Leading Tech Certification PD Sessions

This plan is not going according to plan.

Everything was worked out in our heads. It seemed good on paper. I put my doubts away because after all, this was the way we did it and it worked for us.

Sound familiar?

via GIPHY

This year one goal I/we had was to upskill the faculty about the different technology tools we use. It was decided we would focus on Google and Seesaw. 

When I got my Seesaw Ambassador certification way back in 2017, it was just a series of videos that one had to watch. Now Seesaw has a few different options for certifications beginning with the Seesaw Pioneer. After that, with time and watching different PD webinars, it is possible to be invited to become an ambassador. From there, you can then become a Seesaw Certified Educator.

So back to my plan, teachers would get the Pioneer certification. We would then move on to putting teachers on the path to becoming a Google Certified Educator Level 1. Google has great resources for this. 

It was decided that teachers would go through the Google-made resources, complete the quizzes, get ready for the test, and take it, and, of course, pass with flying colors.

My own journey with GCE was:

• Read the first module
• Take their quiz
• Get bored reading
• Take the test

And I honestly thought this was the path some would take as well. 

After the second session, I knew it was not a good model. The problem was that I was in a committee and we could not change course so quickly. 

I was able to mix in some mini workshops that were received well. 

Going into this year my plan was

• more choice
• more mini-workshops in this time

Coming back from summer, the team was really excited to make learning modules in Canvas. That would fulfill my first criterion of giving teachers more choice. The issue I saw in our first session this year was that it was kind of aimless. We told teachers to start with Canvas 101, but then who knows what they were doing?

Draft of Must Do, Should Do, Could Do, Aspire to Do

I would like more transparency, so I decided to take a page from the Modern Learners Project and create a checklist for them. Next, as I would do in my class, I created a Google Sheet where teachers can put the link to their spreadsheet. I might change this to a Google Form and just collect the links and put them in myself.