I Don't Tweet...Well OK I Just Did.
My views of PD are constantly changing, especially this summer, and the more I think people can just learn on their own if motivated, then the less the need for formal professional development.
Today for instance, at a session for administrators, we asked the admins to fill out a collaborative spreadsheet on Office 365. No instructions other than here was the link and get to work. Not one person if the 100 or so in attendance asked for help. If they needed it, they simply asked their neighbor. In no time, there are over 40 people were working together online to create the spreadsheet.
The same thing happened a few minutes later when we asked everyone in the room to take a selfie and Tweet it out. No one was given professional development on Twitter, yet everyone was expected to create the selfie and do the assignment.
Guess what? No professional development needed. No one was asking how or when or what, they simply just started tweeting. Again, if they didn't understand, they just flagged down someone nearby, asked for quick help, and started tweeting. Many had never tweeted before and a few even started by saying "I don't tweet." However, those around her began to tweet quickly and easily:
Looking forward to a great year #powerupepisd pic.twitter.com/94sXyFzzhp
— Carla Gasway (@CGasway) July 29, 2015
To take all I learn and share it with my faculty! #PowerUpEPISD pic.twitter.com/D9cGGuoywY
— Craig Kehrwald (@CraigKehrwald) July 29, 2015
These are example of the admins that were ready and willing to use twitter! I love it when people are willing to go out on a limb and try something new. It was a very Green Eggs and Ham moment.
By the end of the day, even the refusenik was tweeting and easily using the collaborative document. Staff development to use the tool: Zero. Time taken out of the day to show how to use the tools: Zero.
So I am starting to really rethink using time to teach the tool as opposed to simply embedding the tools right into the other PD. Do we really need to have traditional "Hands On" PD for software and hardware anymore? Are people now at a level of familiarity with technology that they can at least navigate their way around an unfamiliar program with some ease?
The times, at least in my district, they are a changing.