Bricks and Clicks: Training Teachers Online Barbara Treacy, Director, EdTech Leaders Online OSEP Project Directors Meeting July 20, 2010

Goals Overview to online professional development Opportunities and challenges Examples New research Accessibility issues Future directions Questions and discussion

“The illiterate of the 21 st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” -Alvin Toffler

Effective PD Should: focus on student learning be intensive, ongoing, connected to practice address teaching of specific curriculum content align with school improvement priorities & goals build strong working relationships among teachers -Linda Darling-Hammond, NSDC (2009)

National Ed Tech Plan Draft “Episodic and ineffective professional development is replaced by professional learning that is collaborative, coherent, and continuous and that blends more effective in-person courses and workshops with the expanded opportunities, immediacy, and convenience enabled by online learning.” -U.S. Department of Education, March, 2011

Online PD “Some online tools have some affordances that, if the training takes advantage of them, can help with some of the classic issues of professional development.” - -Dr. Chris Dede, EdWeek, 10/1/2009

“In education…we have not really seized upon the power and the tools that are now available to us in the Internet age.” -Eric Schmidt, Google CEO

How do we know which tools to use? “Technology is a vehicle, not a destination... Rather, aspects of technology – like all components of an effective course – should be chosen according to how they help meet the learning objectives.” -Henry, J. & Meadows, J. “Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching”

Goal: Build capacity to use online learning to meet local goals For states, districts, universities, non-profits, others Over 3000 online specialists trained in 36 states Focus on educator PD & Virtual Schools Online facilitator & course design programs 60+ online workshops Custom course development Learning Community Model Based at EDC EdTech Leaders Online

E-Learning for Educators Goal: build state online teacher PD programs focused on content, pedagogy, student achievement 10 state consortium: AL, DE, KY, MD, MO, MS, NC, NH, PA, WV Funded in 2005 by USED Unique state/PTV partnership Content sharing across states EDC facilitator training, developer training, workshops Experimental research on impact on teachers and students

Impact: Ability to Scale In first four years 480 workshop facilitators trained 1536 workshops delivered 21,628 participants completed workshops 278 course developers trained 110 workshops developed 91% teachers rated workshops excellent/very good 96% facilitators rated training excellent /very good

Research Study Goal: examine the effect of online PD on teacher knowledge, practices, and student learning Conducted by: Boston College Includes: 4 large-scale randomized experiments using 3 workshops/grade designed by EDC for teachers in: – English/Language Arts (4 th and 8 th Grades) – Math (5 th and 7 th Grades) Results: Significant impact on teachers and students – most subjects/grades

Louisiana Algebra 1 Online PD program 11 online workshops in targeted Algebra 1 topics State add-on certification for Algebra 1 teachers who complete all 11 workshops Workshops include online applets and tools to support learning Workshops are project and classroom based Online facilitator training for LA math teachers

“The interactivity and connectivity that this training course has provided has exceeded even my wildest expectations. It's our charge to provide this kind of community- building, knowledge-sharing experience for all KY teachers. I can't wait.” - Kentucky facilitator training participant

Accessibility issues to consider Digital curriculum enables important flexibility (such as ability to adjust text, navigation, features, colors, pace, order, etc) but not all digital curriculum is the same or equally accessible Examples:  Many features not activated in schools  Video and audio: requires captioning, transcripts, ability to pace  Image descriptions needed for webpages/documents  PDF’s not accessible to many screen readers

Some lessons from EdTech Leaders Online Online PD enables: New, accessible opportunities for learning Reflection & collaboration via learning community models Classroom implementation with collegial discussion Content & pedagogy to lead; technology to support Scalable, capacity building approaches Customization, adaptation, personalization of learning Incorporation of new technology tools & approaches “Teachers teach as they were taught”

Online teacher feedback “If we want our students to succeed in a global environment, then we, as educators, must be engaged in 21st century content, context, tools, thinking skills, and assessment. Thanks to online learning I am a 21st century life- long learner!” - West Virginia facilitator and course developer

Thank you! Contact: Barbara Treacy Director, EdTech Leaders Online Education Development Center