needs of each learner.
During the 2020-2021 school year my regular in-person facilitation of the professional learning community (PLC) I do through my work with the i3 Institute transitioned to virtual meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I created several online materials for my cohort including a shared Google Drive, Google website, and calendars to share information and learning resources in multiple ways that would feel accessible for them.
These resources were shared asynchronously via email and synchronously during our evening virtual meetings. I sent links before our first meeting that would allow some time for participants to explore the different formats that our materials would be in. I also gave a screen shared tour of each of the materials when we met synchronously via Zoom.
My 2020-2021 cohort had great feedback on these resources. They appreciated that the PLC materials were available in several different formats giving them choices on how to access them (via phone, tablet, or computer) depending on what was convenient for them. Sometimes it was easier to access the readings and templates we would be using via the Google drive folders and sometimes it was easier to navigate the Google website in order to access the Powerpoint slides that were being presented.
Giving several options for material access using technology was new for myself and many of my participants. I strive to go into my facilitation opportunities looking for ways to provide many different ways to access materials as my participants are busy overstretched teachers that are being asked a lot of them. I want to make the information as easily accessed as possible, therefore meeting the diverse needs of the teacher-learners I was serving through different technology platforms (1b).Technology was a big change and challenge for the teachers I was working with at first, but by the end of the year we were all (myself included) using technology more efficiently.
For myself, creating dedicated professional social media accounts has allowed me to find inspiration and new ideas in the field of ed tech separate from already busy personal accounts. This has given me more space to focus on professional ideas and connections. As I continue to discover more influential and innovative accounts I can continue to add to this resource for myself and share this artifact with others looking to expand their professional connections to educational technology. In this way I hope to continue to enhance my competency around connecting leaders, educators, instructional support, technical support, domain experts and solution providers to maximize the potential of technology for learning (1e).
1d. Recognize educators across the organization who use technology effectively to enable high-impact teaching and learning.
This spreadsheet is a list of social media resources that I follow and I update continuously. I include sources of knowledge, experts in the field and inspirational accounts across different social media platforms that keep me up to date on the latest in educational technology.
I plan to offer this sheet as a resource for fellow educators looking to expand their connections and broaden their ideas on using technology for learning.
The purpose and intended impact of this resource is to give fellow educators a go-to resource for technical support, inspiration, and innovative ideas for implementing technology. I also hope that it inspires more educators to connect via professional social media accounts in order to create a broadened world view and connections that allow for an expansive professional learning community.
I believe these artifacts highlight my competence in indicators 1a, 1b, and 1c. Creating an AUP for a school newly implementing use of internet and computers allowed me to create a shared vision and culture for using technology and create a way to coach a team through that vision (1a) and create a way to cultivate a supportive coaching culture that encourages educators and leaders to achieve that shared vision and individual goals (1c). Creating online resources though multiple platforms and using different technology strategies as a facilitator in a PLC allowed me to facilitate equitable use of digital learning tools and content and meet the needs of individual learners (1b). I am still working on connecting with other educators in order to develop complete competency around 1d and 1e. Continuing to connect with other educators via social media platforms and in my own organizations will continue to broaden my own personal professional learning community and allow me to make those connections for others looking for inspiration (1d & 1e). Being a change agent to me means being an inspiring coach that can move and excite educators to integrate technology into their pedagogy in a way that advances and enhances their impact on learners. I look forward to creating more of these impacts as my professional connections to technology educators grow!
