Using technology to support professional development in secondary transition: A look into the Vermont model. Using technology to support professional development in secondary transition: A look into the Vermont model. John Spinney Transition Specialist Vermont Department of Education

How it all began…  Winter 2007 – Vermont creates a team of inter- agency stakeholders to go to NSTTAC’s State Capacity Building Institute in North Carolina.  At the Institute, Vermont creates a plan for increasing capacity with the major focus being on effective dissemination of resources and access to professional development using web based technology.

Conference in the Clouds Kansas University online courses are launched. VT sends stakeholder team to NSTTAC institute. TRIPSCY online transition web pages are launched. Transition Learning E-community is launched (wiki) VT Online Transition Resources Timeline Spring 2007Fall Vermont specific learning module is created by KU

Implementation  Vermont immediately begins executing the state capacity building plan (written at the state capacity building plan (written at the NSTTAC institute) in spring of NSTTAC institute) in spring of  Vermont contracts with the state’s UCEDD (CDCI at UVM) to build web pages within an (CDCI at UVM) to build web pages within an existing site at CDCI (TRIPSCY). TRIPSCY existing site at CDCI (TRIPSCY). TRIPSCY becomes Vermont’s first state wide online becomes Vermont’s first state wide online transition resource center. transition resource center.

Implementation (see handout)  Fall Vermont contracts with Kansas University to provide a series of online professional development opportunities for novice and veteran transition professionals.  This course has been offered the last 3 school years: , ,

 Transition Seminar Series: Each course below was a 4 week online course (see handouts)  Introduction to Transition Education and Services  Transition Assessment  Family Involvement and Student Involvement in Transition  Preparing Students for Employment and Postsecondary Education  Interagency Collaboration during Transition Planning

KU and the Self Directed Learning Module  In the Fall of 2007, Vermont also contracted with Kansas University for a Vermont specific self-directed learning module.  The interactive module included a pre and post test and took 3-5 hours to complete and participants got a certificate.  It is free to participants and is completely asynchronatic.

The Conference in the Clouds  Each year Vermont holds an annual transition conference put on by Vocational Rehabilitation and VT Dept of Education.  In 2009 Vermont held this conference online, or “In the Clouds”. We had 160 participants.  This was the first online conference ever in Vermont. There were 14 sites all over Vermont connected using ilinc and webcams. The conference even had a keynote speaker in Dr Gary Clark who connected from Kansas!  Workshops were placed on a PBworks.com wiki

Conference in the Clouds- Workshops

More workshops… This was titled Secondary Transition Planning in Special Education

The Next level The Next level  Vermont discovered that the wiki on PBworks.com could be the medium to get information to the field quickly, efficiently and at medium to get information to the field quickly, efficiently and at no additional cost. It was not feasible for TRIPSCY to do no additional cost. It was not feasible for TRIPSCY to do updates daily. updates daily.  The wiki automatically s everyone in the system when an update is made! update is made!  Vermont collected addresses for all transition stakeholders—now about 900! These stakeholders include stakeholders—now about 900! These stakeholders include high school special educators, employment specialists, voc high school special educators, employment specialists, voc rehab transition counselors, Post-secondary ADA coordinators, rehab transition counselors, Post-secondary ADA coordinators, parents, PTI staff, and many more. parents, PTI staff, and many more.

The Vermont Transition Learning e-Community is launched!  This wiki has become the hub for all technical assistance and professional development coordination for transition professionals in Vermont.  Information about upcoming trainings, webinars, courses, modules, webcasts, podcasts are all posted here.  Specific technical assistance on the transition planning process in special education is all here. This information also links to the NSTTAC Indicator 13 professional development website.  The wiki has unlimited space for video and we also have discussion pages where folks in the field can discuss challenges and successes.

VT Transition E-Learning Community (wiki)

Announcements are added almost daily

The wiki can track visits as well. At the time of this writing there have been 2482 visits since September 2009.

Thank You  Thank you for the opportunity to share what we’ve done. I am happy to answer questions. Feel free to contact me -John Spinney -John Spinney 