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 fully online professional development workshop that 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 a lesson so they can walk away with a
lesson on a topic of their choice that is ready to use in their classroom.
NEEDS ASSESSMENT:
I decided to use the same information gathered from the initial needs assessment that was given
for the face-to face staff development. This was being built for the same school, and mostly
same grade levels.
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. This online module was created
for those teachers that did not have time to join the face-to-face PD that was delivered at the
school. It was also given to the 3-5th grade teachers that were interested in learning a new tool.
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:
http://dianambert.wix.com/blendspacelesson

RESULTS:
Assessment Results: Out of the 8 teachers that have taken the course, 7 of the teachers
completed lessons that scored in the Exemplary category by using the standards on the rubric.
One teachers lesson scored in the satisfactory category. With the results from the rubrics from
the lessons I received, I would say that the workshop was a huge success.

Evaluation Survey Results:

QUESTIONS ON SURVEY

TEACHER RESPONSES
Very
Satisfied

Satisfied

Neutral

Unsatisfie
d

Very
Unsatisfied

Definitely

Probably

Not Sure

Probably
Not

Definitely
Not

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
- NA
Blendspace in the future?
Do you have any suggestions to - NA
improve this training?
What did you like most about
- NA
this training?

no one left remarks

no one left remarks
no one left remarks

REFLECTION:
Since I had such a hard time finding teachers that were willing to come to the face-to-face
professional development, and that it was testing week in Georgia for grades 3-5, I decided to
include all K-5 teachers that did not make it to the face-to-face workshop. I was actually able to
get 8 people to participate, but did not get much feedback from them online. The teachers
completed the task & did very well. Their lessons that they created were great and hopefully
useful to them in the classroom. They all gave good remarks about the online training, but there
were not any suggestions or free written remarks written in on the survey. I think the main

challenge was dealing with the amount of time teachers had to spend, and they did not have
time to write in remarks. In hind sight, I should have given out the online PD on a different week
and maybe teachers would have had a little more time to complete the information. I do know
that Gadsden teachers have a lot on their plate and almost zero extra time on their hands. I do
think I would have liked to have added a discussion board to have teachers comment back and
forth and share ideas, but I will make sure I share out any ideas that were written in the survey
with others. I will be hoping that other teachers continue to work through the online training. I
sent it out to 25 teachers, and have only had 8 complete the training. I look forward to getting
some more responses from other teachers in the upcoming weeks.