Running Head: MOTIVATING GIFTED LEARNERS 1

Motivating Gifted Learners through a Digital Ecosystem

Heather Charest

June 6, 2017

Dr. Wright

Summer 2017

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Capstone B Report

Description of the Capstone Experience

The intent proposed by the Capstone Experience was to increase intentional use of technology

at Lewis Elementary School among teachers and staff in order to develop a common language and a

positive technology-enhanced environment to motivate student learning, especially among gifted

students. An online Professional Learning Network (PLN) developed using Weebly, and attempts

were made to connect teachers on staff through Edmodo. The main goal of this project was to create a

more purposeful focus on technology within the school environment by educating teachers about

resources such as Weebly, Edmodo and Twitter. Coinciding with the aims of the project, specific

technology was focused on by the staff as laid out by the school’s strategic plan, including Bring

Your Own Device (BYOD), Flexible Formative Assessment System (FFAS) and Cobb Teaching and

Learning System (CTLS). Between springs 2016 and 2017, the FFAS was rolled out by the county as

a part of a multi-year initiative to include all schools in using the system to drive the decision-making

process instruction on a regular basis. A part-time Technology Training/Integration Specialist (TTIS)

was assigned to Lewis Elementary as a part of the FFAS training being mandated by the county, and

the responsibilities of the TTIS included not only mandated training for FFAS but also short

technology workshop sessions that highlighted Web 2.0 tools being used within the county.

At the start of the 2015-2016 school year, Lewis Elementary School moved lesson plan

organization and sharing from OnCourse to OneNote. As a result, the school staff also was faced with

the loss of the included website builder in OnCourse. Teachers were provided with the option to have

informal Weebly training in the computer lab and time was also provided one-on-one or in small

groups to individuals who desired more feedback and assistance at the learned the Weebly process.

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In May of 2016, a PLN website titled LewisLionTech was built using Weebly, and editing

rights were shared with teachers considered early adopters. One component of the website included a

blog for the editing members to share their use of tech tools and ideas related to implementation of

technology within instructional practices. In addition to the Weebly website, an attempt was made to

connect teachers within Edmodo to foster use of the program with students and to connect the faculty.

However, the use of Edmodo was abandoned when became apparent that few teachers were actively

using the tool.

In November of 2016, teachers were offered a Twitter workshop and participated in a one

hour workshop where they were able to create an account and participate in a trial chat session.

Throughout the 2016-2017 school year, voluntary technology sessions were hosted by the TTIS

during planning periods.

In May 2017, a final survey of teacher attitudes (Appendix A) was conducted, along with a

survey gifted students’ attitudes (Appendix B) about general technology use. The objective of the

survey as to determine the culture of technology during the two year period of the Capstone

Experience.

Barriers & Obstacles

Overall, the process of this Capstone Experience were considerably wide and presuming.

While some gains were made in increasing the technology focus for the school, many teachers still

seem to be working in isolation when it comes to integrating technology. When archiving Twitter

feeds through Storify, it became apparent that individual teachers have increased their personal use of

tech tools to begin branding themselves professionally. However, the connections between teachers is

still lacking. The final survey results from teacher attitudes, (Appendix A) collected in May 2017,

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show that while the participating educators have professional Twitter accounts, most educators still

had not participated in a Twitter chat despite having attended the Twitter workshop.

The digital ecosystem at Lewis Elementary School remains a work in progress. According to

Besnoy, in a 2012 study “an ecosystem’s sustainability depends on how well it adheres to a particular

model that allows energy to flow in and out of the environment” (p. 306) and for this reason, it seems

that the digital ecosystem at Lewis Elementary School still has a long way to go before technology

integration could be considered at the higher levels of the LoTi scales. When considering a LoTi sniff

test, Lewis seems to fall categorically in the exploration and infusion levels. Some of the teachers

have begun to use ideas of flipped learning in their classrooms while others seems to perceive using

the Promethean board to project a video or presentation as being technology use. Generally, some of

the faculty and staff of the school have increased their personal use of technology, as evidenced by

increased use Twitter to share events and learning taking place within the school on social media. The

original intent of the project was to enhance teachers’ use of technology and web-tools in the

classroom to benefit all students but with specific purpose driven toward gifted students.

Some of the obstacles faced during implementation included not upholding the intended

monthly surveys of teachers’ attitudes. Other initiatives in the school required that time be spent

focusing on mandated requirements related to FFAS implementation and data collection. As a result,

it seemed excessive to request teachers to participate in any additional effort simply to gauge the

growth of the digital ecosystem. With little interest in the PLN website from the staff, the need for a

parent-focused website was abandoned. The breadth of the goals for this Capstone Experience were a

bit much for one individual to implement, therefore in the future, it may be more achievable if the

technology committee takes responsibility for the implementation of a PLN. Alternatively, the

increased use of Twitter by faculty could be a better means of increasing a possible PLN at Lewis

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Elementary School. Cobb County is providing the Engage Cobb summer conference on June 13-15,

2017, where a session called Growing Your PLN with Edmodo and Twitter is being offered.

Recommendations

Ultimately, the PLN for the facilitator of this Capstone Experience has grown exponentially

and moving forward more purpose will be placed on modeling best practices in the implementation of

technology for instructional enhancement. Developing opportunities to showcase and exhibit

powerful tools for the enhancement of the school’s digital ecosystem will continue beyond the

completion of the Capstone Experience through continued creation of voluntary workshops related to

technology use that encourages motivation of all students, and also targeted groups of gifted students.

The final questionnaire results from the students suggests that a desire for greater implementation of

technology into learning experiences is needed. Ideas from this Capstone Experience have been

evaluated and with adjustments being made, plans to continue to connect with local school peers will

continue beyond this experience. The facilitator has plans to use Edmodo in the fall with students in

an Advanced Content fourth grade classroom. The hope for this plan is that students will be

motivated to learn using technology as a tool to support research-based problem with learner centered

strategies.

Discussion and Reflection

This Capstone Experience provided the facilitator with opportunities to facilitate the

development of a shared vision for the use of technology in teaching, learning and leadership, which

is the main focus of PSC Standard 1.1 Shared Vision. The one-hour Twitter for Teachers workshop

implemented in November 2016 produced an opportunity to address PSC Standard 5.2 Professional

Learning, since it created a technology-based professional learning opportunity to address technology

emerging in importance for the local school. In turn, the use of Twitter as a digital communication

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and collaboration tool impacted the local staff when personal, professional use of Twitter increased,

and as a result provides evidence that the facilitator understands that PSC Standard 3.7

Communication and Collaboration and its importance to the 21st Century learning environment. The

facilitator of this Capstone Experience also became knowledgeable of emerging technologies such as

Edmodo, Twitter and Storify, which ultimately led to a better understanding of the impact social

media can have in developing professional learning. For this reason, the facilitator demonstrates in

her new practices that PSC Standard 3.6 Selecting and Evaluating Digital Tools and Resources can

help improve the digital ecosystem of a school. This experience has also allowed the facilitator many

opportunities to present, collaborate and share strategies in technology use with peers in the local

school. Due to greater presence related to leadership in education technology use, the school’s TTIS

recommended that the facilitator develop and submit a proposal to present for a concurrent session at

the Georgia Educational Technology Conference coming up in November 2017. If this should come

to fruition, the facilitator will continue to uphold PSC Standard 5.2 Professional Learning beyond her

coursework in the Master’s Program at Kennesaw State. Overall, this Capstone Experience has

provided the facilitator with an immense wealth of field experiences and professional learning which

will enhance the facilitator’s ability to become an effective and knowledgeable Technology Coach in

the future. This experience will also impact future student learning but allowing the facilitator to use

the evolving Professional Learning Network to support the creation of technology-enhanced,

authentic learning experiences for students.

Appendix A

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Final Teacher Disposition Survey Results

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Appendix B

Final Student Survey Results

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References

Besnoy, K.D., Dantzler, J.A., & Siders, J.A. (2012). Creating s digital ecosystem for the gifted education

classroom. Journal of Advanced Academics, 23 (4), 305-325.

Lewis Elementary School. 2016-2017 Strategic Plan. Retrieved from

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/968ea4_1cef199b9e264e13b50786259573bbc4.pdf

LoTi Framework. (2016). LoTi Connection. Retrieved from https://www.loticonnection.com/loti-framework

on June 6, 2017.

Storify Archive of Twitter Feeds. https://storify.com/MsCharest/lewis-grows-its-digital-ecosystem