My Informal Learning

GIMP—GNU Image Manipulation Program

GIMP is a free, online image-editing program that works a lot like PhotoShop. When I had my son, I downloaded and began using GIMP in order to spice up my photographs and learn digital scrapbooking. Because I was highly engaged and invested in learning, I really enjoyed the experience. I found online tutorials, both text and video, to help me learn the basics in the beginning. There are several blogs and discussion boards to get help, advice, and share ideas. I also did a lot of learning by trail and error. I started out as a novice learner, but eventually ended up an active participant, offering my own freebies and tutorials on my own personal blog. I didn’t have an official instructor, instead all the makers of the tutorials and discussion board participants became my teachers.

Google Sites

I wanted to create a class website four years ago for my students and their parents to access information about my class outside of school. I chose Google Sites because it seemed to be the most user-friendly. I found learning the basics of the application to be incredibly easy. If I ran into a problem, I used online tutorials, both text and video. I also sought out the help of colleagues who were familiar with the application. As I became more comfortable, I began to add more complex information to the site, altering html code. Students began to request embedded videos, chat boxes, slide shows, etc. Without realizing it, I became an informal instructor on my campus. Teachers began to come see me asking for help starting their own sites and troubleshooting problems. Feel free to view my site here.

OFYP Book Study

Last year our district piloted an Optional Flex Year Plan for students who failed one or more TAKS tests. Students who passed all their exams were allowed to leave school two weeks early. Students who failed one or more tests had to stay for one-on-one tutoring. About ten teachers on campus, including myself, were put in charge of teaching a book study on The Hunger Games. We were given little instruction or curriculum, only a class set of books. We connected through email and set-up a meeting. During the meeting we shared ideas and mapped out a basic curriculum for the upcoming two weeks. We knew our students would be at-risk, and the book study would need to be as engaging as possible. After the meeting, a colleague and I started a Google site for the book study and uploaded our lesson plans and provided links to information. We invited all the other teachers as collaborators. Thanks to our collaboration throughout the unit, we had several resources and were able to “hook” our students.

Knowledge Management and the Blended Learning Approach

The Problem

Our district has had a paced curriculum for all core courses for about five years now. The online curriculum for the English department is hard to understand and offers little in the way of interactive, engaging lessons to teach the assigned objectives. There is also no support for teachers with questions or concerns. Consequently, teachers have either played by the rules and stuck to the lackluster curriculum with little success or they have chosen to ignore it completely and venture out on their own. The original goal of the paced curriculum was to help teachers be more successful in the classroom and save them much needed time and energy in the planning stages; however, this is not the reality.

The Solution

Using the blended learning approach and a knowledge management system can help the paced English curriculum be more successful. I propose formal training in the way of training sessions where the English teachers are shown the basics of paced curriculum including the overall objectives and how to access the information to be successful. Teachers will be given starter manuals, and the informal learning can then begin. Access will be through a main portal, a wiki created for the English teachers of the district. The wiki will have uploaded lesson plans, discussion boards, and links to the paced curriculum database, Eduphoria. Collaboration will be both online and face-to-face. Teachers will use the online discussion boards on the wiki to ask questions and brainstorm ideas for particular objectives. They will also be able to upload lesson plans to share with one another. The district will also set-up collaboration meetings with the district coordinator for English I, II, III, and IV teachers separately. These meetings will allow the teachers to have face-to-face discussions. The outcomes of the collaboration process will be codified into the wiki and Eduphoria database. The teachers’ experience and collective knowledge along with the curriculum objectives will all be uploaded into the database and wiki for easy access. Hopefully, with successful collaboration, teachers will be able to access several resources for teaching each objective in the curriculum in a meaningful way.

EPSS

EPSS Definitions

I was able to find a few definitions of electronic performance support systems that weren’t essentially the same as Raybould and Gery. Here they are:

Webbasedtraining.com

http://www.webbasedtraining.com/primer_glossary.aspx

electronic performance support system (EPSS) Applications designed to run simultaneously with other applications or embedded within other applications that provide support for the user in accomplishing specific tasks. An EPSS may provide needed information, present job aids, and deliver just-in-time, context-sensitive training on demand. A Web-based performance support system (WBPSS) is an EPSS that uses Web technology to deliver support in an enterprise environment.

PC Magazine

http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=EPSS&i=42707,00.asp

(Electronic Performance Support System) A computer system that provides quick assistance and information without requiring prior training to use it. It may incorporate all forms of multimedia delivery as well as AI techniques such as expert systems and natural language recognition.

EPSS Central

http://www.epsscentral.info/knowledgebase/about/whatisepss/

An electronic performance support system can also be described as any computer software program or component that improves employee performance by

1. reducing the complexity or number of steps required to perform a task,

2. providing the performance information an employee needs to perform a task, or

3. providing a decision support system that enables an employee to identify the action that is appropriate for a particular set of conditions.

My Preference

I prefer a combination of two definitions. The first is from Webbasedtraining.com. I like how it emphasizes that an EPSS application should work within or embedded in other applications that are already being used as a support system in the workplace. I also agree that the best EPSS offer “on demand” “context-sensitive” training. Workers should be able to get support and information whenever they need it and in a timely manner. The mention of the web-based performance support system is also interesting. This allows users even more flexibility in accessing information and support from anywhere (home, office, vacation) and with a number of devices (PC, Laptop, mobile phones and other devices).

I also agree with the textbook’s definition that “the knowledge base grows as workers use the system. In essence, the EPSS is dynamic; ongoing synergistic input from the users continuously changes the system (Laffey, 1995).” Given the changing role of the Internet to Web 2.0, and even Web 3.0, technologies, I feel this is an essential component of the definition in order to keep EPSS up-to-date. In order to stay current, EPSS applications should work much like wikis where workers add tacit knowledge based on experience and insight.

Current and Future Use of EPSS

EPSS is currently not being widely used because of the risk involved. Management feels unsure about the success of EPSS applications and also highly ignorant about them. To change the system and invest what feels to be a substantial amount of time and money can be a daunting undertaking to a business.

EPSS applications will be used more in the future. Like any major change, progress tends to be slow. As companies begin to see more data focusing on successful EPSS in business, they will begin to jump on the bandwagon. EPSS will grow along with the technology making the systems easily accessible from a variety of devices. The growing trend toward dynamic technology, like Web 2.0, will make EPSS an essential tool for collaborative support systems. It is only a matter of time before EPSS will gain recognition.

Performance Problems and Non Instructional Solution

As an English III teacher, one performance problem in my line of work is poor student homework completion. If I assign any type of homework (essay, worksheet, etc.), my turn in rates are often lower than 50%.

Using the HPT model for the International Society for Performance Improvement (Figure 14.2), I started with the performance analysis. Basically, the desired workforce performance would be homework completion rates of 85% or higher; however, the actual state of workforce performance is often homework completion rates of under 50%. This indicated a definite gap.

A cause analysis leads me to believe that there is a lack of incentives and rewards, feedback, and support for my students to feel motivated to complete homework.

For intervention selection and design, I’ve come up with a few non instructional solutions. First, I want to create homework support groups for each class period by adding chat rooms to our class website using ShoutMix. There would be bonus point incentives for students who access the support groups, either for help or to help others. I would also like to try a flexible turn in schedule. For example, students would have a “window” of two or three days to turn in and complete work. This extended time should help increase the completion rate. Lastly, I will grade and return homework at a faster rate and print out updated weekly progress reports. This will allow students to see how their not completing homework is directly affecting their average on a weekly basis, instead of just at progress report and final grade time (twice a six weeks).

I really plan on implementing these non instructional solutions starting the beginning of next semester. I am hopeful they will help my students be more successful in completing their homework.

Attributes of PowerTeacher Online Gradebook

I chose to focus on the perceived attributes of our district’s new online grade book, PowerTeacher. PowerTeacher allows students and parents to log-in and view students’ grades and attendance records for each class. It uploads easily into Chancery, the district’s program for attendance records, registration, and grade keeping. Below I explored PowerTeacher’s attributes.

Relative Advantage

Does PowerTeacher grade book offer teachers a better way to keep their grades? The answer depends on whether or not the teachers are currently using and paying for any other online grade book programs. One advantage is that there are no fees to use PowerTeacher because the district supports it. This is much better than the eight to ten dollars per month teachers were paying to have their own online grade book. Students and parents will also be able to access PowerTeacher for all classes (as opposed to just teachers who paid for a program). This allows them to be informed and proactive when it comes to their progress in classes. The best benefit of PowerTeacher is that it easily uploads into Chancery saving teachers the added step of entering grades by hand.

Compatibility

PowerTeacher is not compatible with many teachers’ needs from an online grade book program. Many of us who have paid for other programs like SnapGrades or TeacherEase are very disappointed with PowerTeacher. Basically, parents and students can only log-on and view grades. There are no options to email teachers with concerns. Most importantly, teachers aren’t able to send out email reports concerning averages or missing grades. If parents aren’t proactive enough to check the grade book on their own (and from experience I’ve found that many in our school aren’t) the teachers have no ways of sending out communications to them as reminders. This definitely hinders the acceptance of the program.

Complexity

As opposed to other online grade books, PowerTeacher does not have a similar interface which makes it much more difficult to learn. We had several training sessions, and teachers are still having trouble using the program, even technology savvy ones. Also, several teachers are not able to access the program from home for unknown reasons, and others have lost several minutes of work due to program glitches. At this point, I haven’t talked with one teacher who is happy with the program.

Trailability

The teachers were not asked to try out this program before the district adopted it. I think that mainly has to do with the fact that the district doesn’t have many grade book options that are compatible with Chancery. We were given one six weeks before we were all expected to be on PowerTeacher. Starting next semester, parents will be able to access the program. The training period, particularly for novice teachers, was not long enough.

Observability

The observable benefits have already been discussed in previous sections. The most observable benefits to PowerTeacher are that administrators, coaches, students, and parents can all view students’ grades at any point in the grading period. The ease of uploading the averages into Chancery is also an observable benefit.

In Summary

Although PowerTeacher does have observable benefits and advantages, the complexity and compatibility of the program definitely hinder the adoption of this new technological innovation. Teachers are increasingly frustrated with the difficult interface of the program and the glitches that are causing us valuable time. Also, the district has not done a good job training us sufficiently. Teachers who have experience with other online grade book programs also find PowerTeacher incompatible with their needs, particularly when it comes to sending out reports concerning averages and missing work to parents’ emails. All in all, I feel my district chose this program too hastily without considering other options that are easier to use and more compatible with the teachers’ needs.

Professional Development-Situational Leadership

Phase 1 (Telling)—

I would begin by teaching the basics of the chosen technologies to be used in the classrooms (i.e. projectors, slates, PowerPoint, class websites, etc.). The sessions would be very traditionally structured. Teachers would complete exercises and assignments to get used to the technology. I would constantly be monitoring their efforts, offering feedback, and sharing advice. We would continue in this way until the teachers felt competent with the technology we were focusing on.

Phase 2 (Selling)—

In this stage, I’d have the teachers begin designing the technology to fit their own classroom needs. This will allow them to see how they can use it to benefit their own classrooms. I will supervise and offer suggestions and advice. They will set goals for using the technology in their classrooms.

Phase 3 (Participating)—

After reaching their goals for using technology in their own classes, the teachers will meet and share their successes and setbacks. They will help one another troubleshoot based on their own experience. Teachers will revise their approaches and feel confident to go back into the classrooms and try again. I will offer input in the form of monitoring the groups and answering any questions they can’t solve on their own.

Phase 4 (Delegating)—

Teachers will come back to make final presentations charting their growth from the beginning of the sessions until now. They will provide feedback on one another’s progress. I will set-up a social network (blog, ning, etc.) where the teachers will be expected to come back and report how they are continuing to use technology in their classrooms. This will be an additional place for feedback and support from one another.

Evaluation Models

Flashlight Triad Model

www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/eval/eval_models.html

The Flashlight Model has five steps for evaluation of using technology in instruction.

1. Overview and Confronting the Blob—This is basically the brainstorming session where you write down all aspects of the lesson, unit, semester, etc (depending on what your focus of evaluation is). It is best to work with other who have taught or are familiar with your curriculum.
2. From Blob to Issue—Here you are to consider the “purpose of the evaluation.” What information do you really want feedback on? Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What are the three most crucial things you fear might happen as a result of using the technology?
2. What are the three most crucial things you hope will occur?
3. From your answers, decide on the two most important issues to study and forget about the rest.
3. From Issue to Triad—For each issue selected in #2, complete a triad. Each triad should include the technology you might employ (T), the activity the technology enables (A), and the outcome you expect (O). Here is an example below:

4. From Triad to Data—This is where you generate questions based on your triads. The questions can be used in surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc. There are usually five types of questions: technology, interaction of technology and activity, activity, interaction of activity and outcomes, and outcomes.
5. From Data to Next Steps—You can now make final decisions about your lesson, unit, etc from your evaluation data.

My Instruction

I would use the Flashlight Model to evaluate a lesson where I use technology to teach an objective, for example, if I used Google Docs to have students peer edit one another’s essays. After completing steps #1 and #2, I would focus on the issue, “Did students feel they received adequate feedback by peer editing on Google Docs?” My triad would be:

T—online collaborative editing tool (Google Docs)

A—peer editing one another’s essays

O—high student interest, appropriate feedback to improve writing

I would then develop questions for a survey like:

ü Did you feel the complexity of learning the program overshadowed the task?

ü Would you prefer this method to editing with pen and paper?

ü Did Google Docs let you effectively peer edit?

ü Did you feel you had adequate instruction on how to peer edit the essay?

ü Do you feel you got adequate feedback from your peers to help you improve your essay?

Based on my students responses I would know if Google Docs was worth using to peer edit or if my instructions need to be revised to make it successful.

The IDEA Model

www.theideacenter.org

The IDEA model focuses on how teaching impacts students and how the instructors’ behaviors influence students. The IDEA model is created around the objectives the instructor has set out for the course. It is mainly used as an evaluative tool for the end of the course or term. Students fill out surveys and specific reports are returned to the instructor for evaluation. Students are asked questions about:

ü Their progress on specific course objective

ü The teacher’s instructional behaviors (lecture, discussion, exams, etc.)

ü The instructor’s classroom behavior and how students are affected by such behavior

The IDEA center helps instructors create the student surveys. They then return the results back to the instructor for evaluation. Several colleges use this method for evaluating professors.

My Instruction

I would use the IDEA model as an end of the six weeks or semester evaluation. I would focus the survey more as general feedback on my instructional methods as opposed to asking students about specific objectives learned in class. For example, I would ask questions about my discipline procedures, instructions, grading, helpfulness, etc. This would give me an idea of the large picture and what I need to change to make my classroom more successful.