How Can EdTech Help Professional Development?

TDNI.org is a site I’ve been working on for a while. An online platform for teachers intended to complete professional development courses that have been developed by other teachers in Northern Ireland. It has been used recently by the Language and Communication Service to trial a pilot project in language development as a means for teachers across Northern Ireland to access the learning material at a time and in a way that suits them. I am developing my own courses for this platform. In September I hope to use it with my own colleagues to teach a Diploma course in using Digital Technologies in the classroom as a blended learning course. If you’re interested in using the platform with your school then drop me an email or comment on one of the social medias and we can get it set up!

The idea for this site is to create our own CPD in the areas that individual teachers are expert in, as well as work with specialist organisations who want to provide their courses to teachers. The site would embody the principles discussed above – by using self-paced learning, teachers would complete CPD courses in a way that suited them and enhanced their classroom practice and CPD.

The main benefits of self-paced learning work in the following main contexts:

1. For those in full-time employment
2. For those who want to work at a certain pace (be it quickly or slowly paced)

In both these contexts, the emphasis is on the learner: what do they feel comfortable with? Are they motivated to want to work at a quicker pace (particularly if the course is contingent on securing employment, or as a condition of employment), or do they require a slower pace because of an additional learning need; time/work /family commitments?

The nature of self-paced learning means that it could be all of these or none. The pace is set by the learner and the work completed when they get to the end. Some will commit to a set amount of time per week and manage their studying time to fit in with their work, family or social commitments and so having this skill of self-paced learning will allow teachers to learn new material, work out how it applies to their classes and then implement it in a meaningful and successful way.

No longer do we need to be in the classroom with the teacher to learn! (Did we ever?) A fact strongly emphasised through Covid/lockdown. We have collectively realised that we can teach over distance and still be successful. I will appreciate that for compulsory education (primary, SEN & post-primary) that this is a mixed bag – certainly for younger classes, there is a huge benefit from being in the classroom, but for older students, there is the potential that this can be used.

I would also suggest that this needs to be used intelligently. Not everyone likes learning from home. We are social creatures and need the interaction. Sometimes distance puts us at a disadvantage. When we are thinking about using this type of learning, it needs to be carried out with the student in mind – what will help them to learn best?

Every teacher should have control over their professional development and the direction they wish their career development to move in.  This means the courses they wish to participate in should be available.

I have found what happens is that my training needs arise from professional occurrences – in a previous job, I was the director of a foundation degree course and much of my out-of-class interaction with students was in relation to requesting an extension to an assignment, which was mostly due to serious personal incidents (bereavement, mental health issues etc.). My training request sbegan to change from computing-focused courses, to courses that focused on mental health. I wasn’t looking to become a counsellor, but my students required help in an area that I was recognisably deficient in, and I owed it to them to improve my ability to help them, so my CPD changed. And this may well be the same for any number of teachers across the profession. In my current job, I am seeing an increase in the incidence of mental health issues. I’m still not qualified to do anything about it, but I am in a better position to offer support for my students.

This should therefore be available to teaching staff that they have the capacity and ability to develop their professional skills in areas not previously studied. This can be influenced by the needs of the school, but should be directed by the interests of the teacher and how they would like to develop their professional skills.

As part of the professional development movement, should be the opportunity to join learning communities in which best practice can be shared and developed. This exists informally, on Twitter and Facebook, but a more formalised grouping would enable teachers to communicate with other teachers in their professional areas and work within a mentoring capacity to aid the development of beginning teachers by pairing them with more experienced teachers in their subject area who understand the requirements of the subject. This of course would require time and space within the day to carry out this role and so in one sense, the ability of schools to participate in this would need to be managed specifically by the teachers involved, but the potential gains for the teacher would be of immense benefit in the development of junior teachers with the passing on of experiential knowledge by more senior teachers.

We all do this. We learn about a new tool and want to use it in our teaching – but we’re unsure, so we do little by little. Part of this is so that if we mess it up, there isn’t much lost, but also because we will lack the confidence to go for it. We will want to try it out in certain classes (probably the ‘better behaved’ ones if we’re honest because they won’t mess around as much) to see it work, then role it out to other classes. This incremental implementation is a positive part of the process, because there will inevitably be moments when we do mess up, or something goes slightly wrong, so this step-by-step learning process allows us to learn from our mistakes and becomes more competent in the skill we are developing.

The video is intentional. It’s a take on a quote from Einstein (did he really say it? I don’t know), that if we can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it well enough yourself. But it makes sense. And can have a powerful impact on our teaching – because if we can’t explain it simply, then we don’t understand it well enough.

This can then be applied to when we share our expertise and help our colleagues, it also serves to affirm our own understanding of the topic. It will also shape our understanding of the topic – the Observer Effect comes into play here: when our behaviour is observed it changes.

I will occasionally get pupils to help other pupils in class, for the purpose of developing both pupils understanding: for the one who is learning and the one who is teaching. When we explain it to others, it shows gaps in our learning but also shows how well we know the topic.

Likewise for our colleagues. When we show them how to use a tool, we share that knowledge and have a role in their development. We show ourselves to have a level of knowledge that can benefit our colleagues and raise the ability of the school to deliver a high quality level of teaching to all pupils at all levels – which is the point of all this: become a better teacher to help our students better.

Peer-based learning works because it is informal, non-threatening and allows the learner to ask the questions they might feel awkward asking of a teacher. But when it’s two people working together, there is no vertical gap between the two learners, that might exist between a pupil and their teacher.

Students can learn a great deal by explaining their ideas to their peers and by participating in activities in which they can learn from other learners. Peer learning is becoming an increasingly important element in many courses, and it is being used in a variety of contexts and disciplines.

TDNI.org is a site I’ve been working on for a while. An online platform for teachers intended to complete professional development courses that have been developed by other teachers in Northern Ireland. It has been used recently by the Language and Communication Service to trial a pilot project in language development as a means for teachers across Northern Ireland to access the learning material at a time and in a way that suits them. I am developing my own courses for this platform. In September I hope to use it with my own colleagues to teach a Diploma course in using Digital Technologies in the classroom as a blended learning course. If you’re interested in using the platform with your school then drop me an email or comment on one of the social medias and we can get it set up!

The idea for this site is to create our own CPD in the areas that individual teachers are expert in, as well as work with specialist organisations who want to provide their courses to teachers. The site would embody the principles discussed above – by using self-paced learning, teachers would complete CPD courses in a way that suited them and enhanced their classroom practice and CPD.