Week 3 Blog - Course Design and Coaching for SMART Goal Attainment

The technology framework I plan to use in my LMS course is Liz Kolb's Triple E Framework (2020). In searching for a study that validated the effectiveness of the Triple E framework for technology lessons, I found a doctoral dissertation by Sheila Erin Schatzke (2019). The study participants were 40 teachers from four junior high schools in Texas. The schools were participating in a 1-1 iPad initiative, and the lessons involved the use of an iPad. Lesson plans, interviews with the teachers, and video recordings of the lessons were used by the raters to evaluate the results. This study showed a positive relationship between lessons that rated high on the Kolb Triple E criteria and the measures of how much it engaged, enhanced, and extended the learning when taught (each of the three had three criteria items attached). The researcher reported that four items had a very strong correlation, one had a strong correlation, and four had a moderate correlation. She said that the main factor for the moderate correlation may be the times that teachers did not fully follow the lesson plan they had created. For example, more students were working independently than in the original plan, where all students were grouped and working together. The forty lessons used twenty different apps, so the results held up over a variety of different tools. The researcher noted that classroom management tools played an important role as well. Software that allowed the teacher to monitor the students’ iPads and freeze their screens when they needed their attention was used. Teachers had been given training in the use of the equipment and related frameworks before the study, and were volunteers, so those with less confidence in the technology likely did not volunteer (Schatzke, 2019)

This brings up a number of considerations for the effective use of this framework. Teachers need to have training and be comfortable with the technology. They need to have classroom management tools and strategies to manage the use of the technology effectively. If those foundations are not in place, the technology use may not be as effective as it was in this study, but if they are in place, the Triple E Framework is an effective framework that is easy for teachers to use. I do not think my peers at Pittsburg High School are familiar with the Triple E Framework, so I would include information about this in my LMS, plus opportunities to discuss it or learn more about it.

For my LMS I plan to implement my goal to share technology that supports students with learning difficulties/ differences with my peers at Pittsburg High School. At least some teachers will need coaching to be able to effectively design and teach lessons that use technology. An effective coaching method could be Cognitive Coaching (Costa & Garmston, 2015). This approach is non-evaluative and non-judgmental. It does not set up one participant as the expert and the other as a student, but it is a process where someone helps to mediate the thinking of another, asking thought-provoking questions that help the person to think through their plan, evaluate it for themselves, and self-reflect. It is focused on the thinking process rather than the product. This is an approach that peer teachers can take to help each other take their thinking to the next level. As I develop an LMS course, I can consider opportunities for teachers to receive coaching that they may need.

An ISTE standard for coaches that seems relevant to my peer collaboration is: 

4.4.c Collaborate to Accommodate Learner Needs

Coaches collaborate with educators to design accessible and active digital learning environments that accommodate learner variability. (ISTE Standards for Coaches, 2024)

Both the collaboration with peers in this course that I have done and the collaboration I plan to do with my LMS are based on accommodating learner needs and variability. When we gave each other feedback on our SMART goals, the goals were all focused in this area. I received helpful feedback about ways to make the content I am planning to include accessible to teachers (by putting it in a shared doc or folder), to share ways that I have used it myself, and to gather feedback from teachers about their experiences. I also liked the suggestion to share success stories to keep the focus on students and their success. I think it would be good to have other teachers share success stories of using the technology tools to support the special needs of learners, too.

REFERENCES

Costa, A. L., & Garmston, R. J. (2015). Cognitive Coaching: Developing Self-Directed Leaders and Learners, 3rd Edition. Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2024). ISTE Standards for Coaches. https://iste.org/standards/coaches

Kolb, L. (2020). Triple E Framework. Retrieved from: https://www.tripleeframework.com/

Schatzke, S. E. (2019). A validation study of the Triple E rubric for lesson design: A measurement tool for technology use in the classroom (Publication No. 1505198) [Doctoral dissertation, University of North Texas]. UNT Digital Library. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1505198/

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