Mary Forgione

ET691

Canvas Professional Development Session Reflections

Session 1: General Information and Basic Navigation
Date: 3/5/19

Reflection:
My first day went really well! I felt extremely confident and prepared for the session. I learned that I
have a lot of natural confidence and I am much less anxious than I anticipated being. I had ample time
to get all of my resources ready and I have an organized way to share all my information through the
Google Slides. I think having to Google Slides shared with participants will be a great implementation
for when participants want to be able to look back on the learning content. Instead of sending each
slide out individually, I am going to make a Google Folder and drop the weekly slides in there. This way,
if a participant misses a session they will have access to all the needed information. I was kind of
surprised at how much positive feedback and excitement that I got from the participants, but I’m happy
that everything liked the set-up, presentation, and organization of the materials. I want to plan to
include some videos next time to allow for some collaboration on the information and more discussion.

Unfortunately, the turn-out was disappointing. After the initial Google Form to survey interest, I
expected more people, but only 5 participants came. For next steps I will send out full staff emails to try
and recruit more participants. In regards to the refreshments, no one wanted to be the one to open the
snacks, but the individually wrapped chocolates were a hit. I’ll be sure to have smaller foods accessible.

Session 2: Homepage
Date: 3/13/19

Reflection:
My homepage wasn’t viewable from the hyperlink in the Google Slides, since the participants were not
“students enrolled in my course”. I had to hold up my computer for a couple of minutes to guide the
content, which wasn’t anticipated. In the future, I need to check the links on a colleague’s computer to
have a heads-up about if this issue is to happen again. Sometimes it’s unavoidable (like for the reason
today) but it will be good for me to know so I don’t get thrown off. I did handle it well though. The
participants that needed to create a new sandbox had a homepage that was different than mine, which
again wasn’t expected. I had to quickly troubleshoot and have them create their homepage in “Pages”.
Canvas has a LOT of quirks! There were a lot of questions about the digital resources, which was really
good because people learned a lot. I’ll be sure to include a lot of in-depth information on digital tools
when we get to the “Multimedia” sessions, since there is so much interest. For next steps I’m going to
continue to include some videos (a screencast perhaps) to ensure continued engagement, as well as
specific and clear access to information when participants are at home.

I know the provided information was helpful because Allyson, Mari, Alexis, and Sofia kept saying things
likes “I understand now” and “Oh, that makes sense. I got it!” I really like watching their light-bulbs go
off. I’m learning that adult learners like doing their own thing, like skipping ahead in the slides. I’m
going to continue to allow for partner/individual exploration of websites/links/videos to build some
background knowledge and allow for more questions to brew.
Session 3: Announcements/ Assignments
Date: 3/19/19

Reflection:

Today Liz and Ruth carried out the professional development session without me since I had
synchronous class for ET691. I included a screencast into the google slides presentation regarding
creating Announcements this week since I wasn’t going to be there. I was informed that the
participants liked that the screencast was personal and “to the point”. I need to continue to ensure that
any accompanying videos are quick, since my participants have shared that they are tired after a long
day of teaching. Also, none of the participants had heard of Screencast-O-Matic and I am shocked! I will
absolutely include some slides in week 5 about how the use it. They are going to absolutely love it.

Since I was not able to be in class, I started leaving feedback on the participant’s Google Slides. I will
plan to continue to do this to reinforce their collection of artifacts, and ultimately their shared
knowledge of the sessions’ learning objectives. Another next step will be to start thinking about how to
get some more specific feedback from my participants in regards to if they are feeling successful in
meeting the learning objectives and what they do/don’t like about the sessions. When I met with
Nancy, she advised that I send out a Google Form survey. I think this would be really easy and provide
some great anonymous insight.

Session 4: Quizzes
Date: 3/26/19

Reflection:

I sent out a feedback survey (Google Form) to the participants at the end of the session today. From the
results of the Google Form, participants shared that they are finding the professional development
sessions to be highly productive. There was a 100% satisfaction rating, which feels so good! They
appreciate the time to explore the resources before diving in, the amount of partner/independent
work-time, and the adequate time for questions. I continue to get complimented on the organization of
the slides and as Allyson said “how easy everything is to follow and understand”.

I am learning that Canvas continues to be fickle. As I dive deeper into the content of Canvas in
preparation for these sessions, I have become slightly more frustrated. Small things that don’t make
sense force me to backtrack when preparing my slides. While creating the slides for this week, I learned
that Quizzes cannot be edited once students have started or used again. This is super annoying for the
teachers that use the same Quizzes every year but have to continually re-make them! I saw some eye-
rolls when I mentioned some of these “downfalls” of Canvas but I know that they are directed at the
fickle technology, not me. Also, since primary and intermediate Canvas-use is proving to be very
different, I need to preemptively consider appropriate primary and intermediate uses. By this I mean, I
should have ideas ready for the younger learners and older learners, instead of assuming the Canvas-
use is the same. By asking more questions (and directing the questions to both primary and
intermediate teachers) we’ll also continue to have more collaborative conversation.
Session 5: Adding Multimedia
Date: 3/26/19

Reflection:

This session was SO much fun. This was by-far my favorite session so far. Everyone had so many light-
bulb moments, and the participants were highly engaged throughout the entire session. Sofia and
Alexis even stayed late because they were so excited with the images and videos they were adding to
their homepages and quizzes. There was cheering, smiling, and so much collaboration around future
use of images, videos, and Creative Commons. In regards to refreshments, I handed out individualized
bags of popcorn today, and they are getting eaten much more than the single large bag of popcorn.

I am really excited that we’ll be having two sessions of “Multimedia” use on Canvas. It was clearly
beneficial that sent out a Google Form survey to obtain topics of interest before the sessions began.
This session was highly anticipated by the participants, and their positive attitudes definitely reflect
that. Since this session was so engaging, I’m going to allow for a lot of work-time in the next session and
engage a lot of turning and talking, and sharing out of ideas. I think the participants are going to love
creating their own videos through Canvas since it is so easy and fun to create.

Session 6: Adding Multimedia Day 2

Date: 4/2/19

Reflection:

Today was another great session. I am learning that multimedia is a huge motivator for adult learners,
and I’ve also learned in my previous courses that it is a huge motivator for young learners as well. I
know that my participants are motivated by multimedia due to how focused on their original
productions they were, and how excited they were to share out their ideas for Canvas video usage. My
participants shared that they really had no idea that Canvas allowed for such easy access of creating
original videos. Everyone got a good laugh at the screenshot I took of myself in the video platform,
which also added to the positive and playful climate of the session. Allyson shared that creating and
posting original videos to Canvas would be perfect for substitute plans. This idea led into a really good
conversation about ensuring that we keep learning authentic, relevant, and fun, even if there is a
substitute. I was really happy that Sofia and Christina really took to this idea too.

Four participants spend most of the “work-time” creating scripts for a video for upcoming substitute
plans. It was nice to see everyone having fun with creating original videos through Canvas. More
importantly, my participants are showing me that they are meeting their learning objectives for the
session. I’ve noticed that I haven’t been getting many questions recently, so I’m planning to ask more
questions for participants to reflect on in hopes of encouraging more conversation and more
collaboration. Since everyone was so eager to share out their ideas today, I think they will be receptive
to more sharing-out of ideas through more reflection questions in future sessions.
Session 7: SpeedGrader and Rubrics
Date: 4/9/19

Reflection:

The participants continue to vocalize that they really appreciate the time to independently explore the
links/websites/ and videos to build some background information before going through steps together.
I am thankful for this feedback because I know to continue providing resources for my adult learners
and use the R2D2 model. The R2D2 model that I am using to plan to professional development sessions
lends itself nicely to front-loading resources to read before reflecting. I have done a good job of
providing different videos and websites to prompt verbal conversation, but I want to try to incorporate
a Padlet. This will be a great resource for the participants to be able to go back and see everyone’s’
ideas in one, organized place.

This was a little bit of a difficult session for me because the content was primarily targeting
intermediate teachers. As a primary teacher, I have never used SpeedGrader or Rubrics before. I was
honest and I let the participants know that we would all be learning together today, and they
appreciated my honesty in never having used either tool before. What made this session especially
difficult was that Liz was not there. Liz uses both tools frequently and it was unfortunate that she
wasn’t there to share her experiences or insight. Luckily, Liz helped out a lot with the slides for this
week so I had her information to practice with ahead of time and follow while presenting. I’m learning
that even when I lack confidence in the content that I am presenting, I show that I have a growth
mindset. I am willing to admit when I don’t know something but I always make sure to find the answers
for the people that need them. I’m really flexible and exhibit a lot of confidence.

Session 8: Classroom Integration (Basic and Advanced)

Date: 4/23/19

Reflection:

I was frustrated that my internet did not work for the first 10 minutes of the session. Our sessions were
out in the portable and I had connectivity issues. Since I was unable to connect, Liz had to connect her
computer instead. It was difficult not being able to see ahead on the slides/be prepared for what was
next. Something that I had already done to counteract this potential problem was to ensure that all of
the participants had access to the presentation slides so that they could follow along on their own as
well. I’m glad that I thought of this at the beginning of my internship. The Padlet that I incorporated
promoted a lot of conversation. I will definitely include another one in next week’s slides. Participants
were eager to share out their ideas.

After going over the “Math” slide, I realized that I was doing a lot of talking and the collaboration kind
of stopped. Noticing that, for the next two slides I ask participants to partner-up and discuss which
ideas would be most relevant for their own classroom/students and why. We were then able to have
some more collaborative conversation. This was a great, quick decision! Based on the conversation, I
even got the idea to use Canvas Quizzes to incorporate CCC in my classroom. The collaboration proved
to be very beneficial. I have started noticing that Liz and Ruth haven’t been adding to to collaborative
document so I’ve been sending out emails as reminders and to ask for input in what I’ve entered. I
appreciate being able to take the lead and I see this as them trusting in my decisions for the
professional development sessions. I’ll continue to email them for the next two weeks if I don’t see
anything in our collaborative document.

Session 9: Classroom Resource Page

Date: 5/7/19
Reflection:

This was a fun session. Unfortunately, when making the slides for this week, I realized that the number
of free Padlet boards that I could make were up. That means that I had to research a similar version of
Padlet, and I found “Dotstorm”. Dotstorm worked well, but I definitely like Padlet better. It’s prettier.
Also, I wasn’t aware ahead of time that participants had to write their name before adding a post, but
that was easy to get around. The participants stayed later again today because they were engaged in
creating the best classroom resource pages that they could. They were happy that we would be sharing
out our classroom resource pages to start the next session because they wanted to see authentic
examples and “see if they were right”.

I tried to promote conversation today by asking how things were going, but everyone was typing
furiously and I felt like I didn’t want to interrupt their individual work-time. A lot of good ideas and
resources were shared out a little bit later so my patience did eventually pay off. After the session, I
reviewed the participants “Canvas Artifacts Slides” once again. I had noticed that artifacts from last
week’s session weren’t uploaded so I included a reminder in the upcoming session to include the
artifact for the “Classroom Integration” slide. I can’t believe next week is out last session!

Session 10: Conversations and Discussions

Date: 5/14/19

Reflection:

There were so many questions today! I realized during the session that the participants were making a
lot of connections to previous learning objectives and asking higher-level questions regarding the
content. I felt really confident being able to answer their questions. Just as I thought, sharing out
classroom resource pages promoted fruitful conversations about how to best engage students and
parents in different ways via Canvas.

I thought it was a really good idea to send out a final feedback form to the participants. I kept it
cohesive with the midpoint feedback form to see if any aspects in particular changed or were different.
I received so much positive feedback which let me know that participants were 100% satisfied with
their learning experience and applying their new knowledge. Also, based on the feedback that I
received from the EOY survey, I have learned that I am successful with leading professional
development because of my organization and knowledge. My next steps as a technology leader will be
to teach this same professional development again next year. I have everything that I need, and each
session was extremely successful. I want to be able to reach more of the employees at my schools, and
teaching this again would be the best way to do that!