About the Initiative
This site is a class product designed by Shelby Simmons, MAT this page summarizes the proposed project implementation illustrated by this website - talks.ccsdtitle1.org.
Providing an avenue for teachers to share what they have learned from their self-selected professional development activities, demonstrate strategies, observe one another, and participate in on going authentic self and peer-assessment is a primary objective for the Team Colleton TALKS initiative. The implementation of the program has three main stages that will constantly cycle: development of the platform, adoption by teachers and administrators, and sustainable growth.
The development stage includes using the results of the annual needs analysis to select appropriate designs, media forms, and content. Development included identification and analysis of the current situation of professional development in the district, identification of possible solutions, selection of an initiative, and design and development of the initiative and related products in harmony with best practices in instructional design. This website allows for active engagement in multiple forms, application of a constructivist method of self-directed learning, and supports collaboration within professional learning communities within departments, schools, and across the district. The development phase normally takes a few weeks to several months depending on the number of people involved, the depth of the analysis, and the technical skills required.
The adoption phase may take anywhere from months to years and includes actively marketing the website to administrators and teachers as a component of every district professional development activity. Both individual teachers, administrators, and school communities must be targeted. Participation will be encouraged through incentives such as gift cards, funding for continued conference attendance, and public recognition for article and video submission or commenting on posts. Contributors to newsletters will also be recognized as a group. Schools will be recognized for the number and percentage of evaluation surveys completed as well as article and video submissions. Collaborative efforts will be encouraged and recognized. Submissions will be evaluated by teams made up of randomly selected teachers and administrators who review submissions based on rubrics designed for each format. As teachers use the site, share within existing social media networks, use to support self-selected coursework, and earn rewards, word-of-mouth, regularly updated content, and professional relevance will help sustain the site and lead to the next phase of development – sustainable growth.
What is sustainable growth? As the months and years go by the website will have to grow to accommodate large quantities of content, new technologies and social networking tools, and the natural progression of users from the novice level to the expert level in various skills. The moderators of the site will regularly review the website evaluations, link submissions, private messages, current district and school initiatives, and the annual needs assessment surveys to make needed changes to the site and evaluate the success of the initiative. The website evaluation survey contains both a short and long version and uses features embedded in the SurveyMonkey service to tabulate results instantly. The survey asks questions to enable evaluation of engagement in each section of the site, they types of self-selected professional development activities that users participate in, and solicits recommendations for continual improvement of the site. The survey can be revised or replaced in minutes and ideally will develop into a series of surveys that use survey logic to ask questions directly related to each users individual experience. Additionally, as users add new content to the site, and each newsletter is posted, users will be polled on content pages about current content; some submitters may also include content assessments related to their submissions. Most importantly, the submissions themselves act as self-evaluations of ongoing self-selected professional development and help administrators assess the climate of their schools.
Providing an avenue for teachers to share what they have learned from their self-selected professional development activities, demonstrate strategies, observe one another, and participate in on going authentic self and peer-assessment is a primary objective for the Team Colleton TALKS initiative. The implementation of the program has three main stages that will constantly cycle: development of the platform, adoption by teachers and administrators, and sustainable growth.
The development stage includes using the results of the annual needs analysis to select appropriate designs, media forms, and content. Development included identification and analysis of the current situation of professional development in the district, identification of possible solutions, selection of an initiative, and design and development of the initiative and related products in harmony with best practices in instructional design. This website allows for active engagement in multiple forms, application of a constructivist method of self-directed learning, and supports collaboration within professional learning communities within departments, schools, and across the district. The development phase normally takes a few weeks to several months depending on the number of people involved, the depth of the analysis, and the technical skills required.
The adoption phase may take anywhere from months to years and includes actively marketing the website to administrators and teachers as a component of every district professional development activity. Both individual teachers, administrators, and school communities must be targeted. Participation will be encouraged through incentives such as gift cards, funding for continued conference attendance, and public recognition for article and video submission or commenting on posts. Contributors to newsletters will also be recognized as a group. Schools will be recognized for the number and percentage of evaluation surveys completed as well as article and video submissions. Collaborative efforts will be encouraged and recognized. Submissions will be evaluated by teams made up of randomly selected teachers and administrators who review submissions based on rubrics designed for each format. As teachers use the site, share within existing social media networks, use to support self-selected coursework, and earn rewards, word-of-mouth, regularly updated content, and professional relevance will help sustain the site and lead to the next phase of development – sustainable growth.
What is sustainable growth? As the months and years go by the website will have to grow to accommodate large quantities of content, new technologies and social networking tools, and the natural progression of users from the novice level to the expert level in various skills. The moderators of the site will regularly review the website evaluations, link submissions, private messages, current district and school initiatives, and the annual needs assessment surveys to make needed changes to the site and evaluate the success of the initiative. The website evaluation survey contains both a short and long version and uses features embedded in the SurveyMonkey service to tabulate results instantly. The survey asks questions to enable evaluation of engagement in each section of the site, they types of self-selected professional development activities that users participate in, and solicits recommendations for continual improvement of the site. The survey can be revised or replaced in minutes and ideally will develop into a series of surveys that use survey logic to ask questions directly related to each users individual experience. Additionally, as users add new content to the site, and each newsletter is posted, users will be polled on content pages about current content; some submitters may also include content assessments related to their submissions. Most importantly, the submissions themselves act as self-evaluations of ongoing self-selected professional development and help administrators assess the climate of their schools.