Evaluating Impact - Trello

I have used Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper's (2001) simple, effective model of reflection to evaluate my inquiry.  The anticipated impact of this inquiry was that the use of Trello would improve the overall rate of completed submissions for a target group of 13 Māori and Pasifika students. Evidence showed that there was an improvement in the number of completed submissions for the target group. There was also  higher achievement level seen by students in the target group. However, it is unclear, from the evidence, if this is directly related to the use of Trello. There is a need to further investigate, through individual student interviews, the things that assisted in this higher achievement and how this relates to the use of Trello.  The improvement in student achievement was an anticipated impact of this inquiry.  I also expected to see improved whānau investment in the learning journey.  Evidence of this too was seen in the turn-out of whānau at the end of learning celebration.  Again, without feedback from whānau, it is difficult to ascertain whether this is directly linked to the use of Trello in the learning experiences, but certainly, success was seen!

Another impact I anticipated seeing in this inquiry was enhanced learner independence, by giving options and more ownership in monitoring their personal progress and learning experiences. The evidence showed that 90% of students felt they had choices and control over their learning through the use of Trello.  

An unintended impact was the natural sharing, cooperation, and collaboration that occurred through the use of Trello.  The Trello board was set up so that each area within culture (eg; traditions, sports, clothing, etc) was a new board and students placed their named card, with their ideas, under each area they wanted to explore.  As students were able to see everyone's ideas and freely move between the different boards, they saw cards others had written and it triggered their own ideas and how these related to their own culture.  This was particularly helpful for students who struggled to get started or struggled to find ideas.  It also allowed students to see who else identified with their culture and natural groups started to form and collaborate.  This led to an overwhelmingly successful end of learning celebration where students got together to celebrate and share their cultural identity. A sense of pride began to develop within different cultures, and this extended to the whānau.  Initially, students were quite unsure about their own culture and identity.  Some even stated that they 'had no culture'.  But the Trello boards really helped these students to develop ideas and eventually personal pride in how they presented themselves to the world.  This was completely unplanned, and quite surprising, and ended up being one of the best units we did this year! We had hugely encouraging feedback from staff, parents, and the wider community who heard about it through whānau. 

Next steps would be continuing to develop my own understanding and skills with Trello, it's capabilities to increase the learning and collaboration of my students, improve student agency and help students to be more accountable for their time. Teaching students how to set up their own Trello boards and integrate them with 'real-life', like Google calendars, to-do lists, and other organisational apps they use.

I am a big fan of the impact teacher inquiry has in our pedagogy, particularly with regards to the progress and achievement improvements for students. The Spiral Playbook: Learning With An Inquiry Mindset Kaser & Halbert (2017) is a really simple inquiry model to follow and I know it will work really well in the Professional Learning Groups at my school.  It ties in with the schools current strategic planning goals and I have suggested to the Senior Leadership Team that all staff be encouraged to use this model for the teacher inquiry expectations as outlined in Our Code; Our Standards (2017) 

"Not only is an inquiry mindset fundamental for educators, it is also essential for young learners.  Developing life-long curiosity, fostering creativity, increasing engagement and self-regulation, encouraging greater collaboration and cooperation, building resilience and resourcefulness are all features of more personalized, contemporary approaches to learning."  Halbert, Kaser, Koehn, (2011)



 REFERENCES

Education Council (2017). Our Code, Our Standards. Retrieved from https://teachingcouncil.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Halbert, J., Kaser, L., & Koehn, D. (2011). Spirals of Inquiry: Building Professional Inquiry to Foster Student Learning. Paper presented at 24th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Limassol, Cyprus. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U1JA3_sx_eN5IXNtyDED1dwtlG4l7cA2/view?usp=sharing

Kaser, L. & J. Halbert. (2017). The Spiral Playbook: Leading with an inquiring mindset in school systems and schools. C21 Canada. Retrieved from http://c21canada.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Spiral-Playbook.pdf

Otago Polytechnic. (n.d.). Reflective Writing. Retrieved from https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/Reflective-writing.pdf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Examining Cultural Context

Image
Becoming a culturally responsive teacher means having the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people from all cultures. As teachers, we need to take into account the cultural knowledge, experiences and filters which students bring to their individual learning.  We need to challenge the “deficit thinking” of student educability and become agentic teachers whose pedagogy is culturally responsive. I concur with Bishop's concepts  (Edtalks, 2012) around agentic teachers being the key to making a difference for Māori students.  Agentic teachers share the power with students to control their own goals, actions and destiny, where students are producers as well as products of learning.  Teachers with agency create the difference in Maori student achievement in secondary schools. Teachers who understand and are able to weave together all the things that create a learning context where students are able to bring themselves to the learning conversations, as Māo...
Read more

Reflections on Learning Journey

Image
Early 2018, an innovative teacher, leading a PD session at my school, signed all our staff up to complete The Mind Lab Digital Passport. As I was fundamental to leading the digital changes within our school, this was the first digital PD (that I had not sourced) that generated new learning for me.  I was hooked. This, of course, led to the completion of the DCL where I have been challenged, forced to think, and have grown in new ways.  This has created immediate and sustained changes in my pedagogy and teaching practice, some of which, I will discuss in this reflective blog, supported by The Cycle of Experiential Learning from Osterman and Kottkamp (2015). When identifying the problem; finding what drives me to change my practice, I admit that I had become stagnant.  I was tired and just wanted to be 'fed' new ideas through my school's professional development program. In 2018 I saw a thought-provoking documentary, 'Most Likely To Succeed'.  It discussed the g...
Read more