Professional Development For Edtech Change

The first part of this series, People Make Successful Edtech Integrations Possible is about investing in collaboration. Essentially, “it’s not an edtech initiative; it’s a human change endeavor.” This article focuses on best practices for professional development that will make edtech integration successful. Effectively, how do we support the educators who are expected to change due to new edtech? 

Professional Development Requires Collaboration

The most important consideration when designing professional development is the individuals you support. This isn’t new news to educators, who have been taught to consider their learners when designing and implementing lesson plans for decades.

A growing body of research shows that students who are taught in student-centered learning models outperform those taught in teacher-centered models. Too often, schools design professional development without considering the individuals who are implementing edtech. 

Professional Development- Worst Case Scenario

The last year that I was teaching in the classroom, the district was focused on differentiation. To advance the initiative, a full day of professional development was planned. During this day, teachers from all three middle schools came together. Hundreds of teachers were gathered in one of the middle school cafeterias, and we sat on hard plastic stools fixed to the middle school lunch tables.

The district was so invested in differentiation they brought in a professional speaker on the topic. Over the entire school day, she delivered a PowerPoint presentation that consisted of over 100 slides about differentiated instruction. At no point was the professional development differentiated based on the needs of the teachers who were required to be there.

Now I know this is probably a worst-case scenario for professional development and likely has happened to others. 

Setting Up Effective Professional Development

Danielle Tymitz has been designing professional development for over a decade, and her work focuses specifically on digital learning. She notes, “[i]t sounds so simple, but one of the best gifts you can give your staff is meaningful, pertinent professional learning coupled with time to explore, plan, and implement the new skill. This can come in personalized PD sessions, just-in-time resources like videos and handouts, or even genius hours where teachers can explore something specific to their audience and subject.”

These opportunities put the teacher at the center of the learning and allow for authentic differentiation in their learning. When surveyed, most teachers report that their attitudes about using technology improved after attending high-quality professional development tailored to their learning needs. 

Professional development should follow the same best practices that you would expect for classroom teaching. This means that sometimes the edtech initiative will need to be differentiated. It’s almost impossible to think a single piece of edtech will work universally.

Picking the Right Tools for the Job

Part one of this series emphasized planning for six common hurdles for edtech integrations: (a) resources, (b) institutional barriers, (c) specific subject matter, (d) attitudes and beliefs of stakeholders (this includes educators), (e) knowledge and skill level of end-users, and (f) assessment. These hurdles are equally applicable to designing professional development programs.

Emily Russo spent six years as a district instructional technology integration specialist at the Ulster County BOCES. She points out, “Picking the right tool for the job is so important. What grades K-3 find useful and usable are not the same as those teaching grades 4-6 or even 7-12.

Using A Multi-Variable Approach

Often, I find there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for K-12. That said, the tools should build on each other throughout their schooling. For example, introducing a coding tool like CodeMouse or BeeBot in K-2 gives kids a foundation. In 3-6, they can move on to Edison or block coding in Scratch, and 7-12 can move quickly on to drones, VEX, or other more complicated code-based systems.” This same level of personalization can and should be applied to almost any edtech integration.

It shouldn’t be new news that teachers are experiencing high burnout; technology can often be a source of that burnout. Technology should focus on helping teachers strengthen their classroom practice or solve a problem so they can spend more time working with individual students. Professional development linked to classroom practice and site-based rather than centralized is more effective. 

Journey to Successful Professional Development

Professional development is a journey, not a destination. It can’t be a “one and done” if the edtech initiative is going to be successful. Remember, edtech initiatives are human change endeavors. “Professional development is more effective if designed as an ongoing process rather than a series of discrete, disconnected topics.”

This means including opportunities for job-embedded professional development, ongoing coaching, accessible resources, collaboration, and celebration of success. Tymitz reminds us that “Teacher time is at a premium. Designing relevant, meaningful, personalized professional learning is more important than ever. Infusing choice in professional development not only values the time and energy of the staff but also creates opportunities for closer collaboration between participants who share similar skills, audiences, or goals.