Entry 6: A change of heart

I have been given an awesome opportunity to work with a former colleague to develop a professional development plan to implement Google Apps for Education in a local school district. We will be working with high school teachers and eventually students to implement this new technology. My former colleague, Holly, agrees that there is a massive need for change when it comes to offering professional development to teachers, especially when it comes to the ever changing and evolving face of technology integration. Based on this windfall, that I am hoping to be able to see through to the end, I am going to change my innovation project to something I can use for this endeavor. I want to start with getting to know my learners and finding out what they know, what to know, their fears, their hopes and tailor our trainings around that. I'm going to start with a needs assessment type survey for teachers to get a feel for where they are. We are also going to use this help tier our teachers and approach the trainings with leveling learners. I am going to use Google Forms for this now, but as we learn Qualitrix next semester, I will move it over to that.

Entry 5: A little lost, but that's OK.

I know that I want my innovation project to be related to my research, but I'm telling myself now that it's ok if it changes or if I create it, but don't end up using it. It's good practice and experience. I'm thinking I'd like to change what I initially created to be more of a tool to situate teachers before they ever begin a professional development class in instructional technology. I want teachers to tell me, or the trainer, their story through multiple choice question, open ended questions, and I'm not sure what else. As I'm writing this, I've definitely decided to go back to the drawing board. I'm still using Story Line, but I'm going back further than actually starting a professional development module. I'm starting at the very beginning by taking my users, or students, into account before I really design anything, or at least offer it. I want to be as un-overwhelming as possible. I realize that the work I've done so far is not useless, but I'm setting it aside to do something different. Creative Confidence definitely taught me that it's ok to change me mind and switch paths. That's exactly what I'm going to do.