Virtual Professional Development

I'm Brian Myers. I'm Mike Ratowick. I'm Becky Hiddad. And this is Alpellis, a podcast featuring tips for ad teachers.

We are your agricultural education resource across the web, sharing research based tips and tackling the tough questions facing agriculture teachers every day. Hello and welcome to Alpellis Tips for Ag Teachers Podcast. This is Brian here with Mike and Becky and we are here by the Alpellis once again. We are joined today by our special guest, Amber Rice.

Welcome to Alpellis. Thanks for having me. Amber, thanks for coming back. It's always great to have people come talk to us on the podcast and it is even greater and even more surprising when they come back for a second and third interview to come back and talk to us again.

So thanks for doing that. Absolutely. So for those folks that have not had the opportunity and the blessing to hear from you in earlier podcasts, why don't you do a quick introduction of yourself, please? Sure.

As you said, my name is Amber Rice. I'm a faculty member at the University of Arizona and I prepare future agriculture teachers. My research line is really primarily in teacher knowledge, but related to that, I've done a lot of work related to case, which is the purpose of this particular podcast as we did some research on case participants and what they thought of virtual professional development. Well, that's excellent.

So why don't you go ahead and text a little bit more about that and give us an overview of the topic for today's conversation. Sure. Be glad to. Well, as we all know, COVID happened and we had to cancel a lot of institutes.

So once I got to 2021, we had to look for another modality in which to offer important professional development to teachers nationwide. So we went to a virtual format as far as case is concerned. And really, we were pioneers in that way of designing how do we figure out what's going to be the best mechanism for supporting teachers in case has been a really good partner with the research team. So myself, Scott Smolley at Iowa State and Laura Hasselquist at South Dakota wanted to gather information on what the participants, so those teachers that attended what they thought of that first kind of adventure into professional development.

I'm excited to learn a little bit about this study and certainly the context is important. We're always interested in professional development, but I think this is important on two different levels. One, it's national and scope. And then two, we're also talking about virtual.

And so I think it gives us a couple of things that we can really unpack and maybe provide some recommendations suggestions. So tell us a little bit or share with us that from those two different dynamics, Amber. Absolutely. So when we think about professional development in the virtual sense, we had a combination of asynchronous and synchronous modalities in which the participants participated.

It was across all different case courses. The lead teachers had to be prepared in order to deliver this content. Materials had to be shipped. So there were a lot of working parts.

And so we asked participants in a survey, what did they think about that? How do they feel about their learning outcomes? Did they feel like the technology was useful? Did they feel like their facilitators were effective?

And overwhelmingly so, out of the participants that responded to our survey, they were very satisfied with this experience. They felt like they were prepared in the content. They felt like the technology was super useful and handy for them to be able to carry forward and learn the material. And they felt like their facilitators, which are lead teacher partners across the nation, were really well prepared to deliver it for them.

And I think for many of our participants, you know, as we think to some of the barriers of case, one of them is geographic travel budget. Those have been consistent issues that cases had to grapple with. And so this was an opportunity to be able to attend the Case Institute from the Comfort Other Home. I find this just fascinating probably because there's a little bit behind the curtain work.

This time we're looking at budgets for our own thing. And we know we have some conferences coming up and travel is extremely expensive to do that. And you know, if we can reduce that cost, you're talking about the barrier, there would be would be phenomenal. Can you talk about some of the benefits there?

What were some of the things that participants might have thought were lost? But we say don't travel, but we're lost because of the virtual setting. No, that's a fantastic question. I think it's that developing that community.

It's really hard to replicate in a virtual space. You know, when you're there in person together, you get to have those side conversations, share practices that you use in your schools, get to compare, here's my lab. What is yours look like? What results are you getting from this content?

And some of that just isn't possible in the same way in a virtual space. And I know that's something that Case has been looking at. How do we craft these communities? How do we create this environment that is really integral to what Case is and what it stands for in that way?

And that's something to further explore. I think when we look to the future, so we have 2024 summer institutes that have been released and are coming up soon, really based on this research, based on those experiences, Case is going to a hybrid model. And I think that speaks to the best of both worlds, right? Let's keep the travel down to kind of a five days for most institutes, but supplement that so it's not the full 10 day institute with some online learning because that's been proven to be successful in some ways from our participant perspective.

So can we do a little bit of both? Preserve that community, but also kind of alleviate some of that cost travel budget and just time it takes. Ag teachers only have so much time and asking them to be gone for a long time in the summer isn't always feasible. Well, I think that we sometimes forget just how much community development is part of case.

I think about participating when I participated in Case is an Ag teacher that just how much that community meant going through that with fellow Ag teachers, hearing about their programs and networking across the country and even in my own state, teachers that I hadn't gotten to work with before, that that was a really critical thing. And even thinking about that in terms of the progression of virtual professional development, if I think about the number of times as a high school Ag teacher that I was like, oh yeah, I should really go to that webinar, have it on. I would not have to, I was not at all required to participate. So yeah, it was on, but I was not, I did not have to engage.

And I think that's been a big shift that we've seen post 2020 of it. I have to think about that PD that I engage in that virtual PD differently. I don't think about it as just like a put it on and it's still work time. It's like how that's been delivered has really has really shifted as well.

And so I think when we think about that professional development offering it in virtual setting, what are some of those things that we have to kind of think about for other, like certainly for case, but also for other professional development we offer, how do we have to kind of think about this virtual space differently than we might have even just a couple of years ago? No, that's a great point. And part of it comes back to motivation. I think one of the things that makes it a little bit easier with something like case is teachers know they're going to use that curriculum.

So there is an impetus to really, oh, I need to pay attention. I'm going to have to do that lab with my students. I also think having some of the materials on hand, which we did with in 2021, made it more tangible. So you were setting things up and doing things there.

It's a little bit harder to kind of zone out as I think we're probably all guilty of in the zoom land or in webinars. But I think a lot of that is that encouragement from those lead facilitators and doing a good job to create that community. Also, you know, one of the things participants talked about was how please stay with the technology and access and I think making sure that we're training the people who are delivering that and that participants are able to understand the technology platforms that are being used. I see that a lot in online classes I teach.

You have to make sure that you know how to use the tools because technology can be a barrier and cost restoration if you're not careful. Well, I certainly appreciate this whole thought. And as you talk a little bit about virtual professional development and face professional development, we're really talking even in this instance, kind of a hybrid. And so thinking about the whole scope and opportunities where we can blend both face to face and hybrid and how can we elevate and continue to provide professional development long after the day long, the week long professional development and keep that group together to continue to advance and grow in those areas.

And so what recommendations kind of out of the study, the work that you're doing, would you have for working on blending or creating kind of a hybrid environment for that? No, that's a great question. I think part of it is do those two fit together? Are they complementary when we're thinking about the professional development as a whole?

Are we seeing them as two separate stages? Like this is just the in person. This is just the online portion of that hybrid model. We're thinking about how they intersect and how they can complement each other.

And that's why for the courses that are being offered this summer, they have different models depending on the course. They're all in that hybrid format, but which one comes first for the virtual, which one comes after if it's a combination. Part of that is up to those lead teacher coordinators and that case staff to really think through in terms of the content, what's going to work best for learning? Because that's the ultimate goal, right?

And I think with any of this continuous research and really getting feedback from participants and lead teachers alike on, okay, now that you're using this in your classroom, was that effective. And that's the piece that we are missing with this study that hopefully will be future studies is we know how they felt right after the fact. But what about a couple of years down the road after they've had a chance to implement it with their students? Was the virtual professional development or a hybrid model effective then?

And that's part of what we need to take a look at. You know, we think about, we talk about professional development. I go back to some earlier research that we basically said that people go to professional development for four reasons. They're either told to go, they have to go.

Traffic school or you got to get this licensure or whatever else. You have a problem to be solved. Like I need to go figure out why my plant is dying or my car won't start. I just like to learn or it's the social aspect.

I need to go talk with people. And I guess when I look at your study from there, I'm like, I think about it. I think this makes the job of the professional development planners even more difficult as we have because back in the old days, like, okay, we're going to have a conference every winter in November or whatever else. And that's common.

That's what we're going to do. It would be great because the social aspect of it was there. Any thoughts on how a state leader should make that decision on do I make this professional development fully online? Do I make it fully face to face?

Do I go the hybrid method? What do you think about all those things made it work compared to something like a case institute as compared to something like a MWA conference or the state I teach conference about being virtual? What are some challenges and different things there? So what guys do you have as we answer those questions?

Well, I think part of, you know, to be perfectly honest and I think Kaye's staff would tell you this, the 2021 year, it was at a necessity. But I think the fact that we kept it and that it's continuing on even that hybrid format says that there was some demand in that it was working. It was a necessity for us. And I think part of it as you're thinking through which modality might work best, I think one, you got to think about your audience.

And for those teachers, as you can tell from the study, this is was very well received and you can't just, especially for something that's optional, like going to case, if this is how participants want it to degree, we need to take that into consideration as the learner group. So what is that preference? I think also it's what are your facilitators comfortable with and how much support are you able to give them? And there was a lot of training for the teachers that went into effect before they delivered this, but I think allowed it to go smoothly.

And I think sometimes when online or virtual professional development falls flat, part of it is just not everybody was adequately prepared to deliver in that manner because it's different. I mean, I know we experienced that with online classes. I'm sure all the teachers listening experience that whenever they've taught online, there are different strategies for that. And I know that's something we've talked a lot about in the elevation, it goes back to that community piece.

How do you still create that? Because I know, Becky, you talked about creating those connections with case, like the group chat from when I attended case in August 2017 was active up until like a year ago. So those connections are really strong. So how do we continue to foster and facilitate that when we do have chances to get together?

Can there be more ongoing connection points for people? So maybe if something's lost in that virtual, do they have somebody to contact, to go to, to ask questions, some follow-ups and refreshers? And I think that's what case is looking at in having some webinars or having that wonderful staff that they have that you can go to and connect with helps to support that. Say something, I know I can hear you.

Okay, there we go. You're good. You're good. You're connected.

I hope you have anything capabilities. I don't know the last thing you heard. Uh, connections that support that. Freeze.

Yeah. Oh, well, that was kind of the end of that sentence. But come on. I hope we leave this in.

Okay. Internet is, it's really kind of funny considering the virtual conversation we're having. What do you do in technology? It doesn't work.

How do you pivot? You got to be adaptable. You got to. But with that, though, to him, I think, again, it's funny that it happened.

But it's one of the different challenges. Again, on a virtual call like this or a virtual meeting, you got to deal with the technology issues. If it's a face-to-face meeting, you got to deal with the lunches not showing up or the room being too hot or the room being too cold or people don't leave the refreshment area to get them into the room. All those kind of things.

I think it's trading challenges with doing those different pieces. As I'm thinking about this, at least, I'm thinking about, again, the intentionality behind the decisions. It's like an aspergrace in this work, not only are the right words, but things like NAACP convention and state act teachers conferences, they're important professional development. Don't be wrong.

One of the very important reasons is that social aspect, being able to interact socially with folks. I'm wondering if that's why some of those happening virtually had more challenges where case you saw, the social aspect and community building is very, very important. It's also much more specific in what they're trying to accomplish. You were trying to become case-certified and you were going to be teaching this.

You were very much higher motivation to engage more fully in the content. Whereas, like a state act teacher's conference or NAACP, yes, you want to engage in the content, but there may be this session you're interested in, this one may be not so much, but I haven't seen Becky and Mike for a while, so I'm going to go off to the side to have a conversation. That's not going to happen in a case as much. I don't know.

Am I making that up or should that be part of the planner's decision-making process as we're trying to figure these kind of things out? Oh, I think so for sure. That context matters and you have to think about what are your priorities as the planner and what you want participants to get out of it. Certainly, those social aspects are important, but especially with case and when I think it makes it unique, it is very content-focused.

And those other aspects certainly surround any professional development, but case participants are there for a reason. They're there to get certified. They're there to learn the labs. They're there to figure out how they're going to implement this with their students.

And that makes the kind of, I guess, desire to pay attention and to be motivated to be there a bit higher. I think when we think about other types of professional development, it depends. And especially things like in-state where there might be a lot of value of being there in person. I think we just have to always ask ourselves the question why.

Is it worth the time and travel knowing that we want to have work-life balance? I think of Becky when I think about that all the time, that we don't have an infinite amount of resources. What is the kind of pros and cons of making those decisions? And I definitely don't think everything should be virtual.

I think there's a lot lost when we do that, but it doesn't mean that everything we do has to be face-to-face either. There can be some gains in a virtual space. And again, hybrid, I think, is just the best of both options. And I think part of that is not just from the participants' perspective, which was very positive on virtual, but also from those lead teachers.

And that's not a part of the study, but it's a follow-up study where the lead teachers, one of their main concerns was how do we protect the integrity of what we're doing? Case has been around for a while. It's a grassroots effort. It has grown and morphed and changed.

And there are some things that are very integral to what case is that are very important to the people that are a part of it. And hybrid was a way to protect some of that, have some of that social interaction, have that chance to troubleshoot, but also kind of reduce the time commitment and money commitment that some participants might have, because we don't want that to be a barrier. It would be great if every teacher who desired could get case certified. Well, I think this conversation challenged me to think about access a little bit differently.

I think my default when it comes to access is, oh, can they get there? Okay. Well, and it's either, do they have internet access? Or is it like, is it an geographical location that people can get to?

But this conversation is really like, when we think about, do they have access to community? Do they have access to content? Do they have access to professional development? It gets a little bit to what we're really going for.

Are we looking for access to quality or access to convenience? And what I'm hearing is they're not mutually exclusive when we think about some of these hybrid options, but then it's really what do we weigh and what are we trying to give people access to? Because for some, Bay of attended virtual, or even when we in 2023, when we had options of virtual and in person, some people chose virtual because that was more conducive to their current circumstances in life. And so that's an access piece.

And some people are certainly always going to prefer to have that in person interaction. And, you know, case and other entities that you professional development can't always give both options. And so I think that was kind of part of the decision making to go to more of a hybrid model, that best of both worlds. But it's access on two fronts, right?

Not everybody, you know, we talk to people who have children, young children, being gone for 10 days is a long time for that or other family commitment. Some of them have six weeks off in the summer. Do you want to or can you afford to spend a whole week or really two weeks at a case institute? Is that a lot of sacrifice?

And is that asking too much of our teachers? And so by making it five days, maybe that's more feasible for them to be able to do. Well, once again, Amber, that you have engaged us in a great conversation. One of the big takeaways that I get from your work here is again, we talked about this before COVID made us do a lot of things that we thought never could be done.

And we did them. And we found that some of them actually work and some of them we never want to do again. And I think your work tells us we just be intentional of sorting through all of that to see what pieces we want to keep a hold of, what pieces we want to ditch and what pieces we kind of mold when we have that option to do that. And I think it's a great, great piece of work you and your team did.

Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I love the little commercial plug you put in for the future paper, talking about the lead teachers. We look forward to that piece of scene that as well. And for all the folks that are listening here to Out pellets, I hope that if you're involved in planning professional development at your teacher association or your school district or wherever else, there's a lot of lessons here about thinking about how we plan these things and the access issue.

How do we make sure that we really want to give people all the access we possibly can and be intentional in that. So Amber, thank you so much for being with us here today. Thank you. It was a pleasure as always.

And we hope that all of you enjoyed the conversation as well and look forward to you interacting with all of the information on all the social medias. Reach out to Amber if you have more questions. I just did that for you Amber. And post your questions on social media.

And again, thank you all for being part and listening to Out pellets tips for our teachers. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Out pellets. Check out our website for more information on this topic and to learn more about our guests. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay connected.

And be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss an episode. For Mike and Becky, this is Brian here by The Out pellets saying thank you and we look forward to seeing you again on another episode of Out pellets tips for our teachers.