As this quarter in the DEL program comes to an end, I am beginning to seek opportunities to continue developing my role as an instructional technology peer coach. As a lifelong learner, I find that professional development is a great way for coaches to stay updated and engaged with the latest tools, trends, and practices in instructional technology. Effective and applicable professional development is what keeps me inspired and motivated… to keep students and other teachers inspired and motivated! I discovered a few great resources with learning opportunities that I think myself and others can benefit from. Here is a resource available on EdSurge that provides a list of upcoming Educational Technology events and conferences all over the US and Canada. They also provide a calendar specifically geared towards K-12 education, but the 2017 version hasn’t been published yet.
One of the professional development opportunity listed on the calendar above is the NCCE Conference in Seattle back in February of 2016. I enjoyed it so much and found it so incredibly enlightening, I will absolutely be attending the 2017 conference in Portland. Not only was the content innovative and inspiring, but it was a tremendous opportunity to network and collaborate with like-minded professionals. Last time, I was a late registration and signed up for workshops and sessions on the fly, but now that I know what to expect, I can take my time researching and planning to make the most of my conference experience. I found a few workshops that I am interested in and that would directly apply to my role as a technology coach:
SAMRize Your District: The Cutting Edge Of Digital Integration
Implementing Innovative Technology: Ensuring It’s Effective & Making It Manageable
Purposeful PD: Using The Cohort Model To Ignite Change
Another place I can look for professional development oppotunities is a blog maintained by the instructional technology coaches in my school district. Here they post upcoming Edtech events, like the recent EdCamp, which I attended. It is a great resource intended for teachers in my district, but the creative and educational technology integration, activities and experiences they share from around our district can benefit educators anywhere. They do a great job and I appreciate the humor they bring to their jobs! It is definitely worth a look. Exclusive to in-district teachers, however, they also offer self-paced online professional development for teachers who want to learn more, but find it difficult to attend after-school trainings or weekend conferences. Courses cover topics such as classroom blogs, websites, district databases, Google apps and extensions, flipped classrooms, and many more. These will be useful for me to build my knowledge as a technology coach, but also something I will encourage my colleagues to participate in.
#NeverStopLearning
Resources:
Edtech events. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/e
Lees, G., Polzin, C., & Aillaud, J. (1970, January 01). Tech peeps and grumpy cat. Retrieved from http://techpeepsandgrumpycat.blogspot.com/
Maxwell, R., Polzin, C., & Lees, G. (2015). Instructional Technology Online PD. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/edmonds.wednet.edu/instructional-technology-online-pd/home
Wolf, C. (2016). Attend NCCE 2017. Retrieved from http://ncce.org/attend
