Nadia Williams

ITEC 7500: Capstone & Portfolio

Fall 2015
Standard 5.2
Standard 5.2: Professional Learning
Candidates develop and implement technology-based professional learning that aligns
to state and national professional learning standards, integrates technology to support
face-to-face and online components, models principles of adult learning, and promotes
best practices in teaching, learning, and assessment. (PSC 5.2/ISTE 4b)
Reflection:
The artifact that is in the best alignment with Standard 5.1 regarding professional
learning, is one I created for ITEC 7460 in the Spring 2015 Semester. This artifact,
entitled Blogging for Educators was created as a one-hour technology workshop. The
assignment required that I create and implement a face-to-face technology-based
professional learning experience in alignment with state and national
professional learning standards, however I opted to take it a step further. I chose to
also offer the workshop in an online version.
As evidence of my mastery of Standard 5.2., using a Wordpress blogging template, I
curated the outside resources to support the content I wrote for the presentation. As a
result, I developed and implemented a means for educators to learn about blogging
in a self-directed format. This technology-based professional learning that which
fell in line with the research of K. P. Cross who found that approximately 70% of adult
learning is self-directed. Furthermore, my Blogging for Teachers online course also
aligned with state and national professional learning standards, in it being
offered in an entirely online format, any educator going through the course could also
self-differentiate by focusing only upon the modules that would serve their needs best.
For example, if an educator knows all of the ins and outs of creating a blog, but does
not know how to set blog posts to publish themselves automatically, they could skip the
first four modules and go to module five which is subtitled Making Your Blog Work for
You. In offering the opportunity for self-differentiation, this workshop worked to not only
offer the integration of technology to support both the online and face-to-face
training, but it also served as a means for modeling best practices in teaching,
learning, and in the workshop evaluation assessment.
Ironically enough, in creating this artifact, I learned how to use a blogging template in a
manner other than for creating a blog. That said, I was also able to model some of the
blogging practices I mentioned through each module of the Blogging for Educators
online workshop. Should I do this again, I would keep the blog platform version of the
workshop and tie that in with one on a learning management system such as
Schoology, Canvas, or even Blackboard. These systems provide a foundation for a

more robust online learning experience that my Wordpress-hosted online technology

workshop could not. In addition, I only offered a workshop evaluation to assess how
well I delivered information and supported their needs and did not take the time to get
around to seeing exactly how they continued to use what I had taught them. This is
another thing I would have done differently. I would have loved to have had the time to
conduct a formal assessment to gauge the impact of this workshop upon my colleagues
and ultimately the students.
The creation of this artifact impacted professional development within my school. I was
able to continue to present to my peers in a professional development session, both inperson and virtually. As a result, they continued to see me as someone to whom they
could turn in order to find ways to add more technological tools into their teaching
practices. I did find that my colleagues who were able to participate in either the faceto-face or digital trainings felt more comfortable with the blogs they were using to
support their work in their classrooms. I was able to assess this impact through the
workshop evaluation I offered to participants in both the face-to-face and virtual
workshops. The resulting feedback told me that the majority of the participants who
attended my workshop in either format were excited to learn ways to have their blog
automatically email subscribers. Furthermore, they were appreciative to see how they
could integrate their social media accounts into their blogs as well. These two features
were clearly stated as ways these teachers were planning to keep in regular
communication with their students parents. By publishing information through their
blogs, email, and social media simultaneously, these teachers did not need to follow up
with their students parents via email or phone calls as often as they would have had to
do beforehand.
References
Cross, K. P. (1981). Adults as learners: Increasing participation and facilitating learning.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.