Rebel U {Virtual Edition}: Evaluation Data

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This a post in a series about Rebel U {Virtual Edition} 2013.

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At the end of each district-wide professional development day that our Tech & Media Team organizes, we ask all participants to complete an online evaluation.  We understand that sometimes it is difficult for people to complete at the end of day that has been packed with learning and sharing, but the results are extremely important to us as we reflect on our planning, implementation, and future professional development opportunities.  We try to ask questions that help participants reflect on their learning throughout the day as well as how their experience connects with their personal/grade level/content area/school goals.  Our team strives to help build an environment where technology is integrated seamlessly and that it is not something "extra" that teachers need to take on.  In addition to this approach to seamless integration, we try to align our professional development opportunities to the GLPS Teacher Evaluation Framework to help teachers identify ways that technology can be incorporated into their teaching and professional practice.

Some of the questions we asked teachers on the Rebel U {Virtual Edition} 2013 survey are listed below as well as charts representing the data collected.








To view a further breakdown of evaluation data by building, see the links below.

• District-Wide
• Administration
• ECC
• Godfrey Elementary
• Lee Middle School
• Lee High School
• East Lee Campus

Rebel U {Virtual Edition}: Recap

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This a post in a series about Rebel U {Virtual Edition} 2013.

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This year our Technology Team was granted an additional professional development that was mandatory for the Godfrey-Lee professional teaching staff.  This day was planned and developed differently than our traditional fall Rebel U day.  One thing our Technology Team receives many requests for help on is utilizing web resources, making content easily accessible to students, and building websites.  In October 2012, Kelly McGee and Sarah Wood had surveyed teachers in the district about teacher website usage and understanding (results posted here).We decided that the focus for this professional development day would be to take all of those requests and survey findings and bundle them into a learning opportunity allowing each teacher build their own classroom website.  This day was consequently named, Rebel U {Virtual Edition}.


In order for teachers to view this day as a different learning experience (yet building on what they learned during Rebel U in the fall), we held our professional development day at the Kent ISD.  The day was structured that in the morning, teachers would attend three different sessions that were aligned to the 21Things4Teachers program to learn about different tools, resources, and techniques for building their website.  The afternoon consisted of a Collaboration block where teachers had the time to take what they have learned in the morning and implement it as they build their websites.  Teachers also had time built into the day to reconvene with their grade level/content area team to discuss what they learned during the day and show off their websites.

As part of the morning welcome, the Technology Team created a video to inform the teachers of the happenings throughout the day.


As part of our evaluation, we asked teachers to summarize their day in one word.  We have asked this same question on previous Rebel U evaluations and sometimes it offers such great insight as to the teachers' overall reaction of the day.  Below is a word cloud that summarizes the responses given to the question, "In ONE word, how would you summarize your Rebel U {Virtual Edition} experience?".

The feedback we received from teachers was overwhelming in their thankfulness for having time devoted to being able to build a website and have staff on-hand to help them in the process.  We were grateful to be able to provide a professional development opportunity that met their needs and our team is looking forward to Rebel U in the fall!

Rebel U {Virtual Edition} - 2013

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This a post in a series about Rebel U {Virtual Edition} 2013.

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This school year, the Technology & Media Department was granted another professional development day.  In August, we held our Rebel U event, which was structured similarly to that of larger conferences (a keynote address, breakout sessions, in-house and guest speakers, etc.).  One of the great things about this day is that it provides teachers with an opportunity to share things with one another about what they are doing in their classrooms.  I also know that many teachers walk away overwhelmed with all of the new tools they have learned about and excited to implement them in their classroom.

The purpose of this upcoming day is to build upon the things learned, and since implemented, from our fall Rebel U day.  The outcome of building upon those things learned about in the fall is to have everyone establish a web presence in the form of a website.  This website will be representative of you and your classroom and serve as a central communication tool.  This day will provide teachers with an opportunity to take what they have been working on in their class, show it off, and provide a central location for resources.

The presentations for the breakout sessions are based on some of the "Things" from the 21Things4Teachers program.  As teachers are working on developing their websites, they will be meeting National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T).  These standards not only help teachers develop their own skills, but also encourage them to utilize technology as a tool in their classroom to promote student achievement.  In addition, this district-provided technology professional development day will be aligned to the teacher evaluation framework.

We are updating our website as we plan this day, so feel free to see what we have planned so far by clicking here!