Teachers must become comfortable as co-learners with their students and with colleagues around the world. Today it is less about staying ahead and more about moving ahead as members of dynamic learning communities. The digital-age teaching professional must demonstrate a vision of technology infusion and develop the technology skills of others. These are the hallmarks of the new education leader.
—Don Knezek, ISTE CEO, 2008
I have always considered myself very fortunate to work in a school division where professional development is highly valued in support of student learning. As outlined by our Board of Trustees’ annual statement of educational priorities, professional development at all levels is a significant area where I believe our division excels. The priorities for professional practice and learning state that “effective use of technology to support student learning” continues to be one of “several professional development topics [that] will receive sustained focus to support educators’ abilities to program for the whole child.”
For most educators, the integration of technology into professional practice and learning is both stimulating, yet challenging. As Camilla Gagliolo observes in her article “Help teachers mentor one another,” what makes it such an exciting time for educators are the “rapid changes and evolution of Web 2.0 tools and applications [that] are providing new opportunities for innovation in education.” However, if teachers are to make effective use of these emerging technologies, they need to develop “new strategies and methods for teaching that will integrate technology across the curriculum” (Ketterer, 2008).
21st century technology skills
Camilla Gagliolo challenges educators to consider how we are using technology in our schools to support student learning when she asks:“How best can we, as technology leaders, inspire teachers to take advantage of these opportunities to engage students in 21st century learning?”
In “A professional development menu,” Kimberley Ketterer states that “ensuring access to 21st century technology skills for all students begins with teachers feeling comfortable using them in their teaching and learning environment” (Ketterer, 2008). The emergence of new technologies calls “for new strategies to meet the needs of today’s digital learners” (Gagliolo, 2008).
The International Society of Technology in Education publishes the National Educational Technology Standards for both students and teachers (with an administrators’ version currently in draft). NETS for Teachers encourages“using technology to learn and teach,” through the following:
- facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
- design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessment
- model digital-age work and learning
- promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility
- engage in professional growth and leadership
Source: NETS for Teachers 2008
A digital divide of technology fluency
In the article “Revamping professional development for technology integration and fluency,” Sandra Kay Plair reveals that “veteran teachers” struggle “to gain technological fluency” and “to incorporate technology into their teaching and core content” (Plair, 2008). When veteran teachers resist moving forward in integrating technology in their content areas, a digital divide widens “between themselves and their increasingly tech-savvy students” (Plair, 2008). Students learning in classrooms where the teacher has not made technology integration a priority, are subject to contributing to a digital divide between students who use technology to support their learning at school and those who do not.
In “Faculty development for the net generation,” the authors state that technology integration can “catalyze innovations in learning across generations” and that “fluency with information technology is imperative today” (Moore, Moore & Fowler, 2005). In order to keep FIT (fluent in information technology), teachers today need three kinds of knowledge:
- contemporary skills (ability to use computer applications and apply information technology in real time)
- foundational concepts (basic principles and ideas of computers, networks and information technology)
- intellectual capabilities (ability to apply information technology in high-level thinking situations)
Teachers can bridge the digital divide by developing greater awareness in meeting students’ learning needs using technology, enabling their own professional development and technological skill development, and integrating “pedagogy, learning space design, technology, support, policies – to enable successful learning.” Professional development for teachers will continue to be an ongoing process “because technology, pedagogy, and practice” are constantly evolving (Moore et al., 2005).
Teacher-librarians as “knowledge brokers”
The idea of teacher-librarians as “knowledge brokers” that enhance a professional development model is an interesting one that bears further consideration. Knowledge brokers, like teacher-librarians, collaborate with others, stay current of new technology tools, prepare technology-related activities, learn new technologies and how to infuse them into curricula. Knowledge brokers make themselves available to meet staff needs, facilitate change and offer leadership by bringing teachers together to learn about technology (Plair, 2008).
Recognizing the leadership potential of the teacher-librarian becomes critical to meeting emergent learning needs and preparing students for success in a workplace that relies more and more on the use of technology.
Implications for Teaching and Learning
When the new Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum was first published in 2006, school divisions in Manitoba chose different plans of attack when considering how best to implement the new continuum in their respective schools. While many opted to phase the model in gradually over several years, our division chose to immediately immerse our students and staff in developing computer literacy from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Such a bold move also required an infusion of professional development opportunities to support both student learning and teacher. One of the most successful initiatives included a series of early years, intermediate and junior high secondments of groups of teachers who met for three days to plan activities that incorporated best teaching practices with the “big ideas” of the new ICT continuum. The resulting projects became the basis of a divisional resource bank of technology-infused lessons that all teachers could access and use in their classrooms.
Since 2006, our divisional operating budget has included funds directly allocated to the professional learning needs of our school library personnel including teacher-librarians, library assistants and library technicians. Technology integration is best realized when it is interwoven throughout the professional development opportunities for our school library staff. Both teacher-librarians and library support staff play important leadership roles in guiding students and staff in the implementation of emerging technologies. Strategies that work for our school library personnel include:
- teacher-librarians see technology integration as a priority for literacy development and differentiated instruction
- the instructional technology coordinators and the library coordinator collaborate on facilitating PD opportunities for all school library staff (combination of teacher collaboration and funding from both library and ICT budgets makes professional learning not only possible but more powerful)
- new teacher-librarian and library assistant orientations include a technology component
- teacher-librarian PD becomes more concentrated and takes place over a two-day release period
- teacher-librarians frequently model both the “coaching” and “nurturing” styles described by Kimberley Ketterer in her article “Coach, nurture, or nudge” (2007).
- part-time library staff are accommodated and compensated so they can attend critical sessions
- in order to maximize our budget, we have sought out joint-PD sessions with other school divisions which allows us to do more with less. For example, Doug Johnson is scheduled for September 2009 – difficult for one school division to host on its own, but very affordable when four divisions participate and share the costs
An approach to professional development
Our approach to providing professional development for integrating technology into teaching and learning has involved a scaffolded approach over the last three years. We have “ordered” and continue to partake of many of the items from Kimberley Ketterer’s professional development menu including equipment training, “hands on” and “levelled” workshops, peer coaching, demos, webinars, after-school mini-sessions, “drop-in” help in schools and debriefing sessions, as well as the development and execution of a three year PD plan for teacher-librarians.
Our recent inquiry and ICT initiative would seem to support Gagliolo’s assertation that “powerful learning takes place when teachers teach other teachers in a peer-to-peer network” (Gagliolo, 2008).
September 2008
Teacher-librarians spend two days with Carol Koechlin learning how to build a culture of inquiry, develop curiosity through questioning and design assignments worth the effort.
October 2008
Teacher-librarians and classroom teachers begin working together as instructional partners to support inquiry and the implementation of the ICT continuum over a 2-day release period.
Instructional Technology Coordinator provides instructional teams with “just in time” learning and demos of new technologies throughout the planning session. The support continues by tech request when the project is underway in the schools.
March 2009
Teacher-librarians and classroom teachers return to share their projects and reflect on how their instructional partnership supported student learning through inquiry and the integration of educational technology. The evidence gathered indicates that the projects have been a great success and the coordinators plan for a future rotation.
Judi Harris reminds us that when it comes to providing professional development for teachers, “one size doesn’t fit all” (2008). This will be an important consideration to keep in mind as we mentor both veteran teacher-librarians, as well as those who are new to teacher-librarianship.
The characteristics for effective professional development defined by the National Staff Development Council can be applied as a checklist to evaluate our current teacher-librarian PD practices:
-
is conducted in school settings (sometimes, more frequently becoming so)
-
is linked to schoolwide efforts (always)
-
is concrete (always)
-
is planned and offered by teachers (almost always)
-
is differentiated according to teachers’ differing needs and interests (somewhat, but this is an area identified for further growth)
-
addresses goals and contains learning activities that are chosen by teachers (almost always)
-
emphasizes demonstrations, trials of new tools and techniques, and opportunities for participants to both receive and give feedback (almost always)
-
is ongoing over time (always)
-
provides ongoing assistance and support on-call (always)
Source: National Staff Development Council
It will be necessary to regularly access the needs of our teacher-librarians as new technologies continue to emerge and evolve. The impact of teacher-librarian professional development and technology integration on student learning will continue to document the evidence that guides our future direction.
