There are many times in a person’s life when reflection occurs, but far fewer times when that reflection leads to meaningful change. It is a profound moment in one’s life when you realize that such an event has occurred. For me, the most impactful of these began last school year and has gained momentum throughout this year.
As the 2017-2018 school year progressed I became disheartened with the state of meaningfully integrated technology versus technology that was simply used and forgotten. However, I refused to give up on positivity and belief in my learning community. I took a step back and reflected…
I reflected on what had been tried in the past and why I thought things had failed. I realized that many initiatives were presented and enforced from the top-down and few teachers ever had input. Support was attempted to be garnered after implementation versus investing in creating a tipping point of buy-in beforehand that could then build an ongoing structure of support.
I decided to go to my superintendent and ask to create a technology integration committee to support a shift throughout our school division. I envisioned a group of maybe 5 that would openly volunteer for a committee that had no stipends and would almost certainly have meetings before or after school. For once, I couldn’t have been happier to be wrong as the committee started at 16 members and currently seats 19 members. Members are from every level (elementary, middle, and high school), every content area, and even administration.
This committee began work with a needs assessment for the entire division to get a baseline of data. This data would be presented to the district administration team and be met with surprise. No member thought that our technology integration was surpassed by much more passive technology use. For sure, technology was integrated in pockets throughout the division but not on a wide scale. Professional development (PD) was designed and offered to help address these findings but something was still missing…
When PD arrived most sessions were led by the same people that had led them in the past. Choice was limited due to a limited number of employees having led PD and voice of participants was lost to vast amounts of content. Enter more reflection…
The committee reflected on the needs assessment, presentation, and PD and all offered ideas for innovation. A major shift we would make would be to rebrand ourselves as the Innovation Committee with a commitment to helping our division move forward in all ways, not only with technology. This committee has developed a new needs assessment stripped of most technology terms and tools, instead focusing on concepts and pedagogy. This needs assessment will be directly utilized to plan the first ever Innovation Conference in our division. Teachers and administrators will lead sessions, not just technology coaches. A keynote and closing speaker will lend a new force to our commitment to positive change. We have put students and teachers first in all we do and given all voice and choice to them. What comes after this conference? Reflection of course…
Part II – Personal Breakthrough
Patrick B. Hausammann, M.S. Ed.
Perpetual optimist and believer in the power of a #growthmindset to #failfoward. Co-Founder of #EdcampNSV and Certified #GoogleET, Admin, & Educator 1 & 2.
Website: www.epedtech.com
Twitter: @PHausTech