Paula Stamey, a seventh-grade social studies teacher in Benton, Tennessee, taught for 20 years before her school became a Verizon Innovative Learning School and adopted one-to-one technology in 2017. Initially, he resisted this change, feeling that it was unnecessary and distracting. “I felt like I had a system that worked and that introducing this ‘nonsense’ would add nothing to my classroom and would only create more work for me and be a distraction for my students,” she said. She had his students put away their devices when they entered her classroom and continued teaching the same way she had for the past two decades.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in March 2020, Ms. Stamey realized that everything she had been doing suddenly needed to go digital. She knew she had to prepare for what could come, so she remembered what she had learned during her initial learning experiences at Verizon Innovative Learning Schools and began diving into every certification and professional development opportunity she could find. “I wanted to have as many tools under my belt as possible when the new school year rolled around,” she said.
Ms. Stamey is not alone in her initial reluctance to use technology in her classroom. While you’ve had time to shift your thinking and be intentional about adding technology to your teaching, many teachers have grappled with the rapid influx of technology since districts hastily adopted one-to-one programs in a scramble to offer distance learning solutions. for students during the pandemic. The heroic achievements of district and school leaders, IT leaders, teachers, and parents to continue learning amid unprecedented events revealed two essential truths about individual programs:
- Constant advances in educational technology (including devices, connectivity and software) affirm its tremendous potential to support teachers with powerful tools capable of reaching students in broad and varied ways.
- The challenges to effectively implementing an individualized program to maximize that potential are complex, intertwined, and not easily resolved.
As schools enter their third year post-pandemic, they face challenges such as outdated devices and the need for robust systems that support device acquisition, connectivity, and maintenance. Educators need support to leverage technology to meet the diverse needs of students, emphasizing digital competencies and 21st century skills. To address this, comprehensive professional learning integrated into individual programs is crucial for a sustainable digital transformation. Aligns the vision of district and school leaders with implementation systems, ensures IT support for device access, and equips educators for student-centered learning. This comprehensive approach aligns with the soon-to-be-released Digital Promise Digital Equity Framework and fosters significant improvements in student outcomes.
The uncomfortable truth, however, is that high-impact professional development is not easy to achieve. Research has shown that Investing in professional development produces mixed results.. Educators often experience professional development as a patchwork of different vendors and formats disconnected from district initiativescharacterized by a largely passive delivery model with Few opportunities to connect learning to local context or extend learning into meaningful classroom practice..
Still, empirical research on What makes professional development effective? in developing new skills and changing instructional practices that impact student learning aim to Several effective practices that can inform the design and delivery of professional learning type. that is necessary for districts and schools to transform their individual programs into high-impact models. Our experiences supporting districts to implement successful individual programs through the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program over the past 10 years revealed these evidence-based keys to effective professional learning:
- Coherent and sustained duration. There is a consensus among researchers that Educators benefit from sustained and ongoing professional learning. which is connected to both district and school initiatives and is based on a local context, with some suggesting approximately 50 hours in a specific area. Unlike one-time workshops that may spark short-term interest, repeated opportunities to engage with concepts and develop related skills over time are essential for educators to transfer what they learn from professional development sessions to new practices in Classroom. The multi-year professional learning program for Verizon Innovative Learning Schools supports learning from multiple stakeholders responsible for the successful implementation of individual programs. The scope and sequence of professional learning for each stakeholder ensures numerous hours of coherent and connected content aimed at accelerating the development of high-leverage knowledge and skills for each role. Numerous touchpoints over time allow concepts to develop, creating regular opportunities to practice and refine the application across all aspects of implementation.
- Active and Responsive Learning. An active learning model promotes deep cognitive engagement and opportunities to practice while remaining responsive to individual learning needs. Feedback from experts and peers is essential for an active, practice-rich professional learning model. Additionally, offering students choice and choice regarding paths and pacing increases active learning and can increase engagement. We achieve these goals in several ways as part of our instructional design process. First, we rely on designing learning for multiple modalities, both synchronous and asynchronous. Live synchronous sessions are rich in modeling and collaborative meaning-making. Asynchronous sessions are more flexible for students who can explore concepts and examples based on their interests and growth areas. Finally, we provide small hands-on opportunities in the classroom, enhanced with field-based instructional technology training. This adds motivation and allows for real-time feedback for reflection and skill improvement. Verizon Innovative Learning Schools trainers are the centerpiece of an active and responsive professional learning model, constantly connecting learning to the local context and supporting continuous cycles of practice, feedback, reflection and meaning-making.
- Collective participation. Being intentional about collective engagement speaks to the benefit of seeking professional learning with others in the same school or district, which can increase peer support and encourage continued learning outside of structured professional development sessions. The cohort model of the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program means that students in different roles participate in professional learning tailored to their individual contributions for individualized implementation, supporting collective participation. This collaborative approach is intensified through our promotion of online professional learning communities. For this effort, we leverage community spaces, both online and through virtual and in-person events, to connect students within districts, across districts, and across cohorts at different stages of implementation.
Mrs. Stamey never returned to her old ways of teaching. “Once I finally allowed myself to give in to technology and saw how much student engagement increased, I began to let go of other ‘old school’ notions of what a classroom should be like and how a class should function,” she said. . Using the knowledge gained during her professional development, Ms. Stamey has created a classroom where students can choose what to work on and how to do it. “I don’t think any of this would have been possible without Verizon Innovative Learning Schools…allowing me to see how much more I could give to my students,” she said. “I feel more involved and committed to my career than I have in a long time.”
