Kathy W.

Dlugonski (1A)
HPL 790
Symposium
Part I
1B- Context
The context for this project-based professional development plan is St. Alphonsus School.
1C- Audience
The audience for this project-based professional development plan is the teaching staff
(innovator-educators) at St. Alphonsus School.
1D- Description
The project-based professional development plan that I created is to provide opportunities for the
teaching staff (which I am calling innovator- educators) at St. Alphonsus to learn four digital
technologies throughout the school year, and hence, will provide a more learner-centered
environment for the St. Alphonsus students. Innovator-educators will be given opportunity at the
onset of the school year to participate in the Learning Leader Project. This project will enable
innovative-educators to learn new technology that they can utilize for their own educational
benefit with the hopes of sharing their learning with others. Hence the term learning leader which
originated from George Couros. Technology gives us the power to accelerate, amplify, and even
recreate learning, we as educators and leaders, can make the most of these new opportunities by
embracing the role of the learner (Couros, 2015, p.141). Teachers will choose to be a part of a
team that explores one of four digital technologies. Each team will set goals and define the
measures of success. During the first quarter innovator-educators will utilize the digital
technology and collaborate with peers that are using the same technology. Allowing time for
exploration and collaboration allows for new and better ideas to emerge helps prove
technology to be transformative (Couros, 2015, p.157). In addition, each team will discuss the
power of the selected technology (Couros, 2015, p.145) and the following 4 questions from

George Couross book will be discussed at the three individual team meetings before the end of
the first marking period:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Why is this tool best for the students?

How this tool improve the learning?
If we utilize this tool with the students what is the balance of risk vs. reward?
Is this tool serving the few or the majority? (Couros, 2015, p. 147-149)

Two professional development meetings will be scheduled. One at the beginning of the second
marking period and one at the beginning of the third marking period. Each team will present
their findings about the digital technology that they explored. Two teams will present at the
beginning of the second marking period and the remaining two teams will present at the
beginning of the third marking period. These learning leaders can then collaborate with other
learning leaders on implementation of these technologies during common planning periods or
after-school digital technology learning sessions. During the fourth marking period the staff will
meet and discuss their findings on these four digital technologies and the learning leader project.
Having an innovators mindset pushes the educator to be a life-long learner. Establishing new
and innovative ways to utilize technology with students, staff, and stakeholders is exciting,
engaging, and empowering. Couros states, remember learners are the drivers, and technology is
the accelerator (Couros, 2015, p.149). The technology that is utilized is to enhance the learning.
Four digital technologies will be explored in this new educational setting. The staff will begin
communication in the new learning ecosystem with these technologies:
1.
2.
3.
4.

blogging
You Tube videos
twitter
digital portfolios

Providing each other with opportunities to learn from one another is essential to building
collaboration and deep learning.

1E- Technologies
In order to sustain the Learning Leader Project, I will ask each innovator-educator to initiate an
Edublog account. I would also initiate an account so staff would be able to see my professional
ongoing learning experiences and reflections. This account would be for all innovator-educators
within St. Alphonsus School to share their reflections of their ongoing learning via their Edublog.
Teachers within our community would share their learning experiences, tools, materials, links,
etc. via blogging. It is also a place where discussions would be held with staff members. This
would be a discussion forum for the innovator-educator and the High Performance Learning
Leader. The Edublog tool has the ability for staff to share information, integrate ideas, and
receive updates on current learning and reflections. As a High Performance Learning Leader I
would be able to gather information with use of surveys, comments, and forums. This digital
tool allows communication with all innovator-educators of St. Alphonsus School. The experience
of utilizing this tool can show the growth of our individual learning, and the overall learning of
the High Performance Learning environment. It is with hope of using this forum, that the
innovator-educator will begin to utilize this technology with student-learners, and also to seek
other professional education blogs to enhance learning for the innovator-educator and studentlearners.
In addition to Twitter, another digital tool will that be utilized to help promote the Learning
Leader Project will be the creation and use of You Tube videos. Innovator-educators will help
promote and sustain a positive High Performance Learning environment with You Tube. You
Tube is a video-sharing website. Innovator-educators are able to create their individual videos
and upload them to share with students, parents, stakeholders, and other professionals. These
videos can be created by any innovator-educators for various purposes and shared on our school

Twitter account, Edublog, or the You Tube website. Comments can also be shared on all of
these. Student-learners may be asked to create a video for authentic assessment such reading,
sharing an experiment, or video blogging. In addition, flipped classrooms can be utilized with the
use of You Tube videos. Innovator-educators can present videos to students that can be accessed
via any digital device at any time. Communicating the authentic learning that is ongoing in this
new HPL environment can be chronicled with the use of You Tube videos. Innovator-educators
can create You Tube videos of ongoing lessons, Shared Learning Nights, special events,
meetings, conferencing, etc. The success of your students should be celebrated at every
opportunity, shares Sheninger. The collaboration of You Tube with the Twitter account, and
Edublog will enrich the communication of the High Performance Learning environment at St.
Alphonsus School to all of its stakeholders.
1F- Framework for Digital Pedagogy
In my professional development plan, there are a few moments that align with the monological
form of teaching/interaction/and communication. In this professional development plan, the staff
of learning leaders are to learn how to utilize 4 digital tools during the course of a school year. I
am defining those digital tools (Twitter, blogging- Edublog, You Tube, and digital portfolios) for
the staff to learn. In this way, I am utilizing a monological form of interaction/communication
with the staff. In addition, I am expecting that the staff meet once a week with their digital
learning leaders team and collaborate with one another about their experiences using this digital
tool. Furthermore, each team will be presenting a learning leader presentation on their selected
digital tool for the remaining staff. Each team will also have to collaborate with members on
their team and evaluate the use of the tool by answering the following questions which come
from George Couros book The Innovators Mindset:
5. Why is this tool best for the students?

6. How this tool improve the learning?

7. If we utilize this tool with the students what is the balance of risk vs. reward?
8. Is this tool serving the few or the majority? (Couros, 2015, p. 147-149)
By setting the parameters of when to meet, what to discuss, and the questions to answer, I am
also utilizing a monological form of interaction/communication.
In my professional development plan, I am envisioning utilizing a dialogical form of
teaching/interacting/communicating with the learning leaders of each digital team. Each member
of the digital learning team will utilize the digital tool each week. Each team meets weekly to
share their learning with one another. The learning leaders will gain experience from the
utilization of this digital tool in this way the learning leaders will be interacting/ communicating
in a dialogical way. The teams will meet and share on this learning, and in addition, I will be
able to help provide answers to questions that may arise at these meetings. This is also showing a
dialogical form of teaching/interacting/ and communicating.
Lastly, in my professional development plan, the utilization of the polyphonic form of teaching is
seen more generously. The learning leaders of each digital team will be collaborating about their
learning with one another. Each individuals knowledge will be expanded upon through the
usage of this digital technology. These leaders will not only be collaborating with another, but
through the use of the digital tools (Twitter and blogging) they will experience more knowledge
because these tools are not limited to the teachers (learning leaders) of our school. It will be a
global community with whom they will be interacting. In addition, I will be collaborating and
sharing my knowledge and creating a new understandings about these tools. This overall
knowledge may not be easily measured, but by accumulating knowledge on these digital tools it
will help transform the digital/learning environment within St. Alphonsus School. At the end of
the school year all learning leaders (including myself) will be able to produce common

knowledge about Twitter, Blogging (Edublog), You Tube, and Digital Portfolios. This is another
example of how this professional development plan is polyphonic.
Part II- Articulate (see attachment)
Part III- Reflection
The process of creating a project-based professional development plan was exciting, engaging,
and empowering. I was able to reflect on the needs of my current context, and develop a plan of
action for possibly transformational changes within St. Alphonsus School. Many of the staff
members, including myself, have limited digital technology experiences. Through this process
of developing a project-based learning experience, I was able to learn many benefits of utilizing
Twitter, blogging, YouTube, and digital portfolios. It also allowed me to visualize a High
Performance Learning Environment in my own context. Through reading George Couros book,
The Innovators Mindset, I became enlightened on the impact of embracing a digital learning
environment. The impact could be transformational. George Couros stated, We are stronger and
more effective when we work together and push one another to grow (Couros, 2015, p.127) and
It is becoming increasingly clear that we dont necessarily need to transform the role of
teachers, rather create a culture that inspires and empowers teachers to be innovative in the
pursuit of providing optimal learning experiences (Couros, 2015, p.20). It would be my goal that
the Learning Leader Project mirror the above statement. The Learning Leader Project was
reflective of George Couross work. I began to learn more about George Couros and his work
via YouTube. In addition, I learned of Alec Couros, Professor of Educational Technology and
Media at the University of Regina, Canada. Alec Couros shares valuable insight to the
relationships that are built with personal learning networks. The Learning Leader Project, was
and could be a way for the staff of St. Alphonsus School to connect, build community, visualize
better practice, share lesson plans, connect with educators globally, not just within the confines

of our school. In essence, the St. Alphonsus staff, could become educational innovators (High
Performance Leaders) and develop a High Performance Learning environment. George Couros
stated, Educational Innovators recognize the extent to which learning inside and outside of
formal school settings, aspiring educational leaders will engage in experiences that will enable
them to connect to communities of practice, garner resources, build digital learning
environments, and lead creative design models for a new learning ecosystem (Couros, 2015
p.21). This new community of practice could develop rich learning amongst the staff, but it also
should be passed onto the students of St. Alphonsus School. Utilizing these new technologies
can be accelerators for all the learners at St. Alphonsus School. In this new HPL environment the
learning is centered on the ambition and motivations of the learners. This new HPL environment
would be sustained through constant reflection, research, and ambitions of the learners. The
Learner Leader Project would develop innovative characteristics within each innovator-educator
(as well as all learners in St. Alphonsus School). These eight characteristics were shared by G.
Couros:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Visionary
Empathetic
Models learning
Open-risk takers
Net-worked
Observant
Team-builders
Always focused on relationships (Couros, 2015, p.88-90)

Which in essence are the characteristics of High Performance Leaders. This Learning Leader
Project brought to fruition what a year and a half ago, I could not imagine. I am inspired to think
that this project would have this possibility of existing in the context that I am currently working.