Category:

Professional Learning

Discover resources and strategies for professional learning. Explore tools, tips, and opportunities to enhance educator growth and development.

Develop Yourself This Summer with TCEA

by Chance McKee June 19, 2019

written by Chance McKee

“Summer break is finally here … THANK GOODNESS!”

– Every educator, everywhere

So now that you have a little free time, I’m sure you are looking for ways to fill it, right? (Because we know most of you simply refuse to rest … or maybe you’re unable to? The jury is still out.)

Summer Plans

When I recently asked TCEA members in the TCEA Community what their summer plans were, I received responses ranging from eight-day silent meditation retreats (jealous!) to rewriting eighth grade social studies curriculum (not so jealous) and everything in between. (As a side note, if you haven’t responded yet, please do so as I would love to hear what our members are up to this summer, whether personally or professionally.) I also noticed that almost every single TCEA member who responded to my question mentioned something about participating in lots of professional development.

Well, TCEA can help with that.

Live TCEA Professional Development

As your go-to professional association for all things education and educational technology, we strive to keep the learning opportunities going throughout the summer months because we realize that this is when most educators have the chance to take the time to further develop themselves as professionals and people.

Check out the TCEA blog or the below TCEA events and webinars to find resources and learning opportunities that appeal to you:

June 25, 2019 – Google Admin Updates, TEC-SIG
June 25, 2019 – CommonBond Webinar: How to Pay Down Student Debt
July 9, 2019 – Digital Leadership in the Library, LIB-SIG
July 10-11, 2019 – ISTE Certification
July 15-19 – LEGO EV3 Robotics in the Classroom
July 25-26, 2019 – Technology Acceleration Academy
August 13, 2019 – Google Earth, LIB-SIG
August 20, 2019 – CommonBond Webinar: A Millennial’s Guide to Managing Finances

Anytime, Anywhere Professional Learning

If you’re in the mood to learn while lounging around the pool, or with your feet propped up on the couch, be sure to check out the many recorded webinars available to you as a TCEA member. You can find all of these, more than 80 of them that count for CPE credit, in the TCEA Members group in the Community. Once there, click on Files across the top. Each webinar is listed on a separate Word document with its title, description, and the date of its original airing. You can browse through them or use the Search feature to find webinars on topics of interest, like Google, ESL, or coding. Hover over the title of any document and you’ll be able to see the whole title, who else has downloaded it, and download it yourself.

professional development

We all know summer break will be over in a snap. So keep your learning going before to ensure you feel confident walking into a new school year with the knowledge you need to create real, lasting learning outcomes for your students, your staff, and most importantly, yourself.

As always, if you would like more personalized resources, simply reach out to me directly at cmckee@tcea.org and I will be happy to help tailor your membership experience to ensure you receive the best resources TCEA has to offer.

Enjoy your summer break (please do try to actually get some rest!) and remember that with TCEA, you’ve got this.

June 19, 2019 0 comments

86th Texas Legislature Wrap-Up

by Jennifer Bergland June 5, 2019

written by Jennifer Bergland

All good things must come to an end, but only someone who loves politics would consider the legislative process a good thing. I’m one of those people. I love every minute of it, even the ones that go past midnight! Looking back over the past four months, I am happy to report that TCEA was able to move our vision of education forward through legislation and have some promising opportunities to help shape the future of Texas schools. I have created a 2019 Bill Analysis document that include the specifics about the bills that will impact digital education, but below is a quick summary of the more important bills.

Computer Science and Coding

Legislature We had some huge wins in the area of computer science and computational thinking this session. Our six-year goal of providing weighted funding for the 9-12 Technology Application courses has finally been achieved. In HB 3, the school finance legislation, the weighted funding for CTE was changed from grades nine through twelve to grades seven through twelve. In addition, the bill specified that CTE courses and programs include Technology Application courses. This means that Technology Application courses from grades seven through twelve will receive the same weighted funding as CTE courses, which is 1.35 (instead of the normal 1). HB 963 requires the SBOE to consolidate the 9-12 Technology Application courses with similar courses found in the CTE curriculum. The goal is to eliminate duplicates and identify the purpose of each of the courses. Finally, HB 2984 requires the SBOE to update the K-8 Technology Application standards to ensure that they include coding, computer programming, computational thinking, and cybersecurity. It also establishes a committee to create a strategic plan for K-12 CS education to increase computer science instruction and participation in public schools.

Broadband

Legislature There are two pieces of legislation that are going to impact educational broadband. The first is HB 1960 which creates a Governor’s Broadband Council that will advise the governor on issues related to broadband access to unserved areas. This is progress, but not as much as we hoped for. There are few, if any, areas of Texas that are unserved. The original bill included underserved areas, but heavy lobbying by the large telecommunication companies eliminated that language from the bill. However, we consider this progress because we finally have some entity at the state level that will look at the state’s needs for broadband from a strategic perspective. For too long, all state entities have tried to provide affordable, scalable broadband for their own purposes when it would be much more cost efficient to survey the needs across agencies and entities and design a plan to meet all the needs. HB 1960 at least establishes a council that could do this in the future, if given the authority.

The second bill that may help with broadband is HB 3906. This is an assessment bill that requires online testing by 2022-2023. The bill requires TEA to evaluate the availability of Internet access for each school district and identify changes to state law or policy that are necessary to improve the availability of Internet access. This may open a door for more aggressive action in parts of the state that are “served” but are underserved.

Digital Learning

HB 3 established a Blended Learning Grant program and then funded it at $6 million a year. TEA’s Math Innovation Zones are how the agency is fulfilling this requirement. It is good to know that the agency has funding to continue these types of grants.

Legislature

I have already mentioned that HB 3906 requires TEA and the SBOE to implement online testing by 2022-2023. Before this can happen TEA and the SBOE must devise an implementation plan that is approved by the legislature. The planning for this type of implementation will require heavy district input, which will largely come from their technology departments. This has the potential to finally focus some much needed light on what the state must do in order ensure that all students have access to technology, not just for assessment, but for learning throughout the year. In order for students to be successful on an online assessment, they must first be technically proficient and familiar with the type of device they will be using when taking the assessment. This translates to more access to digital tools for all students.

Funding

HB 1 is the budget bill for the 2020-2021 biennium. Listed below are some of the appropriations that were made that will impact digital education:

Technology and Instructional Materials Allotment – $1,101,430,204
OER curation – $20,000,000
Blended learning teacher training – $2,000,000
Blended learning grants – $12,000,000
TxVSN administration – $800,000

HB 396 allows districts to use their TIMA on software that will help manage instructional resources, including the usage and effectiveness of digital materials. HB 4611 stipulates that 50% of the funds that the Texas General Land Office sends to the legislature for education must be appropriated to the TIMA. If this had been in place this biennium, there would have been $3 million more placed in the TIMA. In addition, the budget stipulates that the SBOE should restrict instructional material proclamations to 75% of the TIMA and should consider school district’s technology needs when determining the size of the percentage of the Permanent School Fund sent to the legislature. 50% of this distribution goes into the TIMA. In translation, this means the SBOE should be sending the legislature enough money from the PSF to fund both the instructional material needs of school districts and also their technology needs.

Cybersecurity

SB 820 requires each school district to establish a cybersecurity policy that determines the cybersecurity risks to the district and a plan to mitigate those risks. The district will also be required to designate a cybersecurity officer who will oversee the policy. In addition, the district will be required to report to TEA any cyber attack that breaches the system security and notify the parents of the students whose information has been compromised.

Professional Development

There are several opportunities in the bills mentioned above that will provide professional development in digital learning. The Blended Learning Grants are largely designed to provide professional development for educators in blended learning, not to mention the funding provided to UTeach to continue to provide this type of training to Texas teachers. Also, this is a good chance to remind districts that the TIMA may be used to provide professional development on the use of technology. In addition to these bills, the legislature passed HB 2424 that requires the SBEC to establish rules to create microcredentials in fields of study related to an educator certification class. This was one of TCEA’s legislative priorities, so we are excited to see this bill pass.

What’s Next

The legislative session has come to an end, but the hardest work is ahead of us. Enacting legislation is the first step in changing things. Now we begin the process of working with the different agencies and entities to ensure they are enacted well. Stay tuned for more blogs about many of these legislative initiatives and how you can provide input.

Credits

Photo of the computer code taken by Sai Kiran Anagani on Unsplash. Photo of cables taken by Jordan Harrison on Unsplash. Photo of teacher interacting with students taken by Mimi Thian on Unsplash Photo of teachers taken by Kylie Haulk on Unsplash.

June 5, 2019 0 comments

Professional Learning

Personality Test for Professional Development

by Lori Gracey May 27, 2019

written by Lori Gracey

As a professional development provider, TCEA prides itself on ensuring that the learning we offer is engaging. After all, the research is clear that someone has to want to learn in order to begin learning. One of the ways we do that is to provide ice breaker activities at the beginning and throughout the day. Ice breakers serve to “warm” the participants up and get their brains going. They help to establish a sense of belonging in the training and can help educators connect and network with each other.

The Personality Test

I recently discovered a new activity that I’ll be using in the future (thanks to TCEA President Holli Horton). It’s a free, online personality test that is pretty insightful. Although it is free, it offers a lot of sound information and features.

The framework for the test incorporates the latest advances in psychometric research, combining time-tested concepts with robust and highly accurate testing techniques. The test is trait based instead of type based. This means that instead of creating an arbitrary number of categories and attempting to fit people within them, a trait-based model simply studies the degree to which people exhibit certain traits. They do then group your traits into a personality type (because that’s what we are used to). They have four personality types:

Analysts
Diplomats
Sentinels
Explorers

personality test

The assessment is valid because, since it’s free to take, more than 40,000,000 people have taken it thus far, giving them a huge pool of data.(Note: Because they have had so many people from all around the world complete the assessment, they have a ton of data organized by country. You can view it here. I can see some excellent activities for students in examining this data in teams and drawing some conclusions that they can then test through research.)

How It Works

I took the test myself to see how it works. It takes less than 12 minutes to complete as you answer questions using a standard Likert scale (shown below).

personality test

Once I completed the test, I received my results immediately and, to be honest, they fit me to a tee. I am a Defender, which means I have Sentinel traits. According to the results: “Defenders are the backbone of the modern workforce. Altruistic and well-rounded, no other personality type is so well-suited to be of service of others.” My profile included detailed information about for me in several areas:

Strengths and weaknesses
Romantic relationships
Friendships
Parenthood
Career paths
Workplace habits

The company promises that it will not sell any personal data to other companies, advertisers, political parties, etc. And again, there is no charge for the test or the results. If you provide an email address, they will email your results to you. But this is not required. They even offer a free “members area” community where you can talk with others about your personality. (So, if you’re like me, you have to be wondering “Why do they provide all of this for free?” Well, the answer is that they do offer premium services at three different levels if you want to know more about your personality type. This includes a much more exhaustive profile — 208 pages — and interactive courses for an entire year. But they are not pushy about this. I have yet to receive any marketing emails from them.)

Using the Personality Test in Professional Development

I can see that this quick activity would be of interest to almost everyone, even those who have done other types of personality quizzes. It was incredibly simple to fill out, even though I had to stop and think a few times about my answers. Once people have had a chance to read over their results, I think it would be great to put them into small groups by type and let them discuss what they have in common. I might then ask the groups to discuss if having a particular personality type/traits leads to having a particular teaching style. And I would also ask them to consider how their personality can better work with their colleagues.

One Other Use

Joel Davis with Follett shares how he has used the information from the personality test professionally. “I’ve created a user manual for myself that I can pass along to co-workers and collaborators. It acts as a sort of quick start manual like you get when you are setting up a new computer or printer.” The information allows co-workers a quick way to learn about him and how they can best work together. This is a great idea for the start of the school year to help new staff members learn more about their colleagues. Thanks for sharing, Joel!

I think this type of activity is powerful and should be included in professional learning experiences that we provide. What do you think?

This blog was updated on August 29, 2022.

May 27, 2019 2 comments

Professional Learning

Island Time: Previewing the Elementary Technology Conference

by Andrew Roush May 9, 2019

written by Andrew Roush

Educators know that the end of the school year doesn’t mean the end of their work. In fact, crucial elements of planning and professional learning happen during the summer break. It’s often a time to catch up on things you missed during the semester, like new trends in elementary technology integration or the latest tips for using the apps and devices in your classroom. But professional learning doesn’t have to be tedious — it can even be fun.

That’s the notion behind the Elementary Technology Conference (ETC), formerly known as Tots and Technology, June 9–11, 2019 in Galveston, TX. The conference is designed for teachers, technologists, librarians, administrators, and more, all united by a mission to explain and exchange the latest and best ideas for integrating technology into the elementary classroom.

No More “Sit and Get”

elementary technology “Most presenters try to have a collaborative atmosphere in their sessions,” says Janet Corder, half of the duo known as J2 Training, along with Joan Gore. Janet has spent more than 30 years in education, including many years on the TCEA board. “Probably too many to count,” she notes.

Corder and Gore will be featured presenters at this year’s conference. What makes ETC different, she says, is the small-scale, collaborative atmosphere. “A lot of times, professional learning is just ‘sit and get,’” Corder notes. But with 80 fun-filled sessions at ETC, there’s a “freedom of choices.”

In addition, the focus on elementary education means sessions better-tailored to the unique needs of PreK–5 educators. “You’re not in there with calculus or algebra teachers,” she says. “All the sessions are geared toward a younger grade level.”

Learning on Island Time

It’s hard to make professional learning feel stuffy with a group of energetic, inventive, elementary technology and excited elementary educators. It’s even harder when you’re in Galveston. Corder calls it “a whole lot more relaxed” than your typical professional learning scenario.

Having a small range of grade levels and a manageable-sized group of attendees fosters the summer-camp vibe, she says. “This conference is so much more fun, and I think it’s more applicable. They offer such a variety.”

Not only do interactive, cutting edge sessions make it feel like summer time fun, so does the beach. Here are a few reasons outside the conference halls that may inspire you to register and rejuvenate.

Adventure: The island offers a bevy of action-packed activities. From speedboat tours to helicopter rides, the thrill of skydiving to the calmer joys of exploring Galveston’s historic Pleasure Pier, there’s no shortage of options for thrill-seekers.

Beach life: Make new friends on a dolphin tour or explore the island from horseback. Enjoy harbor tours or just lounge in the sand. No matter your style, Galveston is saving a spot on the beach for you.

Historic treasures: Galveston, at one time the most populous Texas city, boats an array of historic architecture alongside unique museums, like the Galveston Naval Museum or the impressive new Bryan Museum.

Intrigued? Check out more info on our typical attendees (and why we think you should attend) on our ETC page. Ready to register? Click here.

May 9, 2019 0 comments

Leadership Professional Learning

Shiny New Thing Syndrome

by Guest Blogger April 26, 2019

written by Guest Blogger

Your district has the shiny new thing (SNT). You have received the training on SNT. The students and parents are aware of SNT. SNT is at every campus. Everyone can access SNT. Yet, after a few months, you feel that fewer and fewer users are using SNT. The analytics back up your feelings. No one is using SNT. What gives? Your district may be suffering from Shiny New Thing Syndrome (a.k.a. Magpie Syndrome).

Shiny New Thing, or Magpie, Syndrome

An irrational affinity for shiny objects. When a highly shiny object is seen by the sufferer it often may induce a compulsive need to claim it and several minutes of staring at said object in the sun. This will later end in the sufferer pocketing the object to add to his/her collection by a sunny windowsill at home. If a shiny object is outside of a sufferer’s grasp it will usually result in an strong, though usually short-lived obsession over it (source: Urban Dictionary).

Ready to overcome magpie syndrome? While this blog entry isn’t a medical journal with a prescription for your diagnosis, it does offer some suggestions. Every district that purchases equipment has an associated expectation of use. Buy a new copy machine, you expect people to make copies. Stock new books in the library, you hope people will read them. Same for textbooks, football uniforms, desks, and anything else. In fact, it would be unusual to not have an expectation of use.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

For ed tech, there seems to be a different dynamic in play. Walk into a school across the country with a 1:1 program and you won’t see what you expect. Instead of school-provided equipment in use, staff and students rely on alternatives. What other organization allows that kind of mindset? That is, the option to use what is best for the user. Forget about using what the organization has purchased for them to use. Picture a UPS driver. Instead of using the brown delivery van, he decides to use his 1985 Dodge Caravan. Why? The driver decided his Caravan worked better than the UPS van. Why? He is more familiar with the former than the latter.

What should minimal expectation for technology be? The logical thought might be that students should bring their devices to class every day, but this is not the rule in many districts.

“How often are you expected to use your district laptop?” I asked a high school student. Her response was, “Our teachers told us we could use our smartphones if we wanted to.” Expectation of use = 0. An assistant principal I spoke with underscored this point. “[They] do all their work on smartphones, so we don’t ask them to bring their laptops to class if they don’t want to,” she said. This shows that expectations for use have not been clearly articulated by the district leadership.

Articulating Expectations

Some districts fail the test of outlining expectations. They are unable to articulate their expectations of use for educational technology devices. Some excel, such as Wichita Falls ISD.

Wichita Falls ISD has a written expectation of use. District documents sayswhat should happen with classroom technology. Teachers and administrators know what they must do with classroom technology. “Teachers should support the district’s mission and vision,” says the district’s mission.

Connect Professional Development to Expectations

When ed tech is not used, we sometimes think that more professional development may work. Instead, make the effort to align professional development to the district expectations. Only then can the investment in the shiny new thing be worthwhile.

“There’s nothing transformative about every kid having a technology unless you’re able to reach higher-order teaching and learning. If schools take all this technology and use it like a textbook, or just have teachers show PowerPoint [presentations] or use drill-and-kill software, they might as well not even have it,” says Leslie Wilson from the 1:1 Institute. Schools can purchase the latest best set of technology tools anywhere or the cheapest lowest end ones, but if there is no expectation that the tools will be used in the classroom for learning, it doesn’t matter.

Each campus must set a high expectation of use, using the tools for much more than simple electronic replacement for pen and paper assignments. Otherwise, we are just throwing our money away.

About the Author

Tim Holt is the Director of Technology Pilots and Innovation in the El Paso ISD. He is a 33 year educator and has help lead many innovative technology programs, including a 38,000 1:1 Macbook program, an OER digital textbook program, and various instructional technology training initiatives. You can contact him at timholt@me.com, @timholt2007, or read his blog at holtthink.tumblr.com

April 26, 2019 0 comments

Content Areas Online Tools and Apps Professional Learning

Make Your Next Lesson, Presentation, or Meeting More Interactive

by Diana Benner April 22, 2019

written by Diana Benner

Would you like to make your next lesson, presentation, or meeting more interactive and give everyone an equal chance to participate? If you answered “yes,” then you’ll want to try Sli.do. Sli.do is an audience engagement tool that allows you to crowd source questions or provide polls.

How It Works

Here’s how Sli.do works:

Go to Sli.do and sign up for a free account.
Create an event. The event can be a presentation you are doing or a meeting you are having. It could it even be a classroom lesson you are teaching.
Name the event and enter a start and end date.
Create the event and then you’ll be able to crowd source questions or create polls.
- To crowd source questions, click on Go To Questions and give your audience the URL, which is http://slido.com and the code, which begins with a hashtag (#). The code can always be changed by clicking on the name of your event. Your audience can ask questions anonymously or they can enter their name. This feature of Sli.do reminds me a lot of Google Slides Q&A.
- To create a poll, click on Create a Poll and then select the type of poll you would like to give. You can choose from Multiple Choice, Open Text, Word Cloud, or Rating. Once you create your poll, make sure you activate it. Your audience can answer the poll by going to the same URL, which is http://slido.com and entering the code for your event.

My Favorite Interactive Features

I created a meeting event to test this tool out and it was incredibly easy to set it up. It provides you with an overview of how many active users are logged into your event, how many questions have been asked in order of popularity, and how many poll votes have been taken. In addition, an infographic can be created from the results, which can then be shared or embedded.

Another thing I liked was the Word Cloud poll. I’ve always been a fan of word clouds, so I was excited when I saw this as a feature. As the audience enters words, the size of the word changes dynamically depending on how many times your attendees submit it. I can see this working well with one-worded or short responses, which can then be easily displayed on screen.

Lastly, I love the brainstorming option, which you can read more about below.

Brainstorm Ideas

I have always been a fan of brainstorming. It is a great way to collect different viewpoints and encourage critical thinking. It also helps with team building. There is a feature in Sli.do, called Ideas, currently in beta, that allows for brainstorming.

To turn this on, click on the name of your event and then click on Features. From here, you can toggle the switch to turn this on. When you do, you will see a new Ideas tab appear. From here, you can create a topic about which you want your audience to brainstorm. Once the ideas start coming in, you can star them, highlight them, or even respond to them.

What You Get For Free

Sli.do can be used for free. With the free account, you can crowd source questions with up to 1000 audience members per event. You can have up to three polls per event. For brainstorming, you can create one topic per event. In addition, you can change the hashtag code for your event.

Unfortunately, the free version doesn’t let you change the privacy settings. Therefore, your event will be public until the date you set for the event to end. In addition, another thing to note is that with the free version, you can’t moderate incoming questions. They will appear live as they are entered.

There are special educational plans if you want the additional features that Sli.do has to offer, such as password protecting your event and exporting event data.

Google Slide Integration

Currently, with Sli.do, there is a Switcher app you can download for Windows or Mac. This allows you to seamlessly switch between your PowerPoint or Keynote and Sli.do. Google Slide integration is coming soon. If you want to take advantage of early access to the Sli.do add-on for Slides, sign up here.

Get Started with More Interaction

As you get started with Sli.do, you might want to review these handy tips. They will really help you have a good experience with using Sli.do and will help you get the most out of the interaction with your audience.

I would love to know what you think of Sli.do. Let me know in the comments!

April 22, 2019 2 comments

Announcements/Important Dates Professional Learning

TCEA Convention & Exposition Returns to Austin

by Kristy Breaux April 18, 2019

written by Kristy Breaux

The TCEA Convention & Exposition is headed back to Austin this February, and we are excited to welcome you. Here’s what you need to know about the massive annual event. We have some changes in store that we think you’ll like.

Registration Opens in May

You read that correctly! Registration will open in May, so you’ll have plenty of time to plan your team’s trip away from the campus or district. Whether you’re planning to stay and learn the whole week or just a portion, we have registration options to accommodate your schedule.

Customize Your Convention Experience

In 2020, we’re offering three unique ways to customize your time at convention.

Immerse yourself in presentations, workshops, keynotes, poster sessions, exhibits, and all of this year’s convention activities with the FULL CONVENTION registration pass for $339. You’ll have access to more than 1,100 presentations over the span of five days with flexible learning formats and schedules to suit your style.

If you can’t commit to being away for multiple days, you can pick ONE DAY to soak in the experience for just $179. Just be sure to check the schedule ahead of time. There’s so much happening this week, you’ll want to choose your day strategically.

Or, if you’re just on the hunt for the latest and greatest in tools, software, and resources, you can spend hours and hours in the exhibit hall visiting with companies displaying the latest in education and technology products and services. Exhibitors will showcase everything from curriculum and assessment resources to security and surveillance to the latest equipment and management resources. The EXHIBIT HALL ONLY registration provides access to the vendors on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, giving you plenty of time to explore the hall for just $69.

Explore all registration packages and information at convention.tcea.org.

A New, Extended Friday Schedule

While we can’t disclose our Friday keynote speaker just yet, we can promise you we have planned on a room large enough to hold all the fans. The Friday closing keynote has moved a little later in the day so you can enjoy even more sessions on Friday morning before wrapping up your content-filled week.

Super Volunteers Are Needed (and Can Receive a Paid Registration)

convention austin Volunteers are crucial to the success of the convention. From helping fellow attendees with way-finding to working behind the scenes, there are many roles you can fill to add even more excitement, networking, and service to your convention experience. Volunteer shifts are generally two hours long—and come with some exclusive benefits.

A limited number of Super Volunteer shifts are open for 2020. Super Volunteer shifts require a commitment of a full day or two half-days of volunteered time during the week. In exchange, Super Volunteers receive a full complimentary registration.

The deadline to apply to be a Super Volunteer role is November 30. This is a limited opportunity that will fill up early. If you are interested in becoming a Super Volunteer, contact Kristy Breaux at kristy@tcea.org.

Got a Tech Tool or Teaching Idea to Share?

We are seeking innovative educators to share their stories with their peers. Whether you have a teaching and learning success story you want to share or have expertise with a specific platform, the TCEA Convention & Exposition is your place to help other educators implement meaningful change. The call for presenters is open through May 31. Learn more about becoming a presenter.

Stay in the Know

Join the 2020 TCEA Convention & Exposition Facebook event to stay in the know on the latest happenings and announcements. We look forward to seeing you in Austin!

April 18, 2019 6 comments

Educational Trends Professional Learning

Five Myths of Micro-Credentialing

by Miguel Guhlin April 15, 2019

written by Miguel Guhlin

“Wow, you have so many digital badges,” a colleague remarked a few years ago. This came after another colleague challenged me. “You know a lot. Why don’t you earn a badge to show others?” At the time, I laughed badging off. “Why waste time earning a badge,” I thought, “when I already know what I need to know for the job I’m doing?”

Then I achieved enlightenment. Digital badging and micro-credentialing weren’t for me. They were for all the other people who wanted to see if I had deep knowledge of what I showed I did. For a time, I decided to earn various certifications. Festooned with digital badges and certificates, I stopped getting questions. Instead, admiration and kudos resulted. But to what end?

Now, I’m facing re-certification opportunities for Google Educator Level 1. How many times in a row do I need to pass a test to show I know my stuff? Does any of it matter? I’m not sure. To explore my faulty thinking, I’m writing this blog entry on the myths of micro-credentialing.

Successfully recertified on 4/23/2019

Kicking the Ant Hill

Who kicked my ant hill on this topic? Google. What I am wondering, is why Google keeps sending me emails to re-certify for Google Educator Level 1. I get it, I get it. Google Educator Level 1 is great for the first-time educator. But after the first time, why do I need to re-certify? Have Google tools changed all that much at Level 1?

It starts easy enough. You get this email from Google:

This is a reminder that your Certified Educator – Level 1 certification expires on May 19, 2019. To maintain your active certification standing and your certificate number, you must recertify before your certification expires on May 19, 2019.

When I see this email now, I’m not excited about earning a coveted certification. I’m disappointed that Google wants to keep making money off of me. Ten dollars for an exam isn’t much, some say. The problem is that over a few years, the costs add up. And what do I get out of it? What’s in it for me?

Micro-Credentialing Myths

If you’re not familiar with micro-credentialing, then think back to Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts. You learn a skill, you get a badge. Lots of badges can add up to many rich, hands-on or academic learning experiences. School districts and organizations have launched digital badging systems. When a teacher earns a “micro-credential,” their supervisor beats a drum and celebrates. But the questions remains: Are they worth it?

The hope was that micro-credentials would change professional development into professional learning. Instead of eye-closing, will-sapping, sit-and-get training, teachers would take on active learning. Somehow, completing a web-based mini-course would make things more exciting and engaging. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to have happened. Here are some possible reasons why.

Myth #1: Digital Badges Make It Happen

The myth is: “Teachers will get excited about earning a digital badge in bite-sized modules.” The truth is less so. Earning digital badges don’t result in pay increases or tangible performance boosts. How have you tied a student performance boost to a specific digital badge a teacher earned? You haven’t. Digital badges don’t make it happen. They get in the way of what is happening.

micro-credentialing

Myth #2: Micro-Credentials Empower Teachers

“Teachers are lifelong learners, their brains are always on. Micro-credentialing makes tracking new learning possible.” The idea here is simple. You create a new digital badge or micro-credential for new areas of interest. Heard about Google Sheets translations? Make a digital badge for that, then teachers can go learn it on their own. And there’s the rub.

What teacher is going to spend some time on their own to learn something that might be useful in class? The answer is not enough to make a difference for student achievement. The learning-knowing-doing gap rears its ugly head in this situation. What gets in the way of translating learning into doing in schools?

One short word: Distrust. If administrators don’t trust teachers to learn new things on their own, there is fear. The fear for the former is that people will game the system. For teachers, micro-credentials may result in superficial learning and thus weak implementation. What teacher will experiment on a new method or activity without admin support?

Myth #3: Personalized Learning Is Effective

Micro-credentials deepen inequity for students. Teachers get a collection of inconsistent skills and strategies depending on their interest. Rather than learn what they need to be effective, teachers learn what they want. When micro-credentialing activities work, they result in patchwork learning. Districts that set up their own micro-credentialing programs lack quality curriculum. Instead, they rely on blog entries and how-to videos with low to no quality standards online. Without the right content to learn from, micro-credentialing is a fad.

Rather than learn what they need to be effective, teachers learn what they want.

Research from the Rand Corporation (2015) highlights personalized learning weaknesses. The study questions the value of self-guided study. It does this by pointing out inconsistent results and lack of access and time. High-quality materials are also missing, as is national standards alignment. A high mobility rate for teachers in urban districts has deleterious effects, too. Students get less than consistent experience. Micro-credentialing efforts for teachers extend students’ failed experiences to educators.

Myth #4: Micro-Credentialing Replaces Traditional PD

Want to earn a digital badge? Attend a face-to-face workshop where you can work alone or together with others. Digital badging and micro-credentialing make “playing hooky” easy. Teachers, who must work as strong, integrated teams, can skip communal learning experiences. Micro-credentials are like junk food. They make just-in-time learning tangential to real, relevant, shared learning that is critical to students.

Teachers need time to build a shared background knowledge in relevant strategies. Micro-credentialing fractures teachers’ learning experiences.

Myth #5: Micro-Credentialing Works for All

What could be easier? You log in, you learn on your own, taking breaks as needed. You work through the content at your own pace. When done, you get a digital badge. The problem is that sitting in front of a device for ten minutes or an hour or several hours may not work. As students must be self-motivated, need a support network, so must many teachers. Adopting micro-credentialing in your school district may result in disconnected learners. For the disconnected and disengaged, no amount of cajoling will work. Classroom celebrations and colorful digital badges may not suffice in providing motivation for hard learning.

Five Myths of Micro-Credentialing

The five myths of micro-credentialing and digital badging highlight one important observation. Many school districts have embraced micro-credentialing as a fun way to encourage teachers. “Become a lifelong learner and learn on your own.” The fact is these efforts steal precious moments from overburdened educators with little return on investment.

While a quick how-to do something tutorial now may be fun and worthwhile, the question we must answer is how does it impact student achievement in the long run? How do these efforts ensure consistent, relevant, shared learning experiences for educator teams? The truth is, they may not. What do you think?

Robotics badge image via Steve Rainwater on Flickr.

April 15, 2019 0 comments

Good Teaching Professional Learning

TCEA’s Elementary Technology Conference

by Chance McKee March 18, 2019

written by Chance McKee

As you know, TCEA offers numerous benefits to members (highlighted in my last blog post) to make every education professional’s edtech journey an efficient and effective one. One thing you may not know, however, is that TCEA provides a free, one-year membership to pre-service teachers that gives them access to the professional development resources they will need to enter the classroom prepared to instruct with technology (We do, by the way!).

The Future Is Now

It is due to this free pre-service teacher membership that I travel to universities throughout the state to speak with pre-service educators about our offer. The first question I ask every audience is, “How many of you in here have a brother/sister, niece/nephew, cousin, neighbor down the street, etc., under the age of 10, who just instinctively knows what to do when you hand them a cell phone or tablet?” Without fail, every hand goes up. Clearly, the future is now.

Importance of Elementary Technology Education

This massive shift towards instructional technology currently happening within education dictates the need for every educator to understand the role of technology in the elementary classroom, as well as take advantage of professional development guaranteed to provide you with the latest tools, resources, and strategies to engage students and create real student achievement.

Cue TCEA’s Elementary Technology Conference, June 9-11, 2019, in Galveston, TX.

What ETC Offers

This always-popular summer conference focuses on technology integration and best practices in the PreK-5 classroom, providing participants with real-world tools and strategies to enhance the learning environment for their students. From ISTE Standards in the elementary classroom to problem-based learning (PBL) and the needs of Gen Z learners, you’ll find the resources and strategies you need to prepare your students for the future.

At TCEA’s Elementary Technology Conference, attendees will:

Learn innovative tools and techniques to engage, empower, and inspire young learners
Network with like-minded elementary educators in informal settings and facilitated breakout groups
Engage in hands-on learning in hundreds of sessions and walk away with exciting lessons and ideas for the new school year
Discover cutting-edge products and services to make your job easier
Recharge their energy and excitement about teaching!

As an education professional, you know that all students need technology education throughout their elementary years to serve as a foundation for developing digital literacy and prepare them for the careers of today. If you are a PreK-5 teacher, curriculum specialist, elementary administrator, ECLC director, campus technology specialist, technology director, or elementary librarian, I would encourage you to attend TCEA’s Elementary Technology Conference to help advance your profession, yourself, and your students.

March 18, 2019 0 comments

Leadership Professional Learning

Taking the Next Steps on Your Career Pathway

by Kristy Breaux March 6, 2019

written by Kristy Breaux

Where are you on your career journey? Are you a preservice teacher who’s looking for your first job and could use some resume help? Are you a classroom educator who wants to move up into administration or a tech enthusiast who would like to take on a campus or leadership role in technology? With TCEA, we can help make sure you are opening the right doors!

More than Just a Job Board

TCEA is excited to announce our partnership with TopSchoolJobs to provide a career resource for our members. TopSchoolJobs is the premier career resource center hosted by Education Week, a leading publication in education. More than 900 positions are currently posted for positions in Texas and more than 17,000 openings for administrators, teaching positions, and support staff are available nationwide.

TopSchoolJobs offers a robust resource for interviewers and candidates. For candidates seeking a new position, you can:

Create a free account and upload your resume so employers can view it and reach out to you
Sign up for custom job alerts to be emailed to you
Take advantage of a free resume review service (this is phenomenal!)

FREE Resume Review!

The free resume review will provide feedback on the design, structure, and content of your resume from a certified professional career coach and resume writer. You can even continue further (for a small fee) to have a review of your LinkedIn profile and other sources you use in your job seeking journey, to ensure your best assets are conveyed and you stand out from other candidates.

Do You Have a Position to Fill?

TCEA members can post open positions at a discounted rate. You can also search the resumes of current candidates seeking employment and reach out to them directly.

Be the Best of the Best; Hire the Best of the Best

TCEA’s Technology/IT Director certification course is for committed district-level technology or IT directors, or those that are on their path to becoming one. During the program, participants hone the skills required to be a successful district technology leader and create impactful change for student learning. Achieving this certification proves the knowledge and scope of the role and shows a commitment to the understanding of leading technology initiatives.
Take the first step in your certification journey today.

If you’re a campus technology specialist, digital learning coach, or instructional coach, you will find the CTS certification program perfect for your job needs. Participants learn how to help adult learners try new things, what effective professional development looks like, how to motivate learners, different coaching strategies to try, and ways to fully integrate technology into the teaching and learning process.

How can TCEA continue to support your job seeking and recruitment efforts? Comment below and let me know what else is needed.

March 6, 2019 0 comments

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