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Finalsite presentation emily ziegler 2015
- 1. A First Year in the Life of a LMS Emily Ziegler Director of Technology St. Paul’s School for Girls
- 3. OUR STUDENTS’ AND PARENT’S PERSPECTIVE
- 4. The SPSGSt or y A ug'14 began training faculty S ept.'14 built out groups Oct.1,'14 launch of LMS and website Oct.1-15 Training students & parents Oct. 15th- Full Im plem entation!
- 6. • Set expectations for all constituents • Make sure your plan has the basic elements that drew you to the Finalsite LMS in the first place • Communicate your
- 7. • Hold trainings frequently and differentiate based on needs • Set a basic design when starting out • Set realistic goals and hold your constituents to expectations • Consistently remind constituents of the benefits of the LMS and the
- 8. • Create LMS “Superstars” and share the work of peers • Ask parents and students about how the LMS is helping and share the feedback with faculty • Screenshot group spaces and display at faculty meetings
- 9. • Hold “Spice Up Your LMS” Digital Cooking Classes • Ask faculty to share their experiences • Create quick videos and/or emails with tricks for more advanced features • Resend Finalsite Friday Folder Blog posts- (Thanks Finalsite ladies)
- 10. • “Keep it about the kids” • Share the research- An LMS provides... – An authentic online learning environment customized to the learning needs of your students – A safe and reliable space for communication and collaboration – A community of practice for educators and students to share, learn, and organize in an efficient, 21st century environment
- 11. • Create a quick contacts sheet to know who to ask what (Who do I go to reset my password? Who do I see for training? etc.) • Gain buy-in by personalizing training sessions for those who may be reluctant by creating examples for their discipline/grade • Color-code
- 12. Create groups for other things important to your students:
- 13. Create groups for your faculty:
Editor's Notes
- Good Afternoon, my name is Emily Ziegler, I am the director of technology at St. Paul’s School for Girls in Baltimore, MD, an independent 5th-12th grade school with about 475 students.
- I like to start out with these cartoons because I think they represent the different ways our faculty view the implementation of new technologies and processes. We have the teacher on the left who fully dives in and joins in and then we have the teacher on the right who is fearful of the change. There is obviously a wide spectrum in between these two, but it is important to recognize and learn how to meet the needs of all of our constituents who will be using our LMS system
- And then we have our other constituents, our students and families, who have very different needs and wants. They want opportunities to experience a 21st century learning environment that will prepare them for college, help them to learn and organize, and is cutting edge. So how do we meet the needs of all these different constituents while providing the best experience for all? Well I don’t have all the answers to that question, but I can share with you my school’s experience and the research I have done in this field for my dissertation and for our school’s implementation to help to gain insight into that daunting question.
- Our school’s Finalsite LMS story began in late July, 2014 when I was hired at the school. On my first day I was told that I would be managing the implementation of our new Finalsite LMS, and so I hit the ground running with developing a manageable plan for executing this project. I had facilitated the launch of 2 other LMS’s at different institutions in the past, but never with this timeline, so we had to do a few things that I wouldn’t particularly recommend, but that we learned a lot from. After I got up to speed with the administration of the LMS, we began training faculty in August. Before Finalsite, faculty members were using a hodge-podge of different LMS sites (or none at all) based solely on what they felt comfortable using. So students had to go to over 4 different sites depending on what their teachers were using. We mandated that all faculty attended a two hour session either before school began or during opening meetings which would give them basic training and help them set up their first class group page. Then, after meeting one-on-one with those who elected not to come to the mandatory training, we all began to build our class pages throughout September. Yes, school had already started, but we wanted to give faculty time to work on their pages and learn the ropes and felt it would be too overwhelming to start the LMS rollout to students while the faculty were still learning how to use the system. In addition, it coincided nicely with our Finalsite website launch of October 1st, so we aimed for this to be our goal. I would recommend starting your training the end of the previous year and train throughout the summer and launch at the beginning of the year. Don’t worry if you are hearing this and freaking out because you haven’t started yet, you will make it work! Then, starting on October 1st we began training students in their English classes and offering training sessions to parents (for the website and LMS) in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings. By Oct. 15th we were off and running and requiring our students to use the LMS fully every day. During this year, we have learned a lot and I have come away with some best practices.
- The first thing is to start with a manageable plan that is manageable for all stakeholders: faculty, students, and parents. Set expectations for these members as well. We told faculty members that starting October 1st, they would be required to have a blurb at the top of their group space with what the class was about (mostly for the parents), had to have an updated calendar with significant assignments (quizzes, tests, projects), and had to have resource folders created with resources that are used more than once (syllabi, rubrics, project instructions etc.) We chose these because these were the basic elements that drew us to choose a single LMS platform for our students. Then, we communicated these requirements to teachers, students, and parents so everyone would know what to expect at first and we held faculty accountable for posting by spot checking class group pages as well as holding students accountable by not providing alternate means to receive important resources, links, etc unless there was an extenuating circumstance like a technology issue
- Next, implement your plan by supporting your constituents. It is important to remember those first cartoons when you plan out your training. Some faculty may just need the one hour “how to” while others may need you to sit by their side while they create each class at first. A couple of things that helped me were the following: 1st I set up different types of training. One hour “how-to” sessions geared for those who were tech savvy and independent. I prefaced that we would move quickly and then give them time to practice and explore while I helped to troubleshoot. Then I created 2 hour “guided practice” sessions that were geared to those who needed step-by-step instructions and more hand-holding and only allowed up to 4 people per session. Then, I also created “one-on-one” training for those who needed more support. 2nd, I had everyone use the same basic group page set up for our first year. Calendar and activity stream on the left, bulletins and resources on the right, blurb about the subject up top, color coded page color based upon the discipline. This was done for two reasons; one it would be easy for parents and students to get used to the LMS if everything was in the same place, and it showed off the goals we had for the first year (calendar and resources) 3rd, I consistently reminded the faculty of how this would help them. How it would make communication with students and parents easier, how it would help to manage their workload, how it can be a time saver etc. to keep them engaged in the process
- Next, it is important to be the biggest cheerleader! I would create LMS “Superstar” emails and highlight 2 teachers that in the last two weeks used the LMS in an effective manner. It didn’t have to be exceptional, just achieving the goals. I chose these while I spot checked to make sure everyone was updating and following our expectations. Some examples were: Tom had a lively discussion on his LMS page with the prompt: Do you think Buddhism is a religion or philosophy? Explain your answer. Edee’s class is staying organized with a folder of links to each student’s AP Studio Art portfolio blogs for easy access to peers’ work in order to share and collaborate Sofia helped her students remember they had a notebook check by posting a bulletin with the sections of students’ notebooks that she will be checking Aggie helped her kids be “in the know” by posting all of October’s tests for her class Phyllis posted a Wordle in her header that perfectly describes AP Calculus with flair Then, just reinforce. Ask for feedback from students so the faculty know they are making a difference, share screen shots of exceptional work
- Then, constantly work to improve. Once we know the basics, then we can start working on advancing our skills. I would host “Spice Up your LMS” digital cooking classes where, I kid you not, I put on an apron and showed faculty members how to add infographics, YouTube channels, and RSS feeds to their pages. Don’t feel like you have to “do it all yourself”; if you see a teacher using the LMS in a great way, have them share it! Also, Finalsite has amazing tips in their Friday Folder Blog that I would just cut and paste into emails to faculty members during weeks I knew weren’t as hectic as others
- And finally, it is important to continuously remind yourself, the faculty, students, parents, and staff about why we are taking the time to do this. Keep it about the kids- remember that this is done for them to help them learn and that’s the most important thing. Finally, share the research about all an LMS can provide including being an authentic learning environment that is differentiated for your students’ needs. That it is a safe and reliable space for collaboration and is community of practice for faculty members to share and learn from one another.
- Finally, a couple quick tips that I found useful when going through this whirl-wind year. Create a contact sheet so people know who to go to for what and don’t put yourself as the contact for everything. You will need help. This will really help cut down on the amount of emails you receive at the beginning. Gain buy-in with those exceptionally tricky faculty members (like the one in the cartoon of the woman under the desk) by really personalizing their training. Use their discipline when you are giving examples to help them visualize how to use the system by saying things like, “You could label your resource folder “Of Mice and Men Unit” or “Let me show you how to create a bulletin reminding students of the quiz they have on mitochondria” Also, using the color-coding can help you and students remember which class page they are accessing and gives a little team spirit among the departments
- Creating groups for other things important in students’ lives is useful too. We created all sorts of groups for clubs, senior projects, our group traveling to Australia so they could blog with us, and our library
- In addition, creating groups for your faculty is important too! We created a great resource center for our faculty to access digital copies of all the “stuff” you need for HR, and we created an online professional learning community for technology usage at our school. Most importantly, as the task can seem daunting at times, just remember that it is a learning experience for all and extremely well-worth the effort.