Digital Portfolio
Click through for a Visual Introduction
Digital Portfolio
Since joining the district eLearning team in 2009, I have spearheaded comprehensive adult learning opportunities through training and professional development for teachers and staff. In 2018, I assumed the role of Lead Professional Learning Coordinator for eLearning in Hall County Schools. In this capacity, I negotiated, purchased, and customized professional learning opportunities with educational technology vendors. I also initiated the district’s style guide for content creation and managed the substitute budget, ensuring alignment with organizational goals in collaboration with school and district leadership.
I have maintained a professional blog since 2010, showcasing expertise in:
Professional Development During Pandemic
Before the pandemic, I designed microcredentials to attach measurable outcomes to professional learning badges within a learning pathway, fostering extended learning opportunities for adult learners. These efforts validated acquired competencies and promoted professional development in online formats. This work transitioned from in-person to online formats during the pandemic.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I assumed a leadership role in virtual teaching and course support. When the pandemic hit, I developed and facilitated an online professional learning course for approximately 300 district paraprofessionals, leveraging our existing Microsoft platform to provide tailored instruction and documentation for professional learning hours. This initiative offered an alternative to meal deliveries via bus routes and provided paraprofessionals with essential digital literacy skills, using innovative tools like GIFs for visual instruction.
To support teachers anticipating transition to online teaching, I created an asynchronous course within Canvas LMS. I conducted on-request support sessions to address educators’ needs as they adapted to new modalities of teaching.
Summer 2020: Preparing for Hybrid Learning
March – May 2020
To stabilize our workforce district-wide, I built and facilitated an online professional learning course for district paraprofessionals. When considering the range of K-12, the special education focus of our paraprofessionals, and the possible interest in career mobility I settled on using our existing Microsoft account to build and offer more information on what could be used in the classroom. I developed the Paraprofessionals Microsoft course in April and met the need for documented hours of professional learning while providing usable instruction to fellow educators. This content is where I discovered my preference for using GIFs as visual directions during this course. I helped approximately 300 paraprofessionals receive professional learning credit with this instruction on how to submit credit to their supervisor. An alternative to delivering meals to students via the bus route was to participate in my learning opportunities. I met so many people who keep our schools running through this course!
Teacher professional learning opportunities I also offered included an asynchronous course created by Canvas LMS and facilitated by me within the district. I held on-request support sessions for this course, such as this May session. This was a way to reach those educators who never considered they would be required to learn an LMS and had not yet considered how to teach effectively in an LMS. I train on platforms from the ground up in this session.
June – July 2020
From June to July 2020, I prepared for the 2020-2021 school year by collaborating with the curriculum and instruction department to integrate Florida Virtual Learning (FLVS) courses. I recruited, trained, and supervised subject matter experts to identify and fill gaps in state standards within the FLVS courses. I coordinated the distribution and support for these courses, creating and leading pre-planning training sessions in Canvas LMS for over 400 K-12 teachers.
We contacted many of the identified virtual teachers at the end of the summer for extended preplanning. I created and led a distributed training in Canvas LMS over the extended three weeks of preplanning our district scheduled to launch the school year 2020-2021. I introduced my online teaching pre-planning course for new online teachers at the pinnacle of their anxiety about their online prowess. Initial estimates grew exponentially from 200 to 500, and the average for the first semester was approximately 400 K-12 teachers. The expectations and support had to align to move these instructors confidently into place.
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, I maintained documentation for 75+ courses, supervised course authors, and provided support through various communication channels. In Spring 2021, I advised on the developing a virtual program of choice, crafting a roadmap to transition from FLVS to Georgia Virtual Learning (GVL) content. I created revision cycle documentation and guided future course creators.
I maintained the documentation for each of the (75+) K-12 courses. The retention of the SME and course author contact for my reference and district payment was under my supervision. I maintained the master list of master courses and requested new blueprints for new teachers as they were assigned. And I provided timely answers to building and district leaders on the status of these courses.
August 2020
I provided Course Walks by grade band and content. Here is an example of a high school science course walk. These live sessions were held during the pre-planning for the school year 2020-2021, and I presented live and then offered an asynchronous course for those teachers experiencing this shift in teaching modalities. While that number constantly fluctuated, the first semester averaged 400 teacher-learners.
Hybrid & Online Leadership
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, I supervised course authors, maintained documentation for 75+ courses, and provided consistent support through email, Teams, phone calls, and in-person sessions. In spring 2021, I advised on developing a virtual program of choice, transitioning from FLVS to Georgia Virtual Learning (GVL) content, “skinny courses” as I termed them. and crafted revision cycle documentation to streamline course creation.
I created Revision Cycle Documentation to transition away from the FLVS content we utilized during the height of the pandemic.
Based on the feedback from the instructors who constructed courses over the summer and those who taught the courses, I created a brief guidance document for future course creators of my proposed “skinny courses.” I used the Core Course Writers document for reference when onboarding potential course authors. Here is a sample of me providing Core Course Creation Fall 2021 onboarding to those electing to participate in creating courses.
Virtual Program Launch
With the knowledge that learning would not entirely contract to pre-pandemic levels, the district’s virtual program of choice needed to be built. I consulted on selecting teachers based on my experience as their primary contact, knowledge of their skills, and aptitude for the positions.
I created and facilitated an onboarding professional learning course on virtual teaching best practices. In the 2021 summer course for the incoming virtual teacher to the program of choice, I crafted one week/five days’ worth of investigation into online teaching and learning practices to facilitate discussion and drive philosophical agreement within the new workgroup. The organizing principle was the Community of Inquiry Model (Sanders & Lokey-Vega, 2020) and Hattie’s study of Effect Size (Visible Learning, n.d.). I included Fisher, Fry, and Hattie’s (2020) The Distance Learning Playbook as a practical desktop reference throughout the year. I started the professional learning with the Future Protocol from the School Reform Initiative with great “forecasting” outcomes for the new workgroup.
Leadership in a New District
In July 2022, I transitioned to the Barrow County School System to support its 1:1 initiative and lead the implementation of a new LMS. Within eight months, I successfully delivered a comprehensive LMS integration, from RFP to implementation, supported by a two-year roadmap and detailed Gantt charts for task tracking.
To inform scheduling, I created a Gantt Chart to track the time per LMS administration tasks.
The intention of these documents is two-fold. With documents such as this, implementing the learning management system is more transparent and inviting for collaboration. I refer to these two documents when scheduling other initiatives, contract discussions, and resource allocation. This is also made available to school leadership, the district leadership, and directed to teachers for their understanding, and buy-in, of the timeline. Also, I seek to model a transparent process and encourage stakeholders to monitor any changes.
Additionally, I enhanced interdepartmental collaboration by creating Quick Start guides for all district-purchased instructional software and consulting with Georgia Virtual Learning to adapt state-created courses to our LMS. I also provided tailored solutions for teachers creating courses from scratch or adapting existing materials.
See other Learning Assets: Infographic series, Teacher Cheat Sheet for Canvas LMS, 24-25 Instructional Guidelines, blended course observation workflow for building administrators, Training plan and lesson agendas, microlearning training checklists.
External Contributions
Externally, I collaborated with Georgia Virtual Learning to adapt state-created courses for our LMS. I also consulted with district and virtual program teachers on efficient course-creation methods. Recently, I have been hired as an online teaching and learning expert consultant by Advanced Learning Partnerships and have contributed to industry events, such as the Learning Counsel panel discussion on reducing teacher workload. In the Spring of 2023 and 2024, I participated in an Educator Panel on Models, Workflow, and Change Management, alongside prominent educational leaders.
I worked with Georgia Virtual Learning to download a state-created virtual course native to our LMS (created using FLVS content). Another service I offered, was to walk district and virtual program of choice teachers through how to adapt these courses to their needs. I have outlined the most efficient course creations based on (1) state-provided courses, (2) district content, and (3) course creation from scratch.
I contract directly for Quality Matters to review K12 and Higher Education online courses. And then indirectly for institutions advancing along the roadmap to Quality Matter Reviewing of their courses. This has allowed me to interact with many iterations of content and quickly identify the most efficient and effective content presentation/composition.
Learning Counsel Panel discussions:
Crisis and Disaster Response Leadership
September 2024
Apalachee High School, in Winder, Georgia, Barrow County School system, was the site of a school shooting. As the school’s Instructional Technology Specialist, I moved into action; I reached out to instructional technology vendors with the highest impact and support potential for what would be an almost a one-month ramp-up of return to school.
September-October 2024
Valdosta State University was devastated by Hurricane Helene in late September with the semester well underway since their August start. I was able to conduct wellness check-ins with my graduate-level students and work with them through existing and extended due dates to successfully complete the course on time. While the semester is still in progress, the students’ wellness remains my priority, and I will help each make it through my course this semester.
References
Backup of Hattie’s Ranking list of 256 Influences and Effect Sizes Related to Student Achievement. VISIBLE LEARNING. (n.d.). https://visible-learning.org/backup-hattie-ranking-256-effects-2017/ (Links to an external site.).
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2020). The distance learning playbook, grades K-12: Teaching for engagement and impact in any setting. SAGE Publications.
Sanders, K., & Lokey-Vega, A. (2020). K-12 Community of Inquiry: A Case Study of the Applicability of the Community of Inquiry Framework in the K-12 Online Learning Environment. Journal of Online Learning Research, 6(1), 35–56.
Recent Comments