6.1 Continuous Learning
Candidates demonstrate continual growth in knowledge and skills of current and emerging technologies and apply them to improve personal productivity and professional practice. (PSC 6.1/ISTE 6a, 6b)
Artifact: Things I learned at the Ga ETC Conference 2019
Reflection:
During the Fall of 2019, I attended the Georgia Educational Technology Consortium. This annual event spans 3-5 days and provides attendees with opportunities to choose from hundreds of concurrent sessions and workshops to learn about the latest emerging technology and trends in education. I attended the conference November 2-4, 2019 and was able to attend several sessions and see many technology ideas in action. To document continuous learning, I selected as an artifact, a document that I solely created that curated resources and ideas that I found helpful at the conference. This document was shared with administrators and faculty and became a resource as we entered virtual learning due to Covid-19 the next Spring.
Standard 6.1, Continuous Learning, outlines candidate expectations to demonstrate continual growth in knowledge and skills of current and emerging technologies and apply them to improve personal productivity and professional practice. For Continuous Learning, I enjoy attending conferences that allow me to learn and share resources, ideas, and innovations. The Georgia Educational Technology Consortium is an excellent opportunity for this. At the 2019 conference, my favorite session was Creating Interactive Content, where I learned to create Interactive Slides activities. I have created several slides activities as a result that allow students to manipulate components to complete practices, which is important for kinesthetic learners in a virtual format. I also enjoyed the Leveraging Forms for Feedback session which offered tips to using Google Forms for more valuable formative feedback using branching techniques for review videos and feedback. I enjoyed many of the other sessions that I attended, and I learned so much. The artifact, Things I learned at the Ga ETC Conference 2019, was created from my notes during the conference, and organized resources into a shareable document that includes links to presentations that were shared during session attendance and via Twitter- I take no credit for any of the works linked, only for organizing them into a shareable document. I also continue to follow most of the presenters on Twitter for continuous learning. This experience documents my ability to continually grow in knowledge and skills of current and emerging technologies in education. It also shows my ability to apply my knowledge and skills to improve my and others’ personal productivity and professional practice.
Completing this artifact allowed me to grow as a technology leader. I was able to synthesize and share the emerging technology innovations that I learned at the Georgia Educational Technology Consortium. Furthermore, I was able to later model and demonstrate creating interactive slides and using forms for feedback among peer educators. This learning later helped me to transition to a virtual learning environment during the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting closure of face-to-face instruction. I do believe this artifact could be expanded to include how-to videos. In improving it, I would create my own how-to videos and presentations to model my favorite take-aways for peer educators, rather than just sharing the presentations so generously shared during the conference.
The work that went into creating this artifact directly impacted faculty development. By attending the conference and using Twitter as a professional learning network, I have learned a great deal. I have also been able to share that learning with peer educators and improve resources for our curriculum. In my opinion, all educators can benefit from attending technology conferences and seminars to enhance their knowledge of emerging technologies and trends and to improve teaching practices. The impact from this experience can be evaluated by administrators through classroom observations of technology integration or through a faculty survey asking about some of the strategies and ideas that were shared.
During the Fall of 2019, I attended the Georgia Educational Technology Consortium. This annual event spans 3-5 days and provides attendees with opportunities to choose from hundreds of concurrent sessions and workshops to learn about the latest emerging technology and trends in education. I attended the conference November 2-4, 2019 and was able to attend several sessions and see many technology ideas in action. To document continuous learning, I selected as an artifact, a document that I solely created that curated resources and ideas that I found helpful at the conference. This document was shared with administrators and faculty and became a resource as we entered virtual learning due to Covid-19 the next Spring.
Standard 6.1, Continuous Learning, outlines candidate expectations to demonstrate continual growth in knowledge and skills of current and emerging technologies and apply them to improve personal productivity and professional practice. For Continuous Learning, I enjoy attending conferences that allow me to learn and share resources, ideas, and innovations. The Georgia Educational Technology Consortium is an excellent opportunity for this. At the 2019 conference, my favorite session was Creating Interactive Content, where I learned to create Interactive Slides activities. I have created several slides activities as a result that allow students to manipulate components to complete practices, which is important for kinesthetic learners in a virtual format. I also enjoyed the Leveraging Forms for Feedback session which offered tips to using Google Forms for more valuable formative feedback using branching techniques for review videos and feedback. I enjoyed many of the other sessions that I attended, and I learned so much. The artifact, Things I learned at the Ga ETC Conference 2019, was created from my notes during the conference, and organized resources into a shareable document that includes links to presentations that were shared during session attendance and via Twitter- I take no credit for any of the works linked, only for organizing them into a shareable document. I also continue to follow most of the presenters on Twitter for continuous learning. This experience documents my ability to continually grow in knowledge and skills of current and emerging technologies in education. It also shows my ability to apply my knowledge and skills to improve my and others’ personal productivity and professional practice.
Completing this artifact allowed me to grow as a technology leader. I was able to synthesize and share the emerging technology innovations that I learned at the Georgia Educational Technology Consortium. Furthermore, I was able to later model and demonstrate creating interactive slides and using forms for feedback among peer educators. This learning later helped me to transition to a virtual learning environment during the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting closure of face-to-face instruction. I do believe this artifact could be expanded to include how-to videos. In improving it, I would create my own how-to videos and presentations to model my favorite take-aways for peer educators, rather than just sharing the presentations so generously shared during the conference.
The work that went into creating this artifact directly impacted faculty development. By attending the conference and using Twitter as a professional learning network, I have learned a great deal. I have also been able to share that learning with peer educators and improve resources for our curriculum. In my opinion, all educators can benefit from attending technology conferences and seminars to enhance their knowledge of emerging technologies and trends and to improve teaching practices. The impact from this experience can be evaluated by administrators through classroom observations of technology integration or through a faculty survey asking about some of the strategies and ideas that were shared.