Saturday, March 14, 2009

What are the concerns that new SmartBoard users have following the Introduction the the SmartBoard Workshop

Action Research:
URL: http://tinyurl.com/action-research-smartboard for this document
Research Question:
The purpose of this study is explore the concerns that new SmartBoard users have following the Introduction to the SmartBoard workshops.

The Thames Valley District School Board has been involved in an systemic change project focused on instruction for the last five years. The rational for this study is to impact student learning – with a focus on literacy. This year, in year six, a group of teachers were nominated to be involved in the action research to inquire into their classroom use of different aspects of the project. As part of that we were provided with five days from November to February to plan and share our planning. Tangentially, our school has focused on how this....our students
Rationale
Lessons that effectively integrate the interactiveness of the smartboard in various classroom applications can be a very challenging for a new smartboard user. For example, the SmartBoard software is the key to enabling teachers to create situations to engage students in situations that are more difficult in more traditional tools. Even though the effective use of all the features of the Notebook software can be challenging and formative task when first introduced to the software. Teachers express concerns about the learning curve of using the smartboard, the software, lesson design incorporating the smartboard and classroom management. This research project will look at the concerns that teachers raise so that they can be addressed in follow-up workshops.
Background
Thames Valley District School Board has been purchasing interactive whiteboards for over 10 years. Over the last 5 years we have gone from a few dozen Interactive Whiteboards to over 1,300 SmartBoard in classrooms across the valley. More smartboards are being ordered every month. Introduction to the SmartBoard workshops are being run during school time, after school and on weekends. The sessions fill up quickly by teachers who are getting a SmartBoard in their classroom, have a SmartBoard in their classroom, want a Smartboard in their classroom or are an occasionally teacher who wants to be able to use a smartboard in a classroom when they are called to supply in a classroom with a smartboard.
TVDSB has run a SmartBoard Conference with over 300 teachers attending on a Saturday in April. Teachers have also attended a SmartBoard Conference run by Smart Tech at Appleby College in Feb and April. Thames Valley teachers made up the large percentage of the teachers attending. In the past we have run Introductory workshops for teachers with Intermediate and Advanced workshops occasionally being offered during the Summer Institutes and school year.
I have been an educator for over 32 years and a Learning Coordinator for five years. My involvement in training teachers has been over the last 5 years. Over 100 smartboard workshops have been run by me across Thames Valley and at conferences in London, Waterloo, Toronto, Michigan, Texas and in Washington. The current workshops were designed using in the classroom Action Research from 2007- 2008 conducted by me. The focus was to look at how do we start to get teachers interested in using the smartboard.
This research project will inquire into teacher concerns related to the use of the smartboard and their professional development with this tool. I will use the CBAM model ( Concerns-Based Adoption Model), Technology Matrix and the How are they using the SmartBoard Matrix that I have developed. See the resources below.* As teachers move from non-users to orientation to preparation, mechanical, routine, refined, integrative and finally refocusing their concerns change. Their concerns need to be addressed. This research project will look at the different levels of concern as they move upwards from the non user status with no concerns, awareness, information, personal, impact on students and then to collaborative. What are the teachers concerns as they move through the different levels of growth and learning.?

This project will follow a number of teachers who are new to the smartboard and how teacher in-service and post -in-service help teacher's growth. Teachers who attend the Introduction to The SmartBoard Part A and Part B will be invited to be involved.
Methodology
The methodology section is divided into sections:
Data Collection:
Step One
Conducting Introduction to the SmartBoard Part A and B
Step Two
Teachers are invited to complete the survey that looks at the concerns that teachers have raised related to:
Rate ability pre and post workshop(knowledge, use of functions, etc.)

Outstanding knowledge and/or learning gaps

What supports, information, training would they like to receive

How they plan to use the SmartBoard in their classroom

How they will evaluate impact of SmartBoard on students

What observations/findings do they have regarding SmartBoard use in the classroom

Step Three
Collect the feedback
Anaylize the data
Design the Followup Workshop "Beyond the Basic Workshop"
Design the follow-up feedback survey
Step Four
Conduct the Follow-up workshops dsigned arounbd teachers concerns.
The Process: Collection of Data

STAGES

Conduct Introduction workshops

Complete Feedback questionnaire

Look at the concerns raised by the teachers to from the survey.

On workshop topics

On their learning

Rate ability pre and post workshop(knowledge, use of functions, etc.)

Outstanding knowledge and/or learning gaps

What supports, information, training would they like to receive


How they plan to use the SmartBoard in their classroom

How they will evaluate impact of SmartBoard on students

What observations/findings do they have regarding SmartBoard use in the classroom

Conduct on site review

Collect observational data from teachers (impact of SmartBoad on students)

Determine outstanding learning needs