Northern Lights School Division in North-East Alberta,consists of 26 schools and 3 division offices in widely dispersed geographical locations. Schools are located in the major towns of Bonnyville and Lac La Biche, the City of Cold Lake, the villages of Glendon and Plamondon, the hamlet of Caslan and rural areas of Ardmore, Iron River and Wandering River. Serving almost 6000 students, Northern Lights School Division No. 69 mission is "working together to help every student learn and excel."
Terry Kaminski - I am a high school mathematics teacher at Cold Lake HS in Cold Lake, Alberta. I have used technology throughout my whole life. Jared Nichol and I are the "tech guys" at our school. When people have questions or problems with technology they come to one of us. In my spare time I like to run, fish and spend time with my wife and two daughters who are 15 and 13 years old.
Action Research Project - Template
We want to be able to share and post your Action Research Projects on the PLP website so that others may learn from you. We want to brag on you! We will be making web pages from these projects, so to make the projects a little more uniform and easier to flip through we are asking that you fill out this form. Don't worry - it's not nearly as daunting as it looks. This is meant to be a snapshot of your project with artifacts and links should a reader wish to dig deeper into your research.
For your convenience we have copied and pasted this information into your school's team page. Please delete the directions that are *in asterisks* once you are finished.
Team Name: NLSD Cohort
Team members: Jared Nichol, Terry Kaminski, David Ripkens and Barb LeNormand
School District: Northern Lights SD #69
Abstract
Every school in our division has teacher webpages on the school websites. Many teachers do not use these
webpages because they do not understand how to edit the page and add in content. So, we decided to survey the teachers in
3 schools to determine what features of the webpage tools they understand and what features they no little about. We have
then created tutorial videos to help educate the teachers on the use of the tools in their teacher webpage.
Problem, Issue, or Possibility
What we are hoping is that by by having teachers use their teacher webpages more that they will increase communication
with their parents and students. We are also hoping that teachers will become interested in other ways of using Web 2.0
tools in their classrooms.
Objectives and Assessment
Our original survey indicated that many teachers are not familiar with the tools to setup their teacher webpage. We are
hoping that once teachers view the tutorial videos that they will use their teacher pages more. We have looked at the use of teacher webpages
up to this point. By November 2011 we hope that we have a 50% increase in the use of teacher webpages.
Implementation Plan
- January 2011: Develop survey to administer to teachers to determine knowledge of teacher webpage tools
- February 2011: Distribute survey, electronically to staff, via google forms - March 2011: Begin developing tutorial videos - April 2011: Peer edit the tutorial videos - May 2011: Inform staff in entire division of tutorial wiki for teacher pages - Sept/Oct 2011 - Encourage teachers to create their teacher webpage for upcoming school year - November 2011 - Re-administer survey to staff to see if improvement in knowledge of use of tools and look at school websites to determine if more teachers are using teacher webpages
Evaluation and Results
*Please include lessons learned and takeaways. How did it turn out? Where are you now in the project?*
Our Team Members:
French Immersion
Terry Kaminski - I am a high school mathematics teacher at Cold Lake HS in Cold Lake, Alberta. I have used technology throughout my whole life. Jared Nichol and I are the "tech guys" at our school. When people have questions or problems with technology they come to one of us. In my spare time I like to run, fish and spend time with my wife and two daughters who are 15 and 13 years old.
Action Research Project - Template
We want to be able to share and post your Action Research Projects on the PLP website so that others may learn from you. We want to brag on you! We will be making web pages from these projects, so to make the projects a little more uniform and easier to flip through we are asking that you fill out this form. Don't worry - it's not nearly as daunting as it looks. This is meant to be a snapshot of your project with artifacts and links should a reader wish to dig deeper into your research.For your convenience we have copied and pasted this information into your school's team page. Please delete the directions that are *in asterisks* once you are finished.
Team Name: NLSD Cohort
Team members: Jared Nichol, Terry Kaminski, David Ripkens and Barb LeNormand
School District: Northern Lights SD #69
Abstract
Every school in our division has teacher webpages on the school websites. Many teachers do not use these
webpages because they do not understand how to edit the page and add in content. So, we decided to survey the teachers in
3 schools to determine what features of the webpage tools they understand and what features they no little about. We have
then created tutorial videos to help educate the teachers on the use of the tools in their teacher webpage.Problem, Issue, or Possibility
What we are hoping is that by by having teachers use their teacher webpages more that they will increase communication
with their parents and students. We are also hoping that teachers will become interested in other ways of using Web 2.0
tools in their classrooms.
Objectives and Assessment
Our original survey indicated that many teachers are not familiar with the tools to setup their teacher webpage. We are
hoping that once teachers view the tutorial videos that they will use their teacher pages more. We have looked at the use of teacher webpages
up to this point. By November 2011 we hope that we have a 50% increase in the use of teacher webpages.Implementation Plan
- January 2011: Develop survey to administer to teachers to determine knowledge of teacher webpage tools
- February 2011: Distribute survey, electronically to staff, via google forms- March 2011: Begin developing tutorial videos
- April 2011: Peer edit the tutorial videos
- May 2011: Inform staff in entire division of tutorial wiki for teacher pages
- Sept/Oct 2011 - Encourage teachers to create their teacher webpage for upcoming school year
- November 2011 - Re-administer survey to staff to see if improvement in knowledge of use of tools and look at
school websites to determine if more teachers are using teacher webpages
Evaluation and Results
*Please include lessons learned and takeaways. How did it turn out? Where are you now in the project?*
Artifacts and Documentation
Tutorial Wiki: http://plpnlsd.wikispaces.com/
Survey: http://bit.ly/j8ItXY