TechQuest Project Description

The Four Common Places in Education:

Teachers: For the early stages of this implementation, the teachers will be the administration and the coaching team. As the focus shifts to phase 2, the teachers will include the K-5 classroom teachers.

Students: For the early stages of this implementation, the students will be the elementary teachers of Odessa Elementary. As the focus shifts to phase 2, the students will include the K-5 students in our school.

Subject Matter: Professional Development and all content areas

Context/Setting: Odessa Elementary School in New Port Richey, Florida

The Problem of Practice
This summer we are busy getting ready to open the doors of Odessa Elementary for the first time. Currently, our staff has been hired from ten different elementary schools. Recently we had our new school retreat where we spent four days getting to know each other and developing our Core Values for the new school. During this process, we really came together as a staff as we worked to develop our own identity. As we prepare to begin the 2010-2011 school year, however, there are a lot more decisions to be made and discussions to be had. As a member of the coaching team, I have asked myself "How do we continue to establish our Wildcat team?". For the duration of the summer, there is a definite need to continue what we started at the retreat so that we are ready to open the doors to students on August 16th. This problem is most important in my work as an educator at this time. In order to be successful in our first year as a new school, it is important for our staff to cooperate and put our Core Values into practice. Again, the problem lies in how we are going to continue this process between now and the start of the school year.

Why do we need to address this?
In his article, Jere Brophy sites the principles that drive effective instruction. The three principles that apply to our current needs at Odessa Elementary School are a supportive climate, thoughtful discourse and cooperative learning. The teachers in this case will be the coaches on the instructional staff (literacy coach, media coach, and technology coach) as well as the administrators while the learners will be the classroom teachers. Together, we are looking for a way to put these effective teaching principles into practice. Why is it important to solve the problem of practice? It is important because we have been given the responsibility of creating and maintaining the culture of a brand new school and we have an entirely clean slate on which to start. Every year after this will thrive on the foundation we have built. Most importantly, we have an opportunity to decide what is important to us as educators and see those beliefs carry over into the classrooms to drive student achievement. In order for this to happen, however, we need to continue to have the important discussions and make decisions. In the end, if we are successful in building a supportive climate, facilitating thoughtful discourse and encouraging collaboration and cooperative learning, our staff will become a cohesive team where each member has had his or her opinion heard and incorporated into the vision and practice of Odessa Elementary School.

Proposed technology solution
Our district has been actively pursuing the implementation of Moodle in the schools and I fully support this implementation. In this case, my proposed solution is to create a Moodle site for our school, Odessa Elementary. Within this site, I will create an area for a professional learning community. Then, within that community, I will create courses related to our ongoing work groups and discussions. For example, our Positive Behavior System work group met recently to discuss our ideas for a school wide behavior plan. To facilitate further discussion for those who could not attend, I will create a PBS course. Under that course, I will post the notes from the work groups, copies of the distributed handouts and any new documents that were created. Then, I will create a discussion forum with a prompt that will allow teachers to discuss or share an idea about the posted materials. For this particular work group, my discussion post could be "What do you like about this behavior plan? Do you have any thoughts or ideas on how to make it more effective?". During teacher planning week, we will be able to go over the Moodle discussions and posted works and make the final decisions about how they will be incorporated into our school year.

Using Moodle will be a beneficial tool in setting a positive climate, facilitating thoughtful discourse and encouraging collaboration. First, it can be accessed by all teachers from their home computers. This is especially important as we are without our new school computers at the moment. Second, it supports the district's vision for using Moodle with students as well as for professional development. Also, for those who are unable to attend work groups, it offers a chance to see the development of school related plans or ideas as well as a chance to chime in with a thought or idea. Finally, it is cost effective because Moodle is a free resource and is hosted by our district server.

As I looked into other alternatives for building a professional learning community, I quickly disregarded Blackboard due to the cost to the school. Also, I deliberated over using a wiki to create a collaborative environment. In the end, I chose Moodle because our district supports its use in our schools. Also, by choosing Moodle, I can add different collaboration features to each work group in order to expose teachers to using different Web 2.0 tools. For example, in one work group I may use a discussion forum to engage teachers while I may choose to use a wiki in another so teachers can add to the previously posted work or ideas. I will also be able to set up a blog where the users can post their ideas as separate entries that answer the discussion prompt. Essentially, it is multifaceted and therefore Moodle will be the most effective technology tool.

There are several schools that have used Moodle in a similar way and have been successful. Here are some case study examples of schools that have used Moodle as a professional learning community. These cases helped me decide on implementing this tool.

• Pasco County Schools, Florida: This is the district in which I work. Our district leaders set up their own Moodle universe called LEARN (Learn Easily and Right Now). Within this platform, departments, such as the Elementary Math Department, have set up courses to give teachers access to curriculum maps, lesson plans, and online resources. In this way, our district created a Professional Learning Community where teachers across the district can access what they need as well as engage in forums to ask questions and share ideas. I used it often as a classroom teacher to access information, documents and ideas. Now, as a technology coach, I use the Instructional Media and Technology department course to talk with coaches from other schools to get ideas and share resources.

• Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, Tennessee: In this district, they started using Moodle as a way for teachers to take online courses that would normally be taken in face-to-face environments as trainings. Their goal was for teachers to first become fluent in using the features of Moodle before they were responsible for managing their own course. It then evolved into literacy coaches at the middle and high school level using Moodle courses to help implement a reading intervention program. They used Moodle to troubleshoot, problem solve and communicate about the use of the program. The coach facilitated this course and they were able to build support for the program and find effective ways to use it in their classrooms.

• East Grand Rapids Public Schools, Michigan: As I read about this district, their implementation fit in to my goals for Phase Two of the Moodle implementation at Odessa Elementary. In this district, they adopted Moodle to meet specific needs of the teachers and coined it as their "Swiss Army Knife" for instructional technology. In other words, as the problems came up, Moodle was offered as a tool to use. For example, an art teacher wanted to create a virtual place for students to showcase their work. She created a gallery for each student through Moodle to upload their artwork and share with others. In another East Grand Rapids Public School, the students responsible for the yearbook posted pictures to share with other students so they could decide which pictures were most well liked for use in the final yearbook. By not putting limits on the teachers and students, Moodle was slowly implemented as needed. The result was that teachers found various and creative ways to integrate it into their classrooms to enhance student learning.
  

Implementation case studies found via K-12 Open Technologies at http://www.k12opentech.org/implementation-study-3-moodle.

Implementation Timeline

• July- August 2010 Phase 1: During this time, teachers will access the Professional Learning Community section of the Odessa Elementary School Moodle site to view notes and documents from work group sessions for various planning. To begin, we will have courses for Culture Committees, Academic Committees, Teamwork Committees, the Positive Behavior System group, Professional Development (which includes links to online trainings provided by LEARN) and Team Teaching sharing courses. They will also participate in discussions within these courses using wikis, blogs, and forums.
  

• August 2010-June 2011 Phase 2: We will continue to use the Professional Learning Community courses throughout the year. We will add a Leadership course for team leaders, a Lead Literacy group, a Media & Technology Integration group and a Response to Intervention (Rti) group. In addition, teachers will begin to work with me, the technology coach, to find ways to use Moodle with their students through the facilitation of their own Moodle course. As part of differentiated instruction and Rti conversations, Moodle will become a tool for teachers to begin to solve problems that arise with student learning.

• Year 2 and beyond Phase 3: After teachers have spent time learning to manage a Moodle course and using it as needed as a tool for student learning, I would like to see teachers planning their courses and embedding Moodle into their instructional routine regularly. This will occur over time from the second year of Odessa Elementary and beyond.