FRIT7739

Diana Weeks
Face-To-Face Staff Development

TOPIC: Blendspace A collaborative Web2.0 tool

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN MODEL: Universal Design by Learning

INTRODUCTION:
This a quick (10-15 minutes) professional development workshop is designed for teachers from
grades K-12. It was created to help teachers understand the benefits of the Web2.0 tool;
Blendspace.com and how to use it to enhance their classrooms and collaborate with colleagues.
In this workshop teachers will create an account, and walk away with a lesson of their choice that
is ready to use in their classroom.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT:
Information on the needs of the students was gathered by several different means. First, I had a
discussion with the media specialist and the assistant principal to see what they would like to see
the teachers learn. They both agreed that they would like to start seeing teachers integrating
technology into their classrooms more. All teachers are equipped with 5 iPads in their room, 12
Chromebooks, a Promethean Board, and the majority have 3-4 desktops, and many teachers are
still not integrating these tools in their classrooms. I then wanted to see what the teachers had
to say so I placed a needs assessment survey in the boxes of grades K-2 teachers at Gadsden. I
did not receive all of them back, however the results seemed to point to the fact that the
teachers feel like they do not have time to collaborate and share resources on standards that
they teach. After speaking to a few of these teachers, there seem to be a lot of great ideas, but
not a lot of sharing. Web 2.0 tools were high on the list, along with integrating technology and
being able to share resources with parents on skills that help their children. I discussed with the
media specialist and the assistant

principal, and both agreed that Blendspace would be

the perfect tool to help these teachers.
Here are the results from the needs
assessment:

GOALS:
As a result of this professional development session, educators will know/be able to
-

Understand the benefits of using Blendspace.com

Create an account and login to the website
Create lessons with a variety of multimedia resources
Share lessons with colleagues, students and parents

STANDARDS:
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity: Teachers use their knowledge of
subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance
student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.
2. Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments: Teachers
design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments incorporating
contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the
knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the Standards.
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership: Teachers continuously improve their
professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and
professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and
resources.

OUTLINE:
1. Understand the benefits of using Blendspace.com
a. Why do we collaborate?
b. Why should you use multi-media resources?
c. Why is Blendspace.com a beneficial tool?
2. Create an account
3. Login to Blendspace
4. Create Lessons
a. Choose a topic to create a lesson about
b. Add different types of media into lessons
c. Add descriptions for each resource
5. Share lessons with colleagues
6. Create a class
a. Add students
b. Share lesson with students

TARGET AUDIENCE:
This lesson is designed for K-2 teachers at Gadsden Elementary. Title I has funded many
technology resources for Gadsden. Each classroom grades K-2 is equipped with 5 iPads, 12
Chromebooks, at least 2 desktops, a Promethean Board, and a classroom set of NEO2s. Teachers
have voiced concern for a need for collaboration tools, integrating technology, and sharing

resources more efficiently. The teachers need more time to plan, research, prepare, and share
lessons and resources.

TRAINING LESSON:
Introduction: I will open with a discussion with the teachers about what collaboration is, why it is
important and how it can benefit us as teachers. I will walk through the Emaze presentation with
the teachers to introduce Blendspace and why it will be useful for them in their classrooms.
Tasks: I will walk teachers through how to sign up for a Blendspace account, and how to create a
lesson. The teachers will watch as I demonstrate how easily teachers or students can add
resources to their lesson. I will have teachers get out their laptops and create their own
accounts. I will then have teachers create a lesson on a topic that they are teaching and make
sure they can all add a title to their lesson and allow them to take their time to add resources to
their lessons. I will be available for guidance or questions that the teachers may have.
After a few minutes of teachers adding resources, I will demonstrate how to add their colleagues
and allow them to have access to collaborate on their lesson. I will explain that when a teacher
finds a great resource, they can easily add it to the lesson and instantly share with all teachers
on the grade level. I will then allow teachers to go into their accounts and add the teachers on
their grade level as collaborators. They will then create their own classes and share the lesson
with the class. As teachers are working on their lessons, the rubric below will be displayed on the
Promethean board so teachers can see what is expected of them.
Teachers will email a link to their lessons to me, so I can assess the knowledge they gained
during this lesson. I will use a checklist/rubric to assess their lessons to make sure standards
were met with
at
least a
satisfactory
score.

Rubric:

Teachers will share different ways that they can see Blendspace working in their classrooms and
share ideas about how it can be used.
Teachers will then be asked to fill out a quick survey about this training and results will be sent
directly to my email. Teachers will be encouraged to go back and continue using Blendspace in
their classrooms with their students and colleagues.

Link to survey:
http://www.123contactform.com/form-1925194/Copy-Of-Customer-Satisfaction-Survey

RESULTS:
Assessment Results: Out of the 9 teachers that showed up, 6 of the teachers completed
lessons that scored in the Exemplary category by using the standards on the rubric. 2 teachers
lessons scored in the satisfactory category. There was one teacher that failed to email me their
lesson and received an Unacceptable (this information was shared with the administration and
media specialist). With the results from the rubrics, I would say that the workshop was a success.
Evaluation Survey Results:
QUESTIONS ON SURVEY

How satisfied are you with this

training?
Do you plan on using
Blendspace in your
school/class/grade level?
Will you recommend the
product to your peers?
How do you plan on using
Blendspace in the future?

TEACHER RESPONSES
Very
Satisfied

Satisfied

Neutral

Unsatisfie
d

Very
Unsatisfied

Definitely

Probably

Not Sure

Probably
Not

Definitely
Not

- Collaborating with other teachers

- Sharing resources with teachers and students
- Have students create lessons
- As a place to store resources in one spot for
lessons/skills
Do you have any suggestions to - Make it so we could do it at our own pace
- Slow down the training, I didnt have enough time.
improve this training?
- Please give us Step-by-Step written directions
- No
- N/A
What did you like most about
- It was quick, but useful
- Diana did a great job
this training?
- Blendspace is a great tool and cant wait to use it
- No
- N/A

REFLECTION:
I had a hard time finding teachers that were able to come to a professional development during
planning or after school. It seems that most days at Gadsden they already have a data team
meeting, or other professional development that would cause them not to attend. It is also
challenging to get teachers to stay after school or meet early in the morning. Teachers at
Gadsden have a lot on their plate and it is understandable that they were hard to get to respond.
I did come up with 9 teachers in K-2 that were able to help me. I did not bother the 3-5 teachers,
because it is testing time in Georgia and they have a lot of stress hitting them right now. I did

however have them take the online version, and I think I could only get 8 to respond for that.
One of the teachers that came to the training, really didnt seem to care to be there and did not
pay attention. She would not work on her computer even though I continued to try and help her.
This is typical behavior for this teacher, and is to be expected. I wish I would have made a more
exciting lesson to pull her in, but I have the feeling that I could be doing cartwheels and she
wouldnt have cared. When creating this professional development, I was thinking about trainings
that I have been to that were successful. It was important for me to not waste the teachers time
and make sure they could walk away with something ready to use in their classrooms. This
worked well for some teachers, but a couple seemed lost a lot of the time. They are not as fluent
with the computer as some of the other teachers. I should have had a step-by-step handout
ready for them, so they could follow along. Sometimes it is hard for me to put myself in others
shoes, especially when a tool comes so easily for me to use, so I know I need to work on that.
Majority of the teachers seemed to like the tool and appreciate the uses. For those teachers that
had a hard time keeping up, I am sent them the link to the online version, and I hope they are
able to review the extra resources and learn how to create their own lessons. I also told them
that I was available to come back and help them individually in the next week or so. I felt that I
needed to keep the training short and quick to respect teachers time, knowing that they do not
have a lot of it. I think the pace of the training moved quickly, but worked effectively (for most
teachers).