Scene+Two

Setting Director of Technology’s Office 

Scene 2 Director of Technology Sara Johnson and Instructional Technology Specialist, Carrie Clark are meeting. They are discussing how to organize the training to get the most bang for the buck. Sara drills Carrie on how they are going to show teachers that Project Based Learning will help their students. It is three days before the scheduled weekly meeting. Two weeks have passed since the initial meeting at LBJD 21st Century School Principal’s Office. Shannon Price and Mark Andrews are both totally onboard and have been working together to develop an outline of the needs in the school among the faculty in order to address what issues the faculty will have with Project Based Learning.

Carrie“OK, I have spoken at length with Mark to discover what issues the faculty will have with integrating technology with Project Based Learning. Research shows that in order to make learning relevant, the students need to be able relate new information to existing knowledge and build connected networks of concepts. How are we going to do this across all content areas?”

Sara, “Well, first, shouldn’t we identify the teachers that we know already use at least some Project Based Learning as well as those who use technology in their lessons now? At least we know we can use a variety of methods such as spreadsheets, databases, multimedia/hypermedia construction, and computer programming to allow students a variety of tools. I don’t think the students will be the problem. I think it is going to be the teachers who are going to be a handful. What do you see us doing to allow the teachers to get a lot of return out of their input in this project?”

Carrie is thinking, “ I KNOW the kids will be fine! They will be motivated when they have such a vast array of tools to use….it is the teachers, for one, that I worry about….” Carrie decides to give her opinion, “I agree. Science and math lend themselves to PBL pretty easily. English and social studies are a little less hands-on friendly but I think when we show them how much this is going to help them long-term, they will get on board. What if we have the teachers develop lessons that will have students analyze their findings using analytical tools, represent what they understand using models, and present them with advanced presentation tools such as VoiceThread, Vimeo, or a blog or wiki. We can also have them visit the Intel Education Website. Intel has many high quality Project Based Learning lessons and strategies that teachers can use or modify.”

Sara, “Good ideas! Also, we need to have the teachers use lesson plans they already have but teach them to adapt them into a Project Based Learning lesson. Then they can use technology or Web 2.0 tools to have the kids develop and present their final products.This way, teachers will not be reinventing the wheel. Incorporating Project Based Learning into the classroom also helps teachers to meet the requirements of the new state teacher evaluation tool. Students will be more engaged because they will be using technology to find answers rather than sitting at a desk and listening all day!” Sara thinks to herself, “I want the best bang for my buck, too! I have more than this one school to worry about. This is great for all our teachers and students but I hope my IT people can keep up with the demands all these projects are going to place on the system and network!”

Carrie, “I think that with the help of the Mark and Shannon, we’ll be able to group the faculty into those who are high fliers with technology and Project Based Learning among those who are unsure. If we keep the training groups heterogeneous, we should be able to head off most naysayers. That should also go for the Project Based Learning experience. I’d say most of the teachers who are with it tech-wise will be more willing to try Project Based Learning in their classroom if they haven’t already. A few teachers will need a little guidance but overall, I think keeping it simple and using what ideas and plans they already have in their “bag of tricks” will go a long way. “

Sara, “I like what you are saying. I will touch base with our Tech Facilitator, Doug Freeman to keep him in the loop on what we see as far as demands on the network. He is also making sure all of our tech needs are met. Doug has been checking out the netbooks we just implemented and the labs at LBJD School. Let’s keep in touch. Will you present what ideas we have so far at our next meeting?”

Sara thinks to self, “I need to make sure Doug has worked out the bugs we have been discovering! The last thing I need is for the network to get bogged down with all of the increased traffic and usage this will generate!”

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