One of the 40 largest school districts in the country, Polk County Public Schools in Lakeland, Florida, spans over 1,800 square miles and is the county’s largest employer. Needless to say, keeping 6,000 teachers and another 6,000 employees across 140 schools and educational sites up to date with the latest technologies is a daunting task.

This task falls to the district’s Information Systems & Technology (IST) Division who are responsible for technology professional development for administrators and teachers. “Our business of learning is a constantly evolving body of knowledge,” says Bill Strouse, director of professional development, Polk County Public Schools. “Teaching is an entirely different adventure than it was 10 years ago.” With this in mind, the IST Division has created a variety of virtual courses and online communities in order to increase the frequency and availability of professional development. In conjunction with this effort, they’ve also developed a collaborative learning community of peer coaches and technology mentors.

“The IST Division became interested in online instruction because of the challenges associated with pulling teachers out of class and administrators away from school,” says Cristie DeVane, senior manager, School Technology Services Department. Traditional face-to-face workshops cost the district in lost instruction time, fees for substitutes, travel time, facilitator fees and facilities. Beyond the financial costs, the fixed time and place of workshops were limiting the number of people who could attend and the number of courses offered each year.

Increasing Effectiveness at a Lower Cost

The IST Division of Polk County Public Schools first implemented Blackboard software in 2004 by piloting a learning platform with two courses for teachers. They quickly found that with virtual courses, there is much more flexibility to expand enrollments or simply add another course. Popular technology professional development classes may be offered every two weeks to accommodate busy schedules. Teachers and facilitators have fewer scheduling conflicts and courses have fewer no-shows. “Blackboard has enabled more teachers and administrators to participate,” says DeVane. “It is less invasive on their time; courses can be completed 24/7, wherever there is Internet connectivity.”

Reduced travel and less face-to-face interaction also saves facilitators time and enables them to interact more with students online. They can easily replicate courses, export content, and share resources to constantly improve courses and maintain consistency.  “The facilitator is learning along with the participants of the class,” says Dawn Mulder, technology resource specialist. “As educators, we each bring our own background knowledge and it results in varied class dynamics. It’s just a few mouse clicks to import content into a new class section, Blackboard allows us to offer consistent course delivery throughout the year.”

Blackboard course facilitators find that people who may not participate in a traditional class often feel more comfortable sharing their ideas in an online forum. In fact, the design of the courses often requires participants to respond to the facilitator as well as to each other and to share their work. “With Blackboard, participants have continuous access to the facilitator and the course content throughout implementation,” says Mulder. “Learning from other participants gives them a more diverse exposure to content areas and perspectives.” DeVane agrees, “We believe Blackboard technology impacts the way teachers work with their students. They recognize the value of sharing and are more open to feedback.”

Generating Excitement

The School Technology Services Department now offers 27 online courses, including their entire technology proficiency curriculum, a facilitator training course, the management of a technology coach mentoring program, and a school recognition program. Over 900 course sites have been created by 95 teachers for blended instruction with their traditional classrooms. Five facilitators manage as many as 65 courses each semester and serve about 3,000 district employees each year. Even less tech savvy teachers have become active users. “They will get together at their school or find a buddy as a study partner,” says Mulder. “We monitor whether or not a person is participating and e-mail, phone, or even visit them to help them through any challenges they may have.”

By integrating Blackboard with the district’s professional development registration system, courses can be automatically populated with registered students and new courses added as needed. When creating a course, the facilitator has the option to base the new course on a previous one and easily copy resources and content as needed. When the course ends, student accounts become inactive unless they are enrolled in another course.  “Blackboard allows us to more effectively deliver technology instruction to more staff and reduce our costs at the same time,” says DeVane. 

Mulder says thousands of district staff members have become accustomed to online learning and are eager to add virtual tools to their own classrooms. “We haven’t had to sell this to anybody,” she says. “The users’ success has generated interest.”