Hemet Unified's First Ever TechFest

 

~ STATS ~
 ~ 1 Day ~ 107 Breakout sessions ~ 1214 Teacher Participants ~
9.4/10 Average Session Feedback Rating!!!

It took a global pandemic to finally make this happen, but I'm so glad we did it!  

When I joined our EdTech Team last year with my partner Terri and our admin Derek, we would often talk about how we wanted to have an event like the Inland Empire's Google Camp just for teachers in our district where they could pick and choose which EdTech professional development sessions they wanted to attend rather than sit through another "district-mandated PD day" that was a repeat of pedagogy, rules/expectations, and/or the current educational trendy idea that was floating around at the time.  However, when we would start to talk about how we could pull off something like this, we often would end up discussing roadblocks that had to do with funding, finding presenters, logistics, etc.  It seemed like it would be nearly impossible to pull off an event like this with just our small tech trio...

Then, on Friday, March 13th, our world as we knew it stopped.  For a couple of weeks we were in a tailspin about the COVID-19 pandemic and how this situation was terrifying and impacting our lives as we knew it.  There was so much uncertainty and there were so many questions about how we were going to "do school" for the rest of the year.  How were we (as in the EdTech and overall Professional Development Team) going to equip teachers with the tools necessary to conduct distance learning?  

In April, along with the help of our amazing professional development team, we were able to scramble and (albeit from our homes/isolated offices) develop a website of resources for students and parents, (hemetlearnstogether.org), curate EdTech self-paced professional development resources for our Hemet Unified teachers (our private EdTech PowerSchool page), and pull together a series of webinars to train our teachers to survive the remainder of the school year in which "distance learning" was "optional" for students.  This was our survival mode, and despite the stress we were under, we pulled together as a team and got through it; I'm genuinely proud of what we did at the end of the 2019-2020 school year given then circumstances that rocked our world. 

Even though this was challenging, it gave us insight into how we could pull off a "Google Camp-like" event.  We knew our teachers were hungry to learn more about educational technology integration because of the circumstances of the pandemic.  Not knowing if we'd be going back in the fall fully online, or in a hybrid model, or traditionally, teachers were beginning to see the need for tools like Google Classroom, virtual meeting spaces like Google Meet, and other tools like Screencastify, FlipGrid, and Padlet.  So, we began to discuss the possibility of doing this event virtually and crowd-sourcing from our own pool of tech-savvy teachers.  Terri suggested calling it "TechFest" and then the planning began!

The first thing we did was survey our teachers to determine their educational technology learning needs.  In a Google Form, we explained to our teachers that we were aware there was a need for support with educational technology, that the survey would take them about 15 minutes to complete, and the results would greatly help our professional development team to put together training for the 2020-2021 school year.  We had 975 teachers complete our survey which gave us a great amount of data to begin our planning.  The image below is a small sample of the results. 

From these survey results, we created a list of all the possible EdTech tools that our teachers needed and wanted to be trained in.  High on the priority list was Google Classroom and G-suite apps.  We then asked our digital lead teachers, some past TechKnow teachers, and some teachers that we knew of in our district who have a tech-savvy reputation, if they'd be willing to present to teachers in August on any of the EdTech items on our list and "sign up" to be a presenter.  The response was overwhelming and we were blown away that there were that many teachers who were willing to help us support our colleagues in their professional growth and development.  We couldn't have done this event if it weren't for these amazing teachers being willing to share their "techspertise"!  So THANK YOU to all those who presented at our TechFest this year - we are forever grateful!!!

In May, we developed an idea of what we imagined the day would look like, and Derek did a great job organizing all the details of the event over the summer while Terri and I took some much needed time off.  Derek was able to use Sched to organize all the sessions and share the event with all our teachers who were able to individually create their unique schedule for the day.  Here is what the schedule for the day looked like...

And here is an example of the options in the Sched that our teachers were able to choose from in one of the breakout sessions...

The week prior to the TechFest, our professional development department along with a team of over 100 lead teachers were able to put together an entire week of optional content/grade-level specific training for our teachers to participate in.  If teachers were unable to attend that week's optional training, our TOSA's helped to facilitate the morning content-related sessions of TechFest to bring those teachers up to speed with what was covered the week prior.  If teachers had attended the optional training the week prior, then they had an opportunity to attend an edtech breakout session that first hour.  So, all-in-all, teachers were able to attend 3 to 4 edtech breakout sessions of their choice, and at the end of the day, they debriefed with their site.

Also, the week before the TechFest, we conducted orientations with all our presenters to make sure they understood all the logistics and to answer any questions/concerns they had about their role in this event.  We also provided them some presentation guidelines and tips to help them plan their session.  From their feedback, we know that they found this orientation session to be very helpful.  

During the TechFest, the presenters recorded their sessions and then shared their recordings and their slide presentations with us afterwards.  These resources now live on our EdTech PowerSchool page for teachers in our district to access any time they need to for their self-paced professional development needs!  As mentioned at the top of the page, the overall average feedback from all the sessions combined was a 9.4 out of 10!!!  We have received some very heartfelt feedback messages from teachers about TechFest and how valuable it was for them in their professional growth, and also about the resources we've curated for teachers on our EdTech PowerSchool page.  Here was one such comment from a principal at one of our elementary schools:

"THIS is the lemonade to a situation filled with lemons.  I believe what you all accomplished will change the face of PD for the entire organization moving forward - you have made it possible to meet people where they are at and ensure that we can have access to learning that will truly lead to continuous improvement.  I cannot imagine a more powerful tool!!!!"

There are times that I deeply miss being in the classroom with students, and I wonder about the impact that I'm having outside of the classroom, and if I'm truly making a difference in my role.  Getting this kind of feedback assures me that I am able to have an impact through my work with the EdTech and Professional Development Teams, and that I'm here in this role for a reason.  

So, for this last several weeks, my role has been primarily to help train teachers on the Google Meet platform so that they can have virtual meetings with their students.  In July, I was able to be a presenter in two sessions of RCOE's Google Camp in which I trained approximately 500 Riverside County teachers on Google Meet.  Presenting at Google Camp led me to the opportunity to independently contract and provide training to an unknown number of teachers in the Menifee Union School District in early August. Additionally over the past two weeks, I've been able to train approximately 600 teachers in Hemet Unified on the Google Meet platform to help prepare them for online learning. 

I've also been able to provide support to Terri and Derek as they conducted trainings on Google Classroom, Google Sites, and G-Suite in general by monitoring the chat Q&A during their sessions, as well as provide support to Cathy, our ELA TOSA, in some of the content trainings that have take place with our Secondary ELA teachers.  Over the last several weeks, I have responded to literally hundreds of emails from teachers asking questions and/or requesting one-on-one or small group edtech support.

If you're wondering if I'm tired... YES!!!  I'm totally exhausted... BUT I'm also excited and invigorated because it feels like we are entering new era in education!  I am fulfilled by helping my colleagues become more confident in their edtech skills, but I too am learning something new literally every day, and as a life-long learner, I will never tire of learning something new.  

Today was the first day of school for teachers in our district, and they did so 100% virtually.  I'm confident that our team did everything in our power to prepare our teachers the best we could for what they would face through online learning today and for as long as we have to "do school" this way.  Even when the pandemic is over, the way most teachers "do school" will forever be changed, and I believe that many of these changes are for the better.  One of the changes that came with the pandemic was the creation of our first ever TechFest for teachers; and based on the success of the event, I know this is something we will definitely repeat next year!  So HUSD teachers, be on the lookout for a "Save the Date" to Hemet Unified's Second Annual TechFest!!!