After
working with elementary students (grades 3-5) for eleven years, I
was asked to take the position of an Educational Technology Specialist
(ETS) for my school district, Marshall Public Schools. This request
was not because I was the most technologically qualified, but because
of the inquiry-based learning practices in my own classroom. My immediate
response, therefore, was, “Will training specific to this position
be provided?” The answer was PD4ETS provided through eMINTS. This piece of information was actually a motivator to me to accept the position.
I had participated in Summer Sampler years before and knew the quality
of instruction that would be provided. The excellence of the program
was as expected, and this particular course on Technology Integration,
taken in tandem with the PD4ETS preparation, provided an invaluable
piece of that training and set my course for further study.
First of all, it provided my first experience with a Blackboard Learning System and an online learning community. The dialogue, individual feedback, and flexibility
within time parameters made me realize for
the first time that I could complete my master’s
degree and still do my job well. No. I could
do everything even better! Not only that, the
more I learned, the more keenly aware I became
of how much I still had to learn!
The interactive
model of program planning in the Caffarella
text, Planning Programs for Adult Learners: A Practical Guide for Educators, Trainers,
and Staff Developers (along with other articles), laid foundational skills to support adult learning
and addressed a spectrum of issues. Evaluation
of where we were as a district and where we
wanted to be in relation to technology and
training required much reflection, establishing needs, and developing upfront assumptions. I quickly discovered that one of the most difficult aspects of my new position
as an ETS was to facilitate transfer of learning
from training sessions into classroom practices.
The cognitive coaching scenarios resulting from our study provided realistic classroom examples and practical
application opportunities in this arena. Finally,
the Program Plan I developed here was actually adopted by our district as an official document
tied to our Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) and technology goals.
Although
my PD4ETS certification exam occurred after the conclusion of this course, many of the ideas and concepts
I applied during its completion reflect tools
and strategies gained during this learning
opportunity.
