On this episode of Tackling Tech Podcast, powered by Dyknow, Brett McGrath talks with Miguel Guhlin, Director of Professional Development at TCEA in Texas. Miguel explains some of the many challenges facing Texas school districts this year. Miguel sees this emergency shift to remote learning as an opportunity for educators to find their voices and embrace technology. In this challenging time, everyone needs to stick together, adapt, and move forward together.
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Don’t have time to listen to the episode? Here’s a peek at what’s inside…
Miguel Guhlin’s Career in K-12 Education
Miguel Guhlin began his K-12 education career as a class teacher in Texas. At the time, the majority of instruction and student work was done traditionally, using pen and paper. However, as he saw the education space begin to evolve with technology integration, Miguel got excited about the endless possibilities that technology provided for K-12 education. He was especially passionate about aggregating student work with technology.
This passion led Miguel to become a Director of Technology and then Curriculum Technology Director. This experience in the EdTech space paired with a passion for sharing information with other Texas educators has led Miguel to his role today. Miguel now serves as the Director of Professional Development for TCEA.
Creating effective professional development during COVID-19
TCEA is one of the largest networks and providers of professional development for K-12 educators in Texas. With a yearly conference and countless other opportunities for learning, TCEA primarily provides in-person professional development opportunities throughout the year. One large shift with the onset of COVID-19 was the need to continue providing professional development from a distance.
Miguel explained that the PD department of TCEA put all their energy into developing and offering effective online professional development for Texas educators. Their goal was to make sure teachers were equipped and had built capacity. Once teachers get through emergency remote learning in the Spring, it’s important to think about how to help teachers more prepared in the Fall. Miguel shared that he has seen many teachers feeling stressed, angry, and frustrated during this time and his goal is to make sure teachers don’t want to feel as vulnerable, frustrated, and angry as they felt back in March. They are accomplishing this by “providing self-paced professional learning opportunities to benefit teachers and ultimately benefit students from all across the world.”
So, what kind of Professional Development is working?
We learned from Miguel that providing effective professional development remotely is not easy, but it is possible. Here are some of the offerings that TCEA has created during COVID-19.
- Online certification courses: These self-paced, online courses are some of the most effective professional development that TCEA has ever provided. Miguel explained that these are meant to provide tactical information for teachers to master and center around a variety of topics like remote learning, various technology tools, security/privacy, communication, and relationships.
- LMS site content: One of the largest changes with remote learning is that schools are taking advantage of their LMS sites more than ever before. Many schools had an LMS to begin with but didn’t use it, and some schools never had an LMS. TCEA has created resources for specific LMS sites to help teachers maximize their use of LMS sites for remote learning.
- Consistent content offerings: In addition to structured courses and resources, TCEA has increased the content offerings available to K-12 educators for professional development. The addition of a podcast and blog has made it easier than ever for educators to learn on their own time through the TCEA community.
Listen to our full conversation with Miguel Guhlin…
On this episode of Tackling Tech Podcast, powered by Dyknow, Brett McGrath talks with Miguel Guhlin, Director of Professional Development at TCEA in Texas. Miguel explains some of the many challenges facing Texas school districts this year. Miguel sees this emergency shift to remote learning as an opportunity for educators to find their voice and embrace technology. In this challenging time, everyone needs to stick together, adapt, and move forward together.