Earth Educators’ Rendezvous Workshop Leader Webinar Introduction Workshop Design Best Practices Utilizing the Web Tools Evaluation Instruments David McConnell, NCSU John McDaris, SERC

Role of morning workshops at EER Two- and Three-day workshops: Provide important educational anchor for Rendezvous Workshops are interactive, with participants learning from experts and from one another in formats that build on research-based pedagogies. Link to and synthesize ideas from the afternoon program (technical talks, posters, teaching demos, plenary talks, mini-workshops) Feature time to work on relevant courses, programs Unique format – opportunity for “homework”, daily feedback

Workshop Preparation, for you Workshop descriptions currently online Prepare and upload daily agenda prior to event Determine distribution of daily roles (Who is responsible for doing what?) Organize materials that will be used during workshop (decide who is making necessary copies etc.) Which materials should be added to your workshop pages, when? What do you want your participants to do before coming to the Rendezvous? Should they bring any specific materials to your workshop? (participant list available before event)

Workshop Preparation, for your participants Require some preparation in advance of the workshop Coming prepared is as important for a workshop as it is for a class. A variety of approaches can be used to prepare participants for the workshop Review of applicable article(s) Reflection on their workshop goals Participation in pre-workshop discussion or surveys of needs. Discuss your pre-workshop needs with your WebTeam person so that any needed pages or forms can be in place by June 1, 2016.

Workshop Design and Best Practices Think of it as a well designed lesson What are your goals for the workshop? How will you assess if the participants successfully met your goals? What activities will allow you to achieve your goals for the workshop? 1.Workshop Goals 2. Feedback & Assessment 3. Workshop Activities Situational Factors (e.g., workshop size, room characteristics, participant experience, etc.)

Workshop Design and Best Practices Active engagement of participants during the workshop Avoid creating a workshop where participants do not participate. Keep your presentations relatively brief (~15-20 minutes max) Consider breaking your daily agenda into chunks or segments that match your workshop goals

Workshop Design and Best Practices Model Effective Pedagogy Foster participation using... Take a few minutes to list some of the types of activities you plan to use during your workshop to get people involved and give them experience with good practice... use the chat

Workshop Design and Best Practices Model Effective Pedagogy Foster participation using: small and large group discussion, short problem-solving tasks, report outs, reviews of exemplary resources, etc. Provide opportunities for participants to develop sample materials and/or lessons for their own courses/programs

Workshop Design and Best Practices Give participants time to interact and share experience/knowledge Participants bring valuable experience and ideas to workshops. Include mechanisms for sharing experiences and expertise Consider starting with an icebreaker activity that illustrates similarities and differences among participants (e.g., sort on basis of classes taught, types of institutions, favorite ice cream flavors, etc.) Provide an early opportunity for participants to articulate their goals for the workshop During the workshop: Encourage participants to discuss how they dealt with situations that you or others bring up (you don’t have to have all the answers)

Design to Support Reflection and Transfer Emphasize practical applications An emphasis on practical applications and strategies is an important aspect of effecting change in practice. Give participants real world situations to address in their tasks (e.g., developing an activity for their own class or for familiar content) Provide examples of how workshop topics can be applied in the classroom and field Have participants analyze examples of existing materials (e.g., On the Cutting Edge, InTeGrate) or programs How could they be adapted? What are the pros and cons?

Give participants time to make progress on a specific task that connects the workshop topic to their teaching or program Time to work individually during the workshop allows participants to reflect and to make progress on adapting workshop content to their own needs. Provide opportunities for participants to work one-on-one or in small groups with workshop leaders. Consider revisiting one or more activities over the course of the workshop to add new components as new information and ideas are provided. Design to Support Reflection and Transfer

Make sure that participants leave the workshop with specific plans for future action Workshops can produce a wide variety of results (e.g., development of new learning resources, plans for departmental/program actions). Make this a clear goal for the workshop Devote sufficient workshop time to planning next steps and receiving feedback from peers. You can have participants complete and upload Action Plan documents that scaffold their work during the workshop. Speak to your WebTeam person for examples. Design to Support Reflection and Transfer

What, other than new knowledge and warm feelings, will your participants take away from the workshop that they didn’t have when they started? Design to Support Reflection and Transfer

Utilizing the Web Tools Make use of the workshop website Use the program page to organize documents that you would like the participants to access either prior to or during the workshop. Example Program The website will be a resource that your participants can return to when they want to make use of what they learned. Additional pages of resources can be added to your website if you wish. Pre-survey Example Each workshop also comes with a private workspace for use by the workshop participants. Workspace Example -

Evaluation Instruments Workshop Roadchecks (online) Use a few roadcheck questions on daily online survey (some examples) What are the top one or two things you learned today that you will use in your professional work? Do you have any comments, concerns, suggestions, or complaints about any aspect of the workshop that you would like to bring to our attention? What aspects of the event were the most valuable for you and why? What aspects of the event were the least valuable for you and why? What do you need out of the workshop sessions tomorrow (and the next day) to satisfy your goals for attending the workshop? Conveners will have access to the data from these forms and make use of the feedback as they see fit. Select two or three questions from the question bank and communicate with your web team support person by July 1, 2016.

Evaluation Instruments End of Workshop Evaluation (online) Standard template will be provided Rate the design Did the workshop meet its goals Overall satisfaction Can add other questions to get at topics you want to know. Discuss this with your WebTeam person by July 1, Data from the End of Workshop Evaluation will be screened by your WebTeam person to anonymize it so that you can use that information to write your Workshop Summary. End of Workshop Example from

Evaluation Instruments Workshop Summary Each team of conveners will write a Workshop Summary documenting the major activities and outcomes of the workshop. What are the big takeaways that other people should know about? What did the participants gain from the workshop? Make use of the data from the End of Workshop Evaluation as well as group discussions and notes kept in the workshop workspace. Example Workshop Summary

Questions?