The ’snowballs’ were flying thick and fast this afternoon at Cardiff High while Sondra gathered more responses from Hunter Central Coast Deputy Principals about things to think about in getting ready for Laptops for Learning.

Thanks folks !!!

A belief you have about ICT Professional Development

• That individuals skill levels are at different stages and therefore all training needs to be modulised so that people can work on them at the pace that suits them
• Needs to be led by classroom practitioners and it needs to be practical and linked to teaching and administrative tasks
• Presenter must be creditable and effective
• Staff have to have a need
• Needs to be hands on and relevant to the classroom
• Must acknowledge that some staff are not very good at ICT and need encouragement to start
• Ensure that some of these skills are embedded in teacher training courses
• It must be fully supported by the dept.
• Essential to success
• Way of  the future – keep up or get left behind
• A very long road with much work needed
• Need to recognise various levels of expertise
• Practice makes perfect
• Needs to be a shared responsibility for ICT PD – individual, dept
• Engage people at all levels of ICT use
• Here are no bad computers only bad users
• Must be achievable
• Critical to the development of QT in the 21^st century
• Everyone can benefit from it
• Get in and use ICT and then have sharing time
• Time allocated for in school PD needs to be matched by the teacher out of school if they are going to develop any useful skills
• Has to happen now!
• It is necessary but very difficult to deliver
• It must be based on the individuals ability levels and the schools focus
• Need to use the skills they have learnt so they aren’t forgotten
• Staff need to be open to the idea that the kids can help or might know more
• You need to develop a sense that it will benefit the teacher as well as the student
• You will never get everyone on board-target the ones you can first
• Needs leadership
• Absolutely necessary
• Without the building blocks of PD, technology is just a gimmick

Strategies that you can use or are using to build leadership capacity in ICT in your school

• Sharing strategies used within the classroom that have worked
• The development of technology interest groups
• Identify “ordinary” teachers with an interest in ICT – upskill them and have them teach others
• Find the “master teacher”. Build confidence and have them build capacity
• Timetabled relief per faculty in each cycle with a designated focus for each cycle
• Surveyed staff to find out what they know and what they need/want to know
• The use of CLAS to help map TPL needs across the school
• Ensure all head teachers have access to training to help their staff
• Create a “faculty expert” in each KLA
• Show successful ICT products from a classroom
• Have state of the art equipment that always works
• Ensure hardware is available
• Encourage staff to lead PD
• Build leadership density and give more teachers PD responsibility and time
• Networking and mentoring  between schools and outside the school environment
• Technology committee in all KLA membership
• Café style training sessions on a designated afternoon  - relaxed and common focus
• Connected Classroom Project team, with a representative from all KLA’s in a working meeting, once a fortnight
• Team teaching
• Survey staff for expertise to lead potential teams
• Mentoring of staff in lessons
• Lighthouse innovative ICT strategies to staff. I have produced lessons delivered via podcast and delivered them via school’s website
• Linked directly to the classroom and student learning outcomes
• Collaborative involvement from a expert base

What factors do you think make Professional Development successful?

·        Relevant and meaningful

·        Can be implemented using available resources in the classroom

·        Doing rather than being shown

·        Learning at own level and at own chosen time

·        Engaging

·        Hands on and memorable

·        Resource management providing adequate and efficient professional development programs

·        Inclusiveness – whole faculties, schools, learning communities working together

·        Practical and time of their own

·        Must be relevant and in line with needs of participants

·        Need to have a combination of release time and own time

·        Support learning with time for practice

·        Based on individual learning skills

·        Strategies that are relevant and able to be immediately used in the classroom

·        Non threatening and supportive

·        Must see real improvement in student learning outcomes – often this is not so

·        Versatility of material to adopt to different levels of expertise

·        Time to train and then implement

·        Ensuring activities are linked to teaching practice and that staff can take something they can use

·        Staff have sense of ownership over learning

·        TPL must translate to changed practices in teaching and learning – teachers need to be able to grasp the link

·        Encourage staff to look at opportunities for changed pedagogy

·        Encourage discussion about change

·        Lead by example – get into technology

·        Competently delivered, relevant, engaging and entertaining

What can you do in your own school to change the future of education?

• Have all staff accept that ICT is necessary
• Provide hardware and software for staff to use
• Lead the way
• Challenge the “old” thinking
• Ask the students what works and what they need
• If you don’t use you loose
• Work collegically with our learning community
• Work must be relevant to the real world, needs and expctations
• Make a difference
• Be prepared to make people uncomfortable and feel the need for change
• Encourage / lead
• Acknowledge quality teaching is more important than quality laptops/software or hardware
• Implement ICT that is appropriate to successful classroom delivery
• Gather and work with the true believers
• Support staff
• Encourage ownership
• Regional support
• Update our technology
• Buy more hardware eg data projectors
• Get staff involved in classroom research and data
• Involve student/parent
• Be positive
• Success measured by those who follow
• Build a robust secure schools intranet for staff, students and community – using software such as sharepoint
• Gives virtual community to the whole school
• Engage staff in meaningful PD
• Be receptive rather than resistance to change
• Backward map change so that you can plan affectively
• Look at assessment tasks that require technology to ensure implementation
• Support, be very positive
• Build infrastructure

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