Hampton+Roads+Academy



Hampton Roads Academy is an independent PK-12 school located in Newport News, Virgina. We have an awesome team of educators on the HRA Digital Learning Team!

** Meet Our Team: ** Ashley Diette, Upper School Teacher (History Department) I am very excited about the conference and learning as much as I can this year! This journey will be challenging for each of us in different ways (well - I have already been challenged with the pregame activities!) and help our school find news ways to engage our students. Cannot wait to learn more!

Patti Grayson, Lower School Teacher (3rd Grade) The pregame activities pumped me up! I hope to keep developing my PLN, expand my knowledge of digital learning, meet and collaborate with others who have the same goals, and find new resources to help keep my students engaged and excited about opportunities to guide their own learning! Rhonda De Chirico, Director of Auxillary Programs Bridgette Thompson, Middle School Teacher (Math Department) I can't even imagine all the possibilities! I am excited and privileged to be part of a great group of educators looking to improve their practice in order to engage and prepare our students for their future. Becky Deeley – Team Leader, Upper School Teacher (Science Department) Labor Day weekend was devoted to begin the development of an open learning network. PLP has decided which resources to tap first. How to utilize these resources and incorporate others will be the challenge for this coming year. Elizabeth Hollingsworth, Upper School Teacher (Science and Math Department) I have already learned so much as I complete the pre-game plays. Working with so many people who are interested in exploring new ways to teach the students of today is going to be awesome. Leanne Reynolds – Fellow, Associate Head of School/Dean of Faculty

**Action Research Project - Template** //We want to be able to share and post your Action Research Projects on the PLP website so that others may learn from you. We want to brag on you! We will be making web pages from these projects, so to make the projects a little more uniform and easier to flip through we are asking that you fill out this form. Don't worry - it's not nearly as daunting as it looks. This is meant to be a snapshot of your project with artifacts and links should a reader wish to dig deeper into your research.//

//For your convenience we have copied and pasted this information into your school's team page. Please delete the directions that are *in asterisks* once you are finished.//

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Leanne Reynolds (fellow), Becky Deeley (team leader), Rhonda DeChirico, Ashley Diette, Patti Grayson, Elizabeth Hollingsworth, and Bridgitte Thompson =====

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//*A four- to six-sentence description of the project.*// =====

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The HRA team identified collaboration among HRA faculty as a need in our learning community. Our action research targeted increase in collaboration by assisting our faculty and staff to begin constructing their own personal learning network with our help and positive reinforcement. We asked faculty to join Diigo, bookmark, and follow one of us. We also asked faculty to participate in our school's Ning. To foster positive reinforcement we used a game called Ningo Bingo and little prizes with a grand prize drawing for bingo blackout. The blackout allowed our peers to take their learning a few more steps towards collaboration within our community. Our faculty and staff are truly remarkable people who are deeply committed to HRA. We discovered they can also be committed to learning with some positive reinforcement. Not only did we collaborate with our peers to help them, they avidly participated on the Ning and on Diigo, but best of all, they helped one another as they acquired these new skills. We conclude that developing a personal learning network can increase collaboration among HRA faculty and staff. =====

**Problem, Issue, or Possibility**
**Will the development of a Personal Learning Network, coupled with professional development support, increase collaboration among the HRA faculty? ** Our school needs a way to collaborate and a way to continue professional development. Everyone has many responsibilities; consequently it is difficult to find common time to share with one another. We need a way to share and learn asynchronously. We need a personal learning network. //*Please include the context surrounding the project - what you planned to innovate around.*//

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To facilitate the development of a personal learning network utilizing two primary sources: =====

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To provide collaborative opportunities for faculty to learn and demonstrate their understanding and knowledge of 21st century thinking: =====

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1. Ongoing Professional Development Workshops beginning Summer 2011 focusing on collaborative tools and resources. =====

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3. Creation and implementation of a “21st-centurized” lesson =====

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Faculty will be active members of the HRA Learning Together Ning. They will reply to at least one discussion before the end of the year. They will add something to the Ning themselves (post a new discussion, add a video or article, start a group, etc.) =====

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Faculty will become comfortable with social bookmarking. They will create a Diigo account and follow the Digital Learning Team. =====

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We will document pre and post participation on the HRA Learning Together Ning. Diigo participation will be measured by the Digital Learning Team each of whom will follow all faculty participants. =====

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Internal collaboration among HRA Faculty will increase. Summer professional development opportunities will be developed focusing on collaborative tools and resources. =====

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">Continue to measure faculty participation in the HRA Learning Together Ning. Ask faculty to document examples of internal collaboration on the HRA Learning Together Ning. =====

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">Faculty will become more familiar with web 2.0 applications. Summer professional development offerings will include workshops on web 2.0 tools that enhance collaboration. During the school year 2011-12, monthly professional development offerings will include workshops on tools and resources the Digital Learning Team has examined and found useful. Faculty will have the opportunity to request workshop offerings using the HRA Ning, based on their needs and interests. =====

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">Pre-implementation survey and post–implementation survey. This will be measured by the success of the “21st-centurized” lesson objective. =====

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">Each faculty member will work with another faculty member to create and implement a collaborative “21st-centurized” lesson. =====

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">Flip video cameras will be used to document lessons. Critical Friends rubric will be used to provide feedback to faculty. =====

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">//*Explain what you wanted to see happen (outcomes) and then evidence the team did or didn't achieve those outcomes. What were/are your aimed outcomes for the project? And how will you know you've been successful in implementation?*// =====

<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">**Implementation Plan**
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Timeline

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Year 1 How we got to our research and when we implemented our research. · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sep 2010 to Jan 2011 team members learn about 21st Century learning and develop their own personal learning network · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jan 2011 begin to develop our project using Google docs and wiki · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Feb 2011 meet f2f to discuss project; PLP team meeting online · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">following that meeting, some of us met impromptu and talked about what would most benefit the faculty and how we could do that · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">March 2011 f2f meeting to go over the project step by step clarifying objectives, goals · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">April 2011 roll out plan at faculty meeting · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">by June 2011 faculty will have completed goals with help from digital learning team · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Summer 2011 faculty will continue to collaborate and learn more about developing their network using 21st century learning tools · <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">by Spring 2012 faculty will have implemented 21st century tools in a lesson plan

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">One of the issues we discussed in our F2F meeting was the need for positive reinforcement-more than learning something new. We felt we needed recognize the efforts of our peers. To this end, we generated many possibilities. The most brilliant idea was Ningo Bingo. It rewarded our peers for completing the goals and allowed greater growth for those interested. For a bingo, we had little edible treats with kitschy positive affirmations. We sent personal notes to our group members to recognize their efforts and keep them going. For a bingo blackout, the learner earned a gift card (to one of our local businesses. It support our scrip program that helps fund Model U.N.). Also, blackout winners had their card entered into a drawing for an iPad2. Blackout learners also had their name posted on the Ning. We, members of the digital learning team, tried to keep their learning growing by posting new sites that may be useful on Diigo, recommending groups for them to check out, and responding to their posts on the Ning.

**Evaluation and Results**

We haven't compiled our statistics yet, however we have some informal results.
Our two requirements were to create a Diigo account, bookmark a site, and follow someone on digital team and to become a member of our HRA Ning, post a response to a discussion, and to start a discussion.

In the first few days, there were 66 new posts/discussions on the ning. Several took additional steps and began RSS feeds and took a look at blogging. Also, many have their Diigo accounts going and some are now bookmarking on Diigo. They are beginning to build their own network.

BEST YET, we are working together. We have collaborated across disciplines, across grade levels, and across age groups. Faculty members that have just learned are teaching others how to create their Diigo account or ning posts. We required faculty to complete the goals. Staff was invited to participate. Staff has participated-eagerly and in droves. It has been inspirational! We haven't finished out the first goal for this year; that will occur in June. We are hoping for a runaway success.

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">//*Please include lessons learned and takeaways. How did it turn out? Where are you now in the project?*// =====

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We have placed our beginning google docs, instructions, revisions, final project, faculty meeting xtranormal presentation, and the Ningo Bingo on our wiki: [] =====

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<span style="font-size: 1.03em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">//*Please share any and all materials developed throughout the project. Artifacts can include videos, meeting notes, surveys used, presentations, pictures, supporting documents, URLs, slide sets, etc.*// =====