In order to beat the Winter Blahs, the Library and Technology Staff challenged the faculty and staff to set a personal technology learning goal. We emailed the following to members of our school community:
Make and Keep a Technology New Year’s Resolution
New Year’s Day is a great time to set new goals and start creating new habits.
Did you set a personal technology learning goal for the New Year?
Did you receive a new camera for the holidays and you need to learn how to download or edit the pictures?
Is there a technology topic, such as setting up a course in Moodle, creating a Google Custom Search, how to create a digital story using PhotoStory or VoiceThread, how to use Microsoft OneNote, create a screencast using Jing, that you would like to learn?
Would you like to learn how to use additional features of NoodleBib?
Interested in how to access and edit Discovery Streaming Videos for use in your classes, that you have heard about or seen and want to spend the time exploring and learning?
For the past two Tuesdays, we have had 7% of our faculty and staff stop by at our informal Technology Resolution sessions. (This does represent a rate of return than is typically achieved by direct mail response) During these sessions, we guide and mentor the faculty and staff towards their goal. It has been extremely successful and rewarding. The faculty and staff who are coming have technology skills which run the spectrum from being what I would consider our most adept users of technology to those who have been apprehensive.
They have wanted to learn how to:
- Add websites and files to their Moodle course
- Download their pictures from their camera so that they don’t have to rely on their children to do so
- Set up a blog
- Set up a flickr account and upload pictures
- Create an group email, to email parents of sports teams, neighborhood, etc.
- Learn how to create the class push page
- Learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation
What is great is that in each of these cases, the individual created a personal learning goal which was not directly related to what they do in the classroom or as a part of their job description. However, in each case, the individual learned something that they have been able to transfer to what they do as a part of their job or in their classroom. This is higher order transfer of skills.
We have two more sessions that we have advertised and we are trying to figure out how to maintain the momentum while keeping the concept fresh. I am really excited about what the model and how we have grown the offerings.
Vinny,
I LOVE this idea! Great way to get teachers involved :)
I like the way that the recognize the personal learning stage that teachers often need to be able to go through before they are able or willing to transfer the learning to the classroom. If they can accomplish personal goals with technology the transfer to the professional setting happens.
What has also been interesting is that the people who you would expect to know a skill often times don’t. The reason they don’t is that they do not set aside personal learning time. This has given an opportunity for them to make the time.
Also, it allows for personal connections to be made, which is also important. These conversations lead to other opportunities in the classroom as well.