BHAGs and Designing a Professional Development Course

Using Backwards Design

For my innovation project, I have to develop a course design using Fink's (n.d.) guide in order to create significant learning to be used for my blended learning of professional development of technology integration. At first, I was intimidated to write a whole course guide but then I fell back on my curriculum writing experience. The two are not so different, both start with you thinking of your end goal and then you work backward to determine the skills needed to get you there.

Siedleck, n.d.

I started by developing a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) for my learners; educators that I was assisting to integrate technology into their classroom. I asked myself what did I want them to remember and be able to do 2 - 3 years after they completed my course. My BHAG is that learners will create a blended learning environment for their classroom which provides their learners Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic learning opportunities (COVA). From there I examined my learners and myself using questions from Fink's (n.d.) guide covering the following topics.

Fink, n.d.

• Specific Context of the Teaching/Learning Situation
• General Context of the Learning Situation
• Nature of the Subject
• Characteristics of the Learners 
• Characteristics of the Teacher 

Finally, I used Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning to develop goals for each level of learning in the 3 column table below. I combined the human design and caring components into one goal. You can see my working document here. 

Learning Goals	Learning Activities	Assessment Activities
Foundational: Learners will explore the importance of student choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities in a blended learning environment.	Participate in a discussion of student choice, ownership, and voice in authentic learning environments. Explore and discuss the uses of the G-Suite apps in a blended learning environment. Discuss the importance of students learning how to find information for themselves. Create a Google Site or Blogger blog to use throughout the course as an e-portfolio.	Blog Post on how student choice, ownership, voice and authentic activities create a significant learning environment to increase student engagement. Discussions
Application: Learners will select a unit or topic that they will incorporate student choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities in a blended learning environment.	Discuss ways to blend the learning with limited technology in the classroom. Analyze additional apps and their application in your classroom. Deliver Blended lesson(s) with tech support.	Blog Post reflecting lesson(s) delivered in the blended learning environment and ways to improve it. Discussions
Integration: Learners will create the significant environment where students are given choice, ownership, and voice in authentic learning opportunities which contribute to student engagement.	Revamp a lesson using a choice board or blended learning to allow for student choice, ownership, and voice within an authentic experience.	Classroom observation of application student engagement with authentic experiences. Blog Post reflecting on student engagement.
Human Dimension /Caring: Learners will observe their students and evaluate the effectiveness of blended learning or choice, ownership, voice, and authenticity in student interactions.	Survey on student engagement after revamped lessons and discuss results. Develop BHAG for next year.	Blog post sharing BHAG and how COVA has affected student engagement and interactions. Share your reflections and goals in a blog post.
Continued Learning: Learners will develop a Professional Learning Network (PLN)  for resources and collaboration.	Join PLN’s that are of interest to you and explore what they have to offer.	Develop an annotated list of PLN’s and other resources you will explore and place it on your blog/e-portfolio.

I enjoyed working with Fink's design as it made me reflect on myself as a learner and it helped me to focus on what is the most important things I want my learners to remember. I even applied the idea of setting the goal first when planning my ISTE experience. There are so many sessions to choose from! My ISTE focus will be ways to incorporate student choice, ownership, and voice in authentic learning environments and learn creative ways to apply that to professional development. Once I determined my focus, it makes session choices much easier.  

I am excited to incorporate my course this coming school year! I'm ready to make a difference in my district and spark the flame of the learning revolution by creating significant learning environments one classroom at a time.

References

Fink, L. D. (n.d.).  A Self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved from https://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

Harapnuik, D. (n.d.). COVA. [online] It's About Learning. Available at: http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991 [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018].

Siedleck, P. (n.d.). Blue monster.  [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=155188&picture=blue-monster