Reflect on the Implementation of a survey to a PD plan

Video Transcription

Hello there and welcome. As we begin to wrap things up, the focus of this lesson is to reflect on adult learning theories, survey design, and professional development plans. I will share with you questions you would ask that might lead to potential changes and impact on teacher growth and development. It may be a short lesson, but there will be a great deal of deep thinking and self reflection to be had during and after it. Let's begin.

In previous lessons, we talked a great deal about how to collect data through the survey process. However, before you use any of that data, you should run an analysis of the survey itself and the implementation to make sure that the information gathered is accurate. For example, you would want to ensure that participants answer truthfully and objectively.

Once collected, the data and information you glean from surveys will guide the decisions you make that will impact teacher growth and development. It's important to remember that the analysis may change your professional development plan. For example, you really want teachers to know how to look at and utilize the revision history of a Google document. However, after surveying teachers, you find that most don't even know how to create a Google doc. This is a case in which the results of your survey will steer you in a direction different from what you may have originally intended.

As you reflect on the learning you've done throughout this series of lessons, you may remember the importance of aligning professional development plans with adult learning theories known as Andragogy. Most notably, with the focus on Knowles' Six Assumptions of Learning, Self-directed Learning, and Transformational learning. Adults learn differently than children do, and that is a major factor to consider when designing professional developments. These theories highlight those differences and make the learning much more accessible and meaningful to us as adults and professionals.

Here are some questions that will help you digest the information that you've learned in this course. I will answer each one briefly based on my own experiences. However, you may want to pause the video here and try to answer them yourself first.

How does aligning your PD with adult learning theories lead to improved design? By incorporating adult learning theories, you are able to capitalize on the strength of your audience, and that's their experience.

Knowing what you know now, how might you approach professional development designed differently in order to align it with adult learning theories? I would certainly always take the time to analyze my PD by looking for areas of alignment, misalignment, and areas where alignment could be enhanced.

What things can you learn by conducting a survey on teachers' needs and wants? The possibilities here are endless. For some teachers, they may lean toward interest-based topics, whereas, others would be attracted to needs-based. However, in either case if I were the designer of a professional development, I would make sure that my plan is aligned with this school and district's goals and vision.

Would you use a survey approach again, and if so, what would you do differently? I would definitely use a survey approach again. As an educator who believes in continuous improvement, I'm sure there are many things that I would do differently.

But wait, there's more. What digital survey tools would you consider using in the future? In this class, you were introduced to four online survey tools. An experience in this specific situation will help you determine which one is right for you.

How would you change your school or district's professional development plan given the survey data? Most people would agree as evidenced by the Gates Report that the biggest factor is choice.

So in essence, what we did in this lesson was think about and reflect on some of the most important points and key questions to ask yourself about implementing surveys that will help you design quality professional developments.

I've saved the final reflection question for today's food for thought. You've just added all this information and knowledge to your repertoire. And you can find even more by checking out the additional resources section that are associated with this video, where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material.

So all that being said, now what? What should your next steps be? Thanks for watching. Good luck. We'll see you next time.