Loyola University

ET 691
David Maimone

Internship Proposal
 Description of Proposal

It is important to know that I am currently not working in a school building. Because I

work in the Office of Special Education (OSE) as a resource teacher, my internship needs to be a
bit different than those working in a school setting. For my internship, I will be working on
increasing our central office staff’s ability to deliver online professional development that is
compliant with the accessibility standards now required. In OSE one of the biggest things that
we do to support schools is to deliver professional development to teachers in the school
buildings. We do this through large scale methods such as large face-to-face presentations in
which we use PowerPoint presentations to deliver content and some small group breakout
activities. We also deliver professional development through smaller scale methods such as
providing individual schools specific, direct professional development based on that school’s
specific needs. The core of my internship will be to provide professional development to the
central office staff so that they may increase the efficiency and accessibility with which
professional development is delivered to special educators throughout Baltimore County Public
Schools. This will be done through working in conjunction with OSE administration and with
both individual and small groups of OSE staff to increase their capacity to deliver effective
online professional development.

Rationale

The rationale for this proposal comes from feedback that OSE has received from past
professional developments. First, when OSE delivers face to face professional development, it
pulls staff out of school buildings. School administrators have been clear that the impact of
pulling staff out of the building hurts the schools’ ability to deliver effective instruction.
Feedback from the participants has also been negative in that the information they received
didn’t warrant the time away from their school buildings. In addition, providing an online option
to professional development will give teachers options as to how to receive information and will
be in line with BCPS’s desire to move PD to a digital platform.
 Learning Objectives

The learning objectives will be different for every OSE staff member that participates
because they are all at different levels of comfort with technology and change. However, there
are a few overarching learning objectives that will guide this internship:

1. By December 2018 given one to one or small group instruction from David Maimone,
OSE staff (number of staff TBA) will be able to create and administer an online
professional development session in the form of a webinar or video tutorial.

2. By December 2018, create and present three online professional development

sessions (either synchronous or asynchronous) designed for OSE staff on the topic of
delivering online professional development to school-based staff.

3. By December 2018 given one to one or small group instruction from David Maimone,
OSE staff (number of staff TBA) will create one online professional development
presentation that meets the accessibility standards that BCPS has established.

Learning objectives for specific participants will vary depending on their comfort level with
technology and where they are on the ACOT model of technology. Most OSE staff are at the
Entry or Adoption levels and the goal would be to move them up the scale at least one level. In
order to address this change, I would look at Ely’s conditions.

References to Models of Change and how will internship address change

Learning objectives that are specific to each learner will be determined by where they are
on the ACOT model as well as where they are in terms of Ely’s Eight Conditions of Change.
This will be done through a needs assessment developed and administered by me. The level of
dissatisfaction and the knowledge and skills of each participant will determine for the most part
where I will start and what learning objectives will be developed. Resources and time are two
conditions that will be addressed with OSE administration. Unlike a school building, OSE has
access to a lot of resources but less choice in what can be used, particularly for system-wide
professional development. In conjunction with OSE administration we will determine specific
incentives for the participants, although, I believe that participation will not be a problem as the
level of dissatisfaction may be high. Commitment from administration should not be an issue as
this internship aligns with BCPS expectations. Leadership will come from me in terms of
working with individual and small groups of OSE staff to develop their skills in delivering online
professional development.

Overview of learning activities and instruction

The learning activities for this internship will differ from the traditional school-based
internship. The fact that everyone in OSE works such a non-consistent daily schedule doesn’t
allow for consistent group or committee development. The first component of this proposal will
be to develop three online (synchronous or asynchronous) professional development sessions on
the topic of delivering online professional development. Specific topics may include the
teaching with the adult learner in mind, accessibility, and accountability. These will be delivered
over the course of the fall semester. My plan is to target two to four individual or small groups
of staff members (such as those in the Early Childhood Office) to develop their ability to deliver
online professional development to the school-based special educators that they support. We
will utilize the information presented in the online professional development sessions. The plan
will be to meet on a regular basis in the fall with the intent of the PD to be delivered after
December 2018. These learning sessions will be tailored to each participant’s needs based on
where they are on the ACOT model. I will provide instruction and coaching in both using the
online platform to deliver the PD as well as ensuring that accessibility standards are met.
Participant specific goals and specific learning sessions will be documented.

Description of the Online Component

The online component will be the three online professional development sessions that
will be on the topic of delivering professional development. This component will be a video
tutorial or webinar on topics such as PD for the adult learner, making online PD accessible, and
Participant accountability. My thought is that I could do these as webinars, but they may have a
more lasting effect if they were video tutorials that OSE used for all our staff. This may be up to
the OSE coordinator.
 Realistic Timeline

Objective Action Who is Date of Assessment (what

Responsible Completion and who)
To elicit feedback Conduct David 2/28/18 David Maimone
from members of interviews with Maimone will analyze
OSE regarding the OSE staff. interviews with
implementation of OSE staff and
professional summarize results.
development.
Identify individuals Meet individually David 6/15/18- Administration will
willing to try with OSE staff Maimone, 9/30/18 approve identified
different ways of and identify 2-4 OSE individuals. David
delivering individuals Administration Maimone and the
professional willing to use participant will
development within technology to identify the specific
OSE. provide multiple goals for each
options to deliver participant.
professional
development.
Present Online Develop an David 10/15/18 Feedback from
tutorial #1-Online online Maimone individuals who
PD for the Adult professional view the PD.
Learner development
(webinar or video
tutorial) that
explains how to
take into account
how the adult
learner learns.
Present Online Develop an David 11/15/18 Feedback from
tutorial #2-Making online Maimone individuals who
Online PD professional view the PD.
Accessible. development
(webinar or video
tutorial) which
explains how to
make online PD
accessible.
Present Online Develop an David 12/1/18 Feedback from
tutorial #3-How to online Maimone This 3rd individuals who
ensure participant professional session view the PD.
accountability development may go
when delivering an (webinar or video beyond the
tutorial) which dates of the
 online professional explains how to semester
development. ensure course.
accountability
when delivering
an online PD.
To utilize Provide regular, David 9/30/18- Develop an
technology to individualized Maimone 12/1/18 individual plan for
develop support to each of This may each participant to
professional the individuals on go beyond outline the number
development the technology the dates of of sessions as well
options other than they are using to the as specific learning
face-to-face create their PD semester goals.
delivery. (the frequency of course.
the support will Document each
depend on the session with notes
type of and artifacts as well
technology used, as feedback from
the individual’s the participants.
comfort level
with the
technology, and
the date and
timeframe that
their PD needs to
be delivered).

To evaluate the Develop a David 12/1/18 Use PD feedback

effectiveness of the feedback tool for Maimone, tool to gain input of
internship PD that participants to OSE effectiveness of
was provided to the gauge Administration overall instruction.
participants. effectiveness.
Evaluate the
Develop a participant online
feedback tool to PD in its delivery
evaluate the and accessibility.
participants’
online PD.

Evaluation

Evaluation on the effectiveness of the internship will occur in three ways. The first will
be informal as I plan on eliciting feedback from each individual session that I conduct that I will
document in session notes. This will be used as formative assessment throughout the internship.
The evaluation of the participants’ effectiveness in developing and delivering accessible online
professional development will be done in two ways. First a feedback tool (survey) will be
administered to the participants to gauge their comfort level with technology in general, their
ability to create an online PD, and their comfort with incorporating accessibility standards.
Secondly, I will create a tool to evaluate their online PD for its delivery and accessibility.