Fox Teaches Tech

http://foxteachestech.blogspot.com

Julie Loland
November 29, 2010

Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 1

Fox Teaches Tech

Inquiry question
How can I contribute to the effectiveness of my professional learning community
by
helping others effectively use existing and emerging digital tools and resources
to
improve student learning?
Implementing the Plan
I created a website to share with my colleagues, full of ideas for interesting a
nd practical
ways to implement technology tools and websites into classrooms at Terry Fox
Elementary. I tried to find tools and websites that fit in perfectly with the te
achers goals
for integrating technology, by surveying and discussing their ideas with them. I
also
tried to make use of a variety of presentation techniques (descriptions, picture
s, videos,
links to other sites, etc.) to bring websites and activities to life for teacher
s in an easy,
non-threatening and interesting way.
I developed the site and published a number of posts in time for the beginning o
f the
year staff meeting. I wanted to give the teachers a new tool to begin using at a
time
Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 2
when most were open and had the energy to try new things. I presented the site b
y
sharing a Xtranormal video I created to introduce my goals. I also asked the sta
ff at the
meeting to complete a survey I created in Google Forms. I continued developing t
he
site by creating a new post each week. Currently there are 24 posts on the site.

Reading and Responding to Literature

The educational research influenced and informed my Field Study by helped me
develop my PLN. I found tips and tricks for sorting through and organizing the
information, feeds, tweets, nings, blogs, and forums that I discovered. I also f
ound the
research beneficial in encouraging me to pursue this Field Study as a solid, res
earch
based way toward helping colleagues improve practice.
Ferren, A., & Geller, W. (1983). Classroom consultants: Colleagues helping colle
agues.
Improving College and University Teaching, 31(2), 82.
This article was a case study completed with a voluntary group of faculty at the
University of Maine at Farmington (UMF), who formed two-person teams and after
training, became each others consultants. The college had "limited formal opport
unities
to share ideas, discuss concerns, pursue new areas of research, or receive stimu
lation
from colleagues" and this was the reason for the study (p. 82). This purpose is
what
interested me most and encouraged me to further read the results of the study, a
s I felt
Terry Fox Elementary had a similar story. Essentially, the teachers at both scho
ols
share a common goal, the desire to be a more effective teacher.
In the case study, colleagues as consultants had very positive results at UFM in
cluding
developing a faculty that was more aware of and concerned about their teaching,
creating an environment where colleagues talked and helped each other, and impro
ving
teachers attitudes toward teaching, which they believe, lead to better teaching.
I was
inspired by this and wanted to see the same thing happen at Terry Fox Elementary
.
Warlick, D. (2009). Grow your personal learning network: New technologies can ke
ep
you connected and help you manage information overload. Learning & Leading with
Technology, 36(6), 12.
This article helped me expand my PLN, while at the same time keeping it manageab
le.
Warlick provides his readers with an overview of what a PLN is and how technolog
y has
enabled us to move from PLNs of personally maintained synchronous connections to
include dynamically maintained asynchronous connections. He also suggests ways
educators can create, cultivate and prune PLNs with 10 tips for his readers that
include
a list of PLN tools (Twitter, Skype, Google Reader, Diigo, Delicious, Ning, etc.
),
Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 3
suggestions for organizing the information subscribed to, and advice about limit
ing the
time invested to grow a PLN.
I found the tips and tools presented in this article incredibly helpful as I was
looking to
expand my PLN in my search for new ideas and sites to share with my colleagues.
I
particularly appreciate the suggestion he made to use Google Blog Search to subs
cribe
to topic specific information. This proved very helpful as I gathered informatio
n on
specific topics.
Luehmann, A. (2008). Using blogging in support of teacher professional identity
development: A case study. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 17(1), 287-337.

This article was a case study of a middle school teacher using blogging to suppo
rt her
professional identity development. I appreciated the review of the literature th
e study
began with and found the benefits of blogging presented in the article to be enc
ouraging
as I began posting my thoughts, ideas and knowledge on the Fox Teaches Tech site
and
in my LTT blog. The benefits that I particularly connected with were the opportu
nity
blogs provided for reflection (p. 289), the opportunity to further ones thinking
because of
the interaction with an audience (p. 332), and that blogs allow for identity bro
kering by
allowing and encouraging bloggers to connect their own work and thoughts to othe
rs
(p .333). Essentially, blogging provided the teacher in the case study with a va
luable
opportunity to wrestle with important issues central to her practice.
Analyzing the Data
The data I've collected has come in the form of the sites statistics of page vie
ws; pre
and post surveys of colleagues sharing their experiences; reviewing the comments
posted, emails received, and discussions I've been involved in with colleagues;
and my
personal reflections.
Statistics of page views on the site
I was disappointed with the response I
received to the site. I know, that teaching
is a very busy job, but I thought that my
colleagues would be more excited about
the site and check it out on a more regular
bases. The stats were disappointing to
me and proved to be somewhat
discouraging. I considered sending out an
email every time I posted something new,
and in hindsight I think that I should have,
Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 4
but I also didn't want to be pushy, if the interest wasn't there.
Surveys (pre and post)
The Google Forms survey I created was an exciting way to collect data. This was
the
first time that I had used Google Forms and it proved to be a simple, but profes
sional
way to collect the information I was looking for both for me and those I surveye
d. I was
hoping that the surveys would show evidence of increased or improved technology
usage by my colleagues to help improve student learning. Unfortunately, this was
not
the case. I didn't notice any increased usage, in fact statistically usage went
down
slightly over the course of the term.
Pre-survey results: Post-survey results:

I was encouraged by some of the post-survey responses to questions regarding use

rs
opinions of the site and information presented. For example, 86% of users comple
ting
the survey, claimed to have learned at least one or two new things from the site
this
term.

Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 5

And, 64% of those surveyed have tried at least one or two of the ideas presented
with
their students.

Comments and reflection

The comments received both on the site and through email were encouraging and
exiting to see. I had hoped there would me more interaction through commenting,
but
was pleased to have some. I had only one commenter on the site actually share an
idea that they had tried in their own classroom with others. It was an exiting c
omment
to read, but I had hoped for more commenting like this and was slightly discoura
ged by
this.
In response to the Voice Memos post, Anonymous said...

I was given a lot of encouragement through comments, both on the site and throug
h
email, but my goal was to get people thinking and "chatting" about technology. W
hile I
was disappointed with this aspect of my Field Study, though my reflections I rea
lized
that this was an area that I needed to work on too.
Exert from a personal reflection, on October 21:
"I want to encourage people to start commenting and interacting with others in a
different way,
begin to feel comfortable posting their thoughts online and help them develop th
eir PLN. But other
Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 6
than asking, I am not sure how to encourage commenting. The reality is, I rarely
comment on the
posts I read, so why would I expect others to comment on my posts. Wow... maybe
that is what I
am supposed to learn through all of this...the words, "practice what you preach"
are
currently reverberating around in my head..."
Reflecting on the Discoveries
My Field Study focused on the professional development of myself and my colleagu
es.
I have learned a lot of really amazing things over the past year, as the require
ments of
my graduate studies have demanded I dive in to the digital world, hook, line and
sinker.
This in and of itself is sensational, but even more outstanding is that through
this
process, my view of technology has shifted. I used to see technology as a labori
ous
subject area or discipline. I remember a time when viewing the words "Computers"
on
my agenda evoked feelings of inconvenience as I wondered what I would do with my
students that day -teach them a program, a computer skill or just let them work
on
Success Maker or Accelerated Reader as most of my colleagues did (and still do,
btw).
Now, however my computer block is a precious commodity that supports my classroo
m
learning. For me, technology has become a way to share information with students
; a
way to enable students to represent their learning and share it; a way to connec
t,
interact and build relationships with classmates, and others; and a way to resea
rch and
generate new knowledge.
I love the place I'm at with technology -don't get me wrong, there is and always
will be a
lot more to learn, but I now feel equipped to find the answers to any future inq
uiries
virtually or by tapping into the various expertise my LTT PLN offers. And now, f
eeling
connected and supported, I wanted, through my Field Study, to connect and suppor
t
others and help them to develop their own level of confidence with technology. M
y goal,
this term was really to develop a PLN of sorts with the staff at my school. In a
ddition, I
believed my Field Study would help me develop my capacity to participate in and
help
develop learning communities to support my teaching practice (Capacity 1), and a
ccess,
evaluate, use and participate in mew media interactions in education (Capacity 5
).
In reflecting on my inquiry , I believe that I only began to scratch the surface
of my goal.
I had visions of myself presenting ideas to the staff through the site and the s
taff
engaging in them, using them with their students, and being so excited about the
m and
the possibilities they presented, that they would come back to the site and shar
e their
successes through commenting on posts. In hindsight, this is a lot to ask and es
pecially
in the short term (the site has only been online since September).
I am exited that new learning did happened, that ideas were tried, and that some
commenting did take place. I think the learning that I am most impacted by howev
er, is
the development of my own PLN in my attempt to seek out valuable information to
Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 7
share with others. In following the advice presented by Warlick in his article "
Grow your
PLN...", I have further expanded my own PLN through Twitter, RSS feeds, nings,
forums, and connecting with my LTT class. I also have a new understanding of the
importance of getting involved with posts and ideas online though commenting and
sharing responses to ideas presented. I was so encouraged and inspired by commen
ts
readers made in response to my posts and I want others bloggers to be encouraged
by
my comments too. A simple comment helps bloggers know that their efforts matter
and
it helps me as a reader engage deeper in the content presented, as well.
Ultimately, my inquiry helped me develop my leadership skills as I encouraged an
d
helped others develop their technology skill sets. I received emails throughout
this
term, requesting help or additional information about a variety of technology re
lated
topics. I believe the sharing of this site helped others feel comfortable asking
me for
assistance on technology related topics and while I didn't always have all of th
e
information that my colleagues were looking for, I always made efforts to encour
age
them and help find more information for them.
Julie Loland Field Study, Fall 2010, Page 8