Reflecting on 2 sets of 10

The challenges:

I found that most of the OCSB teachers in the PQP Part 1 already had substantial experience with many of the 10-day challenge online applications. I think this particular school board promotes technology use quite extensively with its staff and students. Since we were starting at different entry points, which is to be expected, I found that most of my colleagues in the PQP Part 1 found the tasks in the first 10-day challenge to be too elementary. Through our own class discussion, I learned that many of them, though not all, found it to be busy-work that was not particularly useful to them. I, however, did not. It was all mostly new to me. I learned a lot, but I found the workload, when added to my other course requirements, and my job/life demands, to be quite heavy. I experience some frustration along the way that comes with learning new technologies and media platforms. It took me a fair bit of time to figure out Twitter, which may seem ridiculous to someone who uses it often. My computer would not allow me to access the Padlet site, and I still don’t know why. Perhaps it has to do with a firewall of some kind, but I could not complete the tasks asked of me using Padlet in the PQP Part 2 challenge. I have never been a journal-writing “type”, so I found the idea of a blog to be somewhat unappealing. Though I did start one as the challenges required and have used it throughout the PQP courses (though not much beyond that, at this point).

The process:

I found the connect2innovate site to be well constructed and the tasks to be excellent in allowing the participant/student to experience a variety of media platforms useful to teaching and leadership in education ---as well as other fields. As mentioned, most of these platforms were new to me, so my learning curve was steep and sometimes rocky. But, it forced me to explore areas that I hadn’t made time to do before, and introduced me to technology applications that I didn’t even know existed. I found I could use most in real-life, authentic ways for requirements in the PQP, as well as in my job as a post-secondary educator and instructional leader. So I found the tasks worth doing.

The idea of being “forced” to explore platforms through the required challenges is quite important. My life is always busy, and while I am a creative person who enjoys learning and exploring new ideas and processes, I have not really made learning new technologies a priority. I am very open to them, and know the value in them, but it simply hasn’t taken precedence over other day-to-day work tasks that seem to always urgently need my attention. So being “forced” to explore through a course has been helpful to me. It has pushed me to try more and learn more about the tools at my disposal and at my students’ disposal. It is clear that creative leadership requires continual exploration in many things, including the ever-changing landscape of technology.

The knowledge via connect2innovate was presented in user-friendly means, in a variety of forms, including videos, articles, blogs, and self-directed Internet explorations. The specific chosen documentation was not too time-intensive to read/view, making it manageable to progress through in smaller chunks. This is good teaching practice for busy professionals.

My experience:

I am not currently working as a teacher in a publically funded school. Technology has advance enormously since I have been in the secondary classroom full-time, a decade ago. I have been teaching in Teacher Education at a post-secondary institution. As expected, our Teacher Education program promotes technology, since we are training 21st century teacher candidates to function in the current technological landscape of public schools. As Millennials, our students are typically quite tech-savvy. The professors are much more varied. Some professors are very current with technology and media use and practice, while for others, using email and a word program are the extent of their computer use. I fall somewhere in the middle. I have used Microsoft office and iOffice programs extensively; I had already begun a professional portfolio through Wix; I use Blackboard Learn for the online learning for my classes; and I have a Facebook account (thought pretty inactive). I use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I have an iphone. I also text, use the cloud, Dropbox, and of course the Internet. However, the 10-day challenge in PQP Part 1 made me realize that there is much that I hadn’t experienced in terms of social media and online apps. I had not used Twitter before. I had never used a curation site, like Storify, and I was inexperienced with Google apps.

While the idea and opportunity to collaborate using Google docs and slides presents many possibilities, I personally found it a little frustrating. I found the applications to be “glitchy” when on with multiple group members at the same time. I lost a couple of slides inexplicably. I experienced some frustration when information I had included was removed or changed by another group member, sometimes even as I was adding it. I recognize that this is also an extension of my own tendency to desire ownership over my work. As a student and teacher with years of experience doing “group work”, there is always the added dimension of blending personality types, and the problem of a few people doing the lion-share of the work. The latter was not a problem during the PQP courses, as I found the participants, and my group members, to generally be high achievers and willing contributors.

In our particular PQP Part 2, after a discussion about the requirements of the 10-day challenges, our instructor gave us the flexibility and option to apply the learnings from the second 10-day challenges directly to the building of our Professional Portfolios, if the particular participant was already familiar and experienced with certain platforms. The class appreciated this flexibility and recognition of the time constraints already on teaching professionals. In my case, I was less familiar with the platforms introduced in the 10-day challenges, so I took the time to complete both sets. My learnings have also been extended to the further development of the leadership components of my Professional Portfolio.

What I learned:

I learned a lot. I now have a Twitter account and have used it. I now recognize that Twitter has more to offer than just a play-by-play of what I am doing all day long (which is how I initially viewed it). It is a way to participate in online professional learning communities and is a way to be a leader in our field through participation.

I now have a blog. As an advocate of the hardcopy Visual Research Notebook, I thought of this digital application to be a potential time-eater. While I make written and drawn image musings in my VRN, the idea of scanning and adding it online seemed like over-kill, and extra work to my already busy schedule. However, I have learned that the online component is a consideration that cannot be overlooked. It is far reaching and allows for sharing and collaboration with global professional/leadership partners. My hardcopy VRN cannot do that unless I scan and share it online. The blog allows for the easy sharing of appropriated information already in the public digital sphere.

As a visual arts educator, I am very familiar with curating in terms of art display and sharing. However, the idea of extending this to a digital platform that opens up the idea of curation to areas far beyond where I am familiar is exciting. I am exited to explore digital curation further.

Digital sharing. I found that I “earmarked” a number of videos and articles that were presented to us during the 10-day challenges. As an educator and leader in Teacher Education, everything I have learned can be extended to the learning of my students/teacher candidates. It is all highly relevant to them, so is highly relevant to me. While the focus of the PQP courses is leadership, as participants we are typically actively working teachers, so it is no surprise that we will take our learning, not only to future leadership possibilities, but also back to the classroom.

While I have learned about some current and useful digital and media platforms, I have also learned that the digital culture, climate and landscape are evolving quickly. What I consider new this term, will be old before long. As a digitally competent leader, who needs to model 21st century practice, I need to continue to learn and explore moving forward, to stay on top of what becomes available in digital media and technological advancement.

Learning application:

I have already outlined some teaching applications of my new tech/digital media knowledge and practice. As this 10th challenge marks the end of the PQP journey, it is also important to outline the leadership learning applications specifically, as they align with the Ontario Leadership Framework pillars.

Setting Directions.

The digital mindset and applications and I have learned through the 10-day challenges can be used in my own classroom teaching and leadership roles. Having a vision, and building an awareness of our own professional digital footprint is an important direction for new learning teachers (my students). By participating myself, I set expectations and an example for what this can look like. If I do this effectively, I can inspire my students to do the same in their own classrooms once they become employed in school learning communities.

Building Relationships and Developing People.

In leading developing teacher candidates, it is important to develop trusting and productive relationships with them in a face-to-face classroom, as well as in the digital world. My students are familiar with digital communication and typically use it daily, so taking advantage of this comfort and ease with the technology can promote communication and a supportive learning community. With class blogs, and showing leadership through modeling, in joining relevant digital learning communities, I can encourage professional growth in my students. This professional growth can occur on a larger scale for other participants of public online communities, through our interactions/communications with them.

Developing the Organization.

In our Teacher Education Program, each teacher candidate is required to establish his/her professional digital footprint through the development of a Digital Hub. The hub includes digital social media for professional purposes, a professional portfolio, and links to appropriate and relevant professional learning communities in which the candidates are expected to actively participate. They can also create their own class, cohort or program PLCs. Professors are expected to collaborate and plan so that many of the assignments and tasks they ask of the students can use the digital hub, and be showcased there. This builds a collaborative culture among the professorial staff and with the students. The students have lots of flexibility in how they build and navigate their hubs, giving them decision-making power, which distributes leadership. These hubs will grow and evolve as the new teachers navigate and advance in their careers, allowing them the potential to continue to lead digitally and in their praxis.

Improving the Instructional Program.

Advancement in technology and new/digital media knowledge and use, is a current focus of our Teacher Education program and our current school system. It is an important component in teaching and learning in the 21st century. It promotes creative thinking and innovative practice. It encourages global and collaborative citizens, and effective communicators and information managers. As an educator modeling the digital hub practice, and in designing my course so that my students can do the same, I can support the beliefs and expectations of 21st century teaching and learning.

Security/Accountability.

If I position myself as a leader in education, then by definition I accept the responsibility to do it effectively and authentically, if I am to honor the OCT ethical standard of integrity. This includes holding myself accountable for my own digital literacy. If I am serious about educating my students to have and further promote 21st century skills, then I must take care in teaching them and then hold them accountable as well. Hopefully we develop enough mutual respect so that they are able to trust that I have their best interests in mind, with all that I require of them. Their digital hub is assessed through the development process to encourage their accountability.

Next steps:

SMART Goals.

1. Complete this chapter of my Professional Portfolio (it is a fluid collection of documents). It is already an online website with a blog and twitter account link. Continue to enhance the digital aspect of my educational leadership through the portfolio.

1. Make a point developing my professional digital footprint by adding to my blog and my twitter account at least every two weeks.

1. Join some online professional learning communities in areas of creativity & innovation, creative leadership, arts education and teacher education. Make a conscious effort to actively participate.