Our team heads to Auckland to present to our peers about our 3 year project at Ulearn 2018.
It is satisfying to reflect on our professional development and the ongoing impact of our work. Sharing the “The Nail Project" with a wider audience gives us a chance to reflect on our journey. Here we are! An innovative group of secondary school teachers engaging in peer-led professional development. Our project was opt-in and bottom-up and sought to understand how digital pedagogy, blended with face-to-face teaching, enhanced the development of key competencies for students. As participants we view our peer-led experience as an agentic way to improve teaching practice – dynamic, iterative, complex and collaborative.” Here is the brief that our attendees signed up to see! The Nail project: an innovative way for a group of secondary school teachers to engage in peer-led professional development. It was opt-in and bottom-up and sought to understand how digital pedagogy, blended with face-to-face teaching, enhanced the development of key competencies for students. The participants view their peer-led experience as an agentic way to improve teaching practice – dynamic, iterative, complex and collaborative. This action research project saw 10 teachers across two schools collaborate to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning in engaging their students with learning. The teachers used the Teaching as Inquiry Model to carry out 12 case studies over three years. Their inquiry was: Which e-learning techniques make learning both engaging and effective? When and where do we turn the devices on? There were three key findings: Finding 1: They found effective ways to build the conditions for personalising professional growth using a group format by being collaborative and iterative. Finding 2: Teachers’ research-based professional practice shifted when viewing learning through the lens of key competencies, rather than the lens of achievement objectives. Developing key competencies through a student-centered approach to learning was successful for learners. Finding 3: Facilitation that is planned, responsive and agentic creates the conditions for professionals to build their capacity to engage in research-based practices. The participants in this learning community were committed for three years. The ways these findings give teachers a different lens through which to view the use of technology in the classroom. A unit planner that supports this practice is in production. |
Authorsgaye.bloomfield@ Archives
October 2018
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