Project-Based Curriculum that Integrates Technology and the Arts Across Content Areas

Windsor High School

2017
Allison Frenzel
Kristina Vazquez
Kristian Markus
Bethannie Ramirez
Vicky Tucker

 Table of Contents

Introduction: Statement of Purpose2

Research-based Introduction..............2-4

Vision Statement.4

School Description.... 5-7

Technology Access and Use...7-8

Needs Analysis ...8-10

Rationale for Tech PD.....10-16

Implementation Plan ..

Technology PD .

Timeline .

Budget ...

Evaluation

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 Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this plan is to design and host a regional professional development

opportunity with the goal of supporting teachers in the design of project-based curriculum that

integrates technology and the arts across content areas. Research shows that there is a persistent

deficit in teaching creativity due to the inadequate training that teachers receive in the use of

technology as a facilitator of creativity and intellectual risk-taking (Mishra, Koehler, &

Henriksen, 2011, p. 30).

Research-based Introduction

According to Henriksen, Mishra, and Fisher (2016), the career demands and societal

problems of today are more interdependent, global, and complex than ever before (p. 28).

Given these unique realities, Pink (2005) states that while the skills that were important in the

past (the popularly termed left-brain skills) remain relevant, they are not enough to meet the

challenges educators face in their quest to prepare students for the jobs and careers of the

21st-century (p. 28). He goes on to explain that the right brain qualities of inventiveness,

empathy, joyfulness, and meaningincreasingly will determine who flourishes and who

flounders (Pink, 2015, p. 3). Unfortunately, as the demand for 21st-century skills increase,

Giroux and Schmidt (2004) argue that far too many schools continue to encourage traditional

drill and practice approaches and standards-based teaching that do not foster the type of

creativity students need to develop critical thinking skills that span disciplines, and use

technology tools for creative solutions and outcomes (p. 28). Kernbergs (2006) study also

shows that when students are deprived of K-12 curriculum that encourages creativity, they will

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be at a disadvantage in course after course, year after year when tasked to find unique

solutions to complex problems (p. 94).

Another issue accompanying the persistent deficit in teaching creativity is the inadequate

training teachers receive in the use of technology as a facilitator of creativity and intellectual

risk-taking (Mishra, Koehler, & Henriksen, 2011, p. 30). In the research of Henriksen, Mishra,

and Fisher (2016), there is strong evidence to suggest that contemporary technologies often

bring new possibilities for people to be creative (p. 30). Technology is an essential component

to helping students acquire and apply the knowledge and skills needed to solve complex

problems. As a result, teachers must be knowledgeable about not only the range of ways in

which technology can present content creatively but also how it allows [students] to create

content, rather than summarize and repeat it (Henriksen, Mishra, & Fisher, 2016, p. 30). Despite

the clear need for effective uses of technology to encourage creativity, teachers currently do not

receive the teacher education [and] professional development they need to transform their

classrooms into 21st-century learning environments (Henriksen, Mishra, & Fisher, 2016, p. 30).

In addition, teachers struggle implementing technology in their classrooms because they are not

given enough time and resources to collaborate with other teachers in professional learning

communities where they can experiment and work together to integrate technology (Thoma,

Hutchison, et al., 2017, p. 1). Other barriers to technology integration include too much content

to cover, lack of time to create and implement technology, and lack of software available in the

school (Brenner & Brill, 2016, p. 140).

In the search for solutions that overcome the barriers to technology integration, an

extensive survey conducted by Brenner and Brill (2016) found that teachers desire professional

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development that models, reflects, and offers ample practice and experimentation with

technology. These teachers also indicated a desire for expert guidance, collaboration, hands-on,

authentic experiences [and] practice utilizing technology in K-12 classrooms (Brenner & Brill,

2016, p. 141). Offering teachers training on technology integration is made all the more urgent

given the large amounts of resources that school districts across the country are investing in

with the hope that teachers will be able to harness such technology for the betterment of their

students (Hilton, 2016, p. 68). Based on research conducted by Hilton (2016), two useful

models that have shown significant results in helping teachers better integrate technology into

their daily lesson plans are Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR)

and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). Together, a focus on creativity

and critical thinking and using SAMR and TPACK as frameworks will help teachers better

integrate technology into their classrooms that create and foster 21st-century learning

environments and skills that Common Core State Standards and future employers are looking for

in students.

Vision Statement

Windsor High School (WHS) develops lifelong learners and thoughtful, productive citizens who

will contribute to our global community.

Instructional Technology Goals:

Students will use technology to seek, organize, and communicate information and ideas

Students will use technology to reach academic and individual goals

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 Students will use technology to promote creative potential, solve problems, and create

products

Students will be able to evaluate technology and use technology ethically

Students will develop life-long technology skills

School Description
Windsor High School (WHS), is located in Windsor, CA, which is a part of Sonoma

County. There are 1751 students enrolled, and the average class size is about 26 students per

room. This year, 40% of the students are part of the free/reduced lunch program. Additionally,

32% of the students are classified as English Language Learners.

Windsor High School is a non-traditional school, combining their 9th and 10th grade

students, and then their 11th and 12th grade students into cohort programs called cores. In 9th

and 10th grade cores (mixed grade level), students rotate between an English, a Social Studies

and a Science class with a 2 year rotating curriculum in each. In 11th and 12 grade cores (also

mixed grade level), students rotate between an English, a Social Studies, and a focus area

Elective class. Theoretically, students stay in the same core for two years, although they can

switch if they choose. The school schedule is made up of four, 90 minute blocks each day and

the cores meet on either A or B days for 3 of those blocks. Students rotate between advanced

science, math, electives and language classes on the opposite day and are not in their core

cohorts. Students have a considerable amount of choice when it comes to course selection,

teachers, and programs, as the elective offerings are determined by student course requests each

year. While much of the master schedule is developed based on these requests, they can make or

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break a program.

Four of the core programs at WHS are California Partnership Academies and receive

state grants of between $60,000 and $90,000 categorical dollars exclusive to the program (for

120 students). The school also receives the California Career Technical Education Incentive

Grant (CTEIG), which is $350,000 per year which funds all of the Career Technical Education

(CTE) electives such as Dance, Welding and Auto Shop, Grand Rounds (pre-med) Digital

Photography, Filmmaking, and Computer Programming.

The majority of the focus areas (cores) are aligned with CTE industry sector standards

and address multiple pathways within the sector. For example, Vineyard Academys focus is

Hospitality and Business; Next Evolution in Work-based Learning (N.E.W. ) School is

Information Technology; Nueva School for the Performing Arts and Arete Media Academy are

Arts, Media and Entertainment (AME); Exercise Science and Premed are Health and Public

Safety. Teachers in the themed programs share a common prep and most of them have a

program coordinator who receives a section for this purpose. Honors offerings are embedded in

the core English and History classes and Honors students are integrated into regular classes

rather than tracked. Students in themed cores can take honors English or History, but do not have

access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses in these subject areas.

Nueva School for the Performing Arts is a demonstration/model AME program for the

California Department of Education and receives an additional $15,000 grant to host educators

for an annual professional development event. Additionally, the program serves as the regional

training site for the North Bay Area.

While many programs receive significant state funding, several do not, so there is an

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equity issue on campus, especially in terms of technology. The AP and Humanities cores are the

only non-funded 11/12 programs. One third of the 9/10 programs do not receive state funding.

These programs often have to compete for access to tech and have to fundraise for field trips.

Every senior has a 30 hour Senior project, and all students in California Partnership Academies

must align this project with the focus of the program and participate in an internship experience.

Technology Access and Use

Use for Students

Themed/state grant funded programs and CTE programs have access to computers on a

1-1 ratio. Non-grant funded programs, Math, Advanced Science, EL, Special Ed, and non-CTE

electives have to reserve one of 3 computer carts or labs on campus. There is one lab dedicated

to the language classes. While many programs on campus such as the AME programs have fully

adopted and implemented a blended learning pedagogical approach, others are more traditional,

or essentialist in design. There is no universal mandate for tech integration and each teacher

designs curriculum based on comfortability and access to technology. All teachers use online

gradebooks and have to build class websites; however, not all teachers maintain them

Use for Teachers

Every teacher is provided with either a desktop, iPad, or Chromebook. Funded programs

provide each teacher with their own (usually apple) laptop. Most classrooms, at minimum, have

projectors and/or document readers. Many funding programs have smart boards or smart TVs

for mirroring. These TVs are replacing projectors in CTE programs specifically.

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Technology Initiatives: Past and Current

In 2016, the district dedicated an entire PD day to technology. They hired Will

Richardson as the Keynote, and organized several workshop sessions around tech integration.

The board just approved a 5 year plan which aims to support teachers in PD and provide a 1-5

computer to student ratio. Catlin Tucker is a teacher on site, and has graciously done many tech

trainings with staff. We are a Google Classroom school, and use Active Directory, so our

students are able to access sites that other districts block indiscriminately. There are many

teacher leaders on campus and we have made ourselves available to support the meaningful

integration of tech campus wide.

Needs Analysis

Description of the data collection tool

Our team utilized Google Forms (Appendix A) to administer the Needs Analysis survey.

We selected this tool because it allows for remote collaboration, further allowing group

members to add, revise, or edit the survey before Allison administered it. The software is easily

accessible to teachers through a variety of tools (tablets, smartphones, desktops, etc..), and offers

individual and group data sets in real time. Additionally, once the final results are collected,

Google forms generates a series of graphs and charts which simplifies the data interpretation

process.

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Data Collection Method

The survey link was emailed to teachers across the district. Each teacher was asked to

complete it within one week, this request was done via email. With four sections and fifteen

questions, we expected that the survey would take approximately five to ten minutes to complete.

There was an array of questions that teachers were asked to answer such as: multiple choice,

likert scales, check all that apply, and yes/no questions.

Results

The survey was distributed to a total of 50 teachers; within one week, we received 44

responses. The results revealed that 24/44 of our survey takers have been teachers for 10 years

or more, while only 10 of the participants have been teaching for 1-3 years (Appendix B).

Though many of the teachers use technology already, technology has changed dramatically in the

last decade. With over half of the participants teaching over 10 years, we wanted to really

identify what tools the majority is interested in incorporating. In terms of self identifying their

technology expertise: 5 teachers identified as Specialists, 12 as Experts, 23 as

Experimenters, and 4 as Novices (no one identified as Uninterested). We developed these

categories to assist our team in the development of our PD; more than half of the teachers are

Experimenters or Novices, so our PD needs to include some of the more basic tutorial

elements, as well as some clear content and pedagogy connections.

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 One of our findings indicated that teachers need time to collaborate with their technology

savvy colleagues to develop their skills and thoughtfully implement new technologies. Out of

the teachers surveyed, 40 responded with a 4 or 5 when asked if they felt they would benefit

from colleague collaboration time. This becomes especially important when designing a

sustainable plan once the PD sessions have ended; if teachers are willing to continue the

collaboration piece, we should consider how to include administration in setting time aside for

this. When asked if they felt supported by administration in attending technology trainings, 27

teachers responded with a 4-5, while the remaining 17 teachers responded with a 1-3. Here, we

can see how important the peer collaboration piece becomes if districts and administration are

unable to support training time outside of the classroom.

Unrelated to technology (but central to TPACK implementation), is how to apply

technology within content areas in a school that has adopted a Linked Learning model. At the

moment, 29 of the teachers do not hold a Career and Technical Education credential (CTW) for

the Arts, Media, and Entertainment Industry (AME) sector, and only 5 teach in a Linked

Learning program. Our aim is to promote cross disciplinary collaboration tools, that are

supported by researched best practices, which build students creativity, content knowledge, and

problem solving abilities.

Through this data, we have learned several key factors necessary to implement a

successful Technology Professional Development Workshop. Since only 50% of the surveyed

teachers believed that they had administrative support in attending these PDs, two short one-hour

workshops seem to be more cost effective than having teachers pulled out for the day and

replaced by substitutes. Additionally, access to technology has been shown to be a great concern

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amongst the teachers, therefore, the PD must revolve around resources that the educators

currently have access to, such as student owned devices. Lastly, since 81% of participants

indicated that they wanted to learn more about incorporating technology into their classrooms,

providing teachers with a technology framework to follow will help guide them in choosing the

right educational technology to enhance teaching and learning.

Rationale for Tech PD

According to our needs analysis, 81% of the teachers surveyed expressed a desire to learn

more about how to integrate technology into the classroom. In addition, 63% of the teachers

surveyed revealed they do not have a Career and Technical Education credential (CTW) and only

50% felt that their administrators support and encourage professional development (PD) on

technology integration. To create meaningful professional development that helps teachers gain

confidence and experience implementing technology in their classrooms, we were inspired by

the research of Matherson and Windle (2017) that reveals four emerging themes that educators

want from their professional development. First, teachers want professional development

learning opportunities that are interactive, engaging, and relevant for their students and do not

waste their time (Matherson & Windle, 2017, p. 30). Second, teachers want professional

development experiences that show them a more practical way to deliver content (Matherson

& Windle, 2017, p. 31). Third, and in order to inspire teacher support for professional

development, they need to feel that they can participate democratically in the planning and

delivery of professional development sessions (Matherson & Windle, 2017, p. 31). And finally,

teachers desire professional development that is sustained over time and reflects the strategies

they wish to integrate into the classroom (Matherson & Windle, 2017, p. 31). Fulfilling these

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four requirements helps ensure that teachers receive ample hands-on practice with the skills,

strategies, and techniques needed for success prior to classroom implementation (Matherson &

Windle, 2017). As a result, we have decided to offer two, one-hour PDs designed to introduce

the theoretical frameworks governing the effective use of technology in the classroom where

teachers receive not only the practical experience they need with specific technology, but also a

chance where they can voice their opinions and suggestions.

The Four Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, & Critical Thinking

In our introduction, we discussed the research of Henriksen, Mishra, and Fisher (2016)

and Pink (2005) whose work clearly point to the need for students to master their

communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking skills. While Henriksen, Mishra,

and Fisher (2016) highlight problems that are more interdependent, global, and complex than

ever before, Pink (2005) suggests educators today need to prepare students for the jobs and

careers of the 21st-century (p. 28). As a result, and since both of these realities require learning

experiences that harness the power of the 4 Cs, our two technology PDs will focus on helping

teachers create authentic learning activities that use technology as a tool to meet the career and

educational needs of the 21st-century.

Communication and Collaboration

Ferreri and O'Connor (2013) found that designing lessons that involves collaboration

significantly increases students' communication skills, problem solving capabilities and

interpersonal relationships (p. 1). For this reason, one of our Tech PD sessions will focus on

training teachers on how to use Slack, a cloud-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) application

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that helps users collaborate and communicate both synchronously and asynchronously. We have

decided to demonstrate Slack as an effective tool that can facilitate communication and

collaboration for several reasons. First, Slack provides teachers the ability to monitor the quality

and extent of student collaboration and communication in a way that encourages evenly divided

participation among all group members (Zhang, Meng, de Pablos, & Sun, 2017). One of the

principal issues during student group collaboration is that some students don't want to make any

contribution and are more likely to rely on other members to finish the collaborative work, which

is called free riding (Zhang, Meng, de Pablos, & Sun, 2017, p. 1). The research of Htter and

Diehl (2011) also found that when one student is perceived to be doing less work among the

other group members, a collective feeling of exploitation by some members can lead to an

overall deterioration in the productivity of the group. Second, Slack inspires and relates to the

work of Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) on engagement theory. According to Kearsley and

Shneiderman (1998), effective group work, collaboration, and communication includes three

parts: relating, creating, and donating. Relating requires students to clearly identify the problems

and objectives at hand. Creating refers to outlining the project and focusing their efforts on

actually applying their ideas. And lastly, donating involves equal individual contributions to the

group. In keeping with the importance of the three tenets of engagement theory, Slack is an

effective collaboration tool that students can use not only to communicate, discuss, [and]

brainstorm their idea[s], [but also] share knowledge in groups (Zhang, Meng, de Pablos, & Sun,

2017, p. 2). Third, Slack allows teachers and students to collectively observe and review

individual contributions. Since Slack is able to record communication and coordination

contents, thereby making individual contributions open to all team members, this will lead to

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greater feelings of trust that will inspire all group members to get involved, [and] cooperate

with each other (Zhang, Meng, de Pablos, & Sun, 2017, p. 3).

A fourth and final benefit to Slack as a web-based software is its ability to increase

communication and collaboration around the management and organization of projects, two

aspects of modern, workplace product management that researchers Rusu and Rusu (2010) found

to be key in becoming more productive and more competitive in the global economy (p. 182).

The researchers also go on to discuss how web-based software such as Slack can increase

performance, productivity and efficiency among individuals, groups, and organizations (Rusu &

Rusu, 2010, p. 183). Thanks to these four attributes of Slack, this is an excellent tool to be

discussed in PD that conveniently blends with other technology tools that inspire the other 2 Cs

of creativity and critical thinking, which will be the focus of our other PD.

Creativity and Critical Thinking

The current demographics within our classrooms clearly reflect a composition best

exemplified in the idea of the Net Generation. These students have grown up with access to

technology and are deeply intertwined with connective devices. To address the anticipated

experiences demanded by the Net Generation, as educators we must adapt our way of teaching to

actively engage and promote higher level thinking within our curriculum. Two of the major

focuses that are imperative to their development are creativity and critical thinking.

Henriksen, Mishra, and Fisser (2016) note that there are connections between creativity

and...life success, leadership in the workplace, psychological functioning, and

intellectual/emotional growth (p. 28). The correlation between success and creativity does not

necessarily have to stem from the students themselves. Henriksen et al. (2016) asserts that

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students with creative teachers who show a willingness to try new things, give real world

assignments, and use cross-disciplinary approaches tend to be more engaged in building

specific skillsets and habits that promote success, problem solving, and applying knowledge (p.

28). This then begs the question: what is creativity? Tilander (2011) claims that creativity is

typically used to refer to the act of producing new ideas, approaches, or actions (p. 40).

Tilander further asserts that creativity allows individuals to see things in a new way and thus can

be used in education to approach content, technology, and the way in which we teach.

Kirk (2015) notes that student learning is shifting from a traditional teacher centered

learning to [a] learner centered framework (p. 2). However, students are still focusing on

concrete details and struggling with the ability to think abstractly (Graham & Brouilette, 2015).

In order to think creatively, students must understand the aspect of abstract thinking as well as

critical thinking. And in order to think more abstractly, students must develop their higher order

thinking skills and connect learned content with their lived experiences (Lin, 2008). Tilander

(2011) also claims that in living with contemporary information technologies, more and more

people are becoming active participants and co-creators with interfaces, which include wikis,

blogs, and websites (p. 48).

With the idea of creativity and involvement in multiple interfaces, we have found that

Adobe Spark addresses these specific concepts. Adobe Spark is a design application that allows

the user to create graphics, web pages, and videos. According to our needs analysis, 40.9% of the

teachers surveyed showed an interest in learning about multimedia presentations in Adobe Spark.

With training in Adobe Spark, teachers will be able to present their content knowledge in

multiple ways and provide access to materials outside of school. With evidence supporting the

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notion that a creative teacher is beneficial to the success of the student, TPACK would be an

appropriate professional development model to pursue. Because the TPACK framework offers

no specific directives about what content to teach, which pedagogical approaches are useful, and

what kinds of technologies to use in teaching, it allows teachers to be more creative within the

classroom in order to heighten engagement and offer multiple learning modalities (Henriksen et

al., 2016, p. 29).

Professional Development Models

SAMR is a hierarchical model designed to help teachers determine the extent to which

modern consumer technologies and software are able to promote 21st century skills

(Cummings, 2014, p. 68). At the lower end of technology integration efficacy are Substitution

and Augmentation, the latter reflecting the use of technology with minor functional

improvement, the former a direct replacement of the traditional tools and methods of technology

with no functional change (Hilton, 2016, p. 69). At the higher end are Modification, activities

using technology that allow for significant task redesign and Redefinition, activities that allow

for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable (Hilton, 2016, p. 69). According to

Hiltons (2016) survey of teachers using SAMR as a model, teachers felt successful in using

technology to spark interest and hold motivation for their students (p. 71). Specifically,

teachers found the student attention not only lasted longer, but also became invested with greater

purpose (Hilton, 2016, p. 69).

TPACK, on the other hand, guides teachers to think about how pedagogy, content, and

technology overlap in the classroom (Hilton, 2016, p. 69). This is a particularly power tool

teachers found beneficial in helping them reflect on technology integration into the entire

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school year of learning (Hilton, 2016, p. 71). While SAMR guides teachers to think about how

particular technologies can best enhance student critical thinking skills, TPACK informs teachers

to think about how pedagogy, technology, and content interact to help create authentic,

meaningful learning environments for students.

With the realities of the demand for 21st century skills, teacher struggles to integrate

technology, and the range of existing models that can help teachers integrate technology to

facilitate creativity and critical thinking in students, our team has decided to create a professional

development opportunity that unifies and articulates all of these points.

Implementation Plan

Our technology professional development plan is aimed at promoting creativity and

problem solving through the use of technology. The needs assessment revealed that many staff

members are already using technology and feel comfortable learning new ways to phase it into

their classes; more importantly, they are interested in incorporating technological tools (Slack

and Adobe Spark) to enhance their teaching. The following goals will guide our implementation

plan:

1. Provide teachers with technology tools that will promote student collaboration.
2. Train teachers on how to navigate through the technology tools.
3. Give teachers time to plan and receive feedback for implementing these tools within their
perspective disciplines, grade levels, and linked learning goals.

Narrative Rationale and Timeline

Table 1 displays the implementation plan for the pilot run of the two PD sessions. The program

teachers will be presenting on these tech tools at the Educating for Careers Conference in

Sacramento in March, at the AME Leadership Conference in San Diego in April, and at the

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Nueva School for the Arts PD event in April. The teachers in the program participated in a pilot

run of the sessions and are currently using the tech tools in their classrooms for project creation

and management. The PD sessions will be revised based survey feedback from the pilot session.

The intended audience for the March and April sessions is between 20 and 50 educators.

Technology PD

Table 1: Implementation Timeline

Goal 1: Teachers will be able to integrate Slack as a project management tool
Goal 2: Teachers will teach Adobe Spark as a multimedia project development tool
Goal 3: Teachers will understand the benefits of tech integration for the purpose of project
development and management

Month Topic/format Person responsible Evaluation

October Needs Assessment Teachers from districts across Teachers will self
the state (primarily designed assess their
for Arts Media and technology use,
Entertainment Industry CTE openness to trainings,
teachers, or Integrated pathway and most desired
teachers across California outcomes.

November PILOT SESSION Allison Frenzel For the PD pilot

[Actual PD will take John Richards session participating
place in April] Michella Snider teachers will provide
David Beal feedback on how to
1 hour Tech PD (Windsor High School, use the tools in their
Session: Slack Teachers in the Nueva School classrooms, design a
1 hour Tech PD for the Arts California project within their
Session: Spark Partnership Academy) team, and then
Presentation Survey complete a post-PD
survey.

December Tech PD Follow up: Allison Frenzel Teachers will how

Student Samples John Richards theyve incorporated
the tools and share
samples with
colleagues.
(Table 1)

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Post Implementation Evaluation Analysis

Overall, participants left the PD sessions with a better understanding of how to use Slack

and Spark for educational purposes. They expressed ideas about how Slack can improve

collaboration on large projects such as theater productions and event planning. They were

interested in applying Slack immediately to create virtual workspaces where students can

collaborate with their classmates in other rotations/class periods, and where teachers can monitor

progression in group projects and participation. Participants also expressed the value in using

Slack to promote collaboration among departments and teaching teams.

All three participants were successful in creating accounts in both Adobe Spark and

Slack. They appreciated having time to work with small groups to do manageable exploration of

both tools, and saw the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues during the presentation as the

most valuable aspect of the session. They also expressed how the ideas generated during the

collaborative work time were immediate and authentic. They liked having the opportunity to

play and explore with the various options provided by Spark outside of the video creator.

Overall, the participants enjoyed the presentations and appreciated the opportunity to

actually try the application with coworkers, rather than just hear about it. One participant

suggested taking out some of the research slides because it made the presentation feel too

academic. The participants asked good questions about Slack such as Is there anyway to have

more than one owner for a workspace so multiple teachers can have access to the different

channels?

While all participants were familiar with the video feature of Spark, none of them knew

about the site or Post and Page options. They were excited to try the varied capabilities of

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Adobe Spark. They expressed how valuable this tool is for developing various class projects

such as creating presentations, portfolios, and images to promote/market events for school clubs

and class projects. There are far more capabilities to Spark than they had thought possible. It

was also interesting for them to see the difference between the interface of computer verse phone

interaction/capabilities. Overall the participants felt the flow of the PD sessions worked well and

were immediately able to conceptualize how to implement immediately in class. They would

have liked more time to try and explore the options and different applications Spark has to offer

and wondered about ways to build more template options while creating videos or extend the

voice recording.

It would be nice to have the opportunity to develop intermediate and advanced sessions

that go more in depth about capabilities. Based on the pilot PD session, the team decided to

immediately implement in the classroom. They are collecting samples of student work and

already created a workspace for our winter production of Romeo and Juliet so we can become

fluent enough to answer any questions that will arise in our Spring PD sessions.

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Appendix A

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Appendix B

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Appendix C

Budget for April PD Session [paid with AME model schools grant]:
[based on 2016/2017 cost]

Light Breakfast and Coffee $365

Lunch for 50 participants $585
Program promotional materials [printing] $620
Pens and notebooks for participants $280

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Appendix D

Agenda for April PD

9:00 -9:30 meet and greet, light breakfast (in the WHS theater lobby)

9:30-11:00 presentation in the theater about AME standards alignment

10:30-10:40 break

10:45-11:45 Breakout session 1 (Slack or Spark-split into 2 classrooms)

11:45-12:45 Lunch

12:45-1:45 Breakout session 2 (Slack or Spark-split into 2 classrooms)

1:45-2:45 Team planning time

2:45-3:30 [Optional workshop] Arts integration, AME standards, and Common Core in academic
subject areas: Team share outs

3:30-4:00 Questions

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Appendix E
Survey: PD Evaluation Responses
Slack Responses
What are you taking away from today? Please indicate which PD session you attended
Participant 1: An understanding of how to use Slack
Participant 2: Nice to see applications for education
Participant 3: How to use slack to improve collaboration on large projects.

What did you learn that you might use in your classroom?
Participant 1: I love the idea of creating a space where my students can collaborate with their
classmates in other rotations/class periods, where I can monitor progression in group projects and
participation.
Participant 2: Different aspects that could be used by teachers and students for teaching purposes
Participant 3: Strategies to promote use and collaboration among adults and students.

What went well for you today?

Participant 1: I was successful in being able to create an account and try out Slack for the first
time.
Participant 2: time to work with groups to do manageable exploration
Participant 3: Great opportunity to collaborate with my colleagues during the presentation.
Ideas generated were immediate and authentic.

What suggestions do you have for the presenter?

Participant 1: Overall I enjoyed the presentations and appreciated the opportunity to actually try
the application with my coworkers, rather than just hear about it.
Participant 2: Maybe less research embedded
Participant 3:None.

What could be improved?

Participant 1: nothing
Participant 2: nothing
Participant 3:Nothing.

Questions for presenter

Participant 1: Is there anyway to have more than one owner for a workspace so multiple
teachers can have access to the different channels?
Participant 2: none
Participant 3:None.

Spark Responses
What are you taking away from today? Please indicate which PD session you attended
Participant 1: How to use Adobe Spark
Participant 2: Nice to see applications for education
Participant 3: Varied capabilities of Adobe Spark.

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What did you learn that you might use in your classroom?
Participant 1: It was already somewhat familiar with Spark, it was nice to see other applications
outside of creating videos. I can now see how students can use this for various class projects such
as creating presentations, portfolios, and images to promote/market events for school clubs and
class projects.There are far more capabilities than I had anticipated with this App. It was also
interesting to see the difference between the interface of computer verse phone
interaction/capabilities.
Participant 2: Different aspects that could be used by teachers and students for teaching purposes
Participant 3:The pages and the video feature will be key, modern presentation tools for
students.

What went well for you today?

Participant 1: I think what went really well was being able to work with colleagues and see
what collaborative options there were in working with Spark. I also liked having the opportunity
to play and explore with the various options provided by the application outside of the video
creator.
Participant 2: time to work with groups to do manageable exploration
Participant 3: Awesome idea flow on how to implement immediately in class.

What suggestions do you have for the presenter?

Participant 1: none
Participant 2: option for sharing
Participant 3:None.

What could be improved?

Participant 1: Maybe more time to try and explore the options and different applications Spark
has to offer, but that is something which can also be worked on in my own time.
Participant 2: nothing
Participant 3:None.

Questions for presenter

Participant 1: Are there ways to build more template options while creating videos or are the
ones provided the only options available? Is there a way to extend the voice recording?
Participant 2: nothing
Participant 3:None.

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