2019-2020 Remote Professional Learning PD - April/May (STEM Hours)
Section: TECH20200026Summary
Commnets
Strengths:
Responses: 185"The collaboration was amazing. Chances for asking questions and working through difficulties. The exchange of information was great!"
"Material was usable and pertinent. Jeff Utecht is a great speaker."
"Very clear instruction."
"Jeff is extremely knowledgable and has helped the WSD so much! I have learned a lot from his PD courses."
"high energy"
"Varied strategies. "
"Jeff Utecht was awesome!"
"new stuff"
"Jeff provides a great, and agreeable, approach to the remote learning model. His philosophy on shifting our mindset validates everything I've been trying to do."
"While it worked it was great, but I got paused and then it buffered and would not start up again. Rats."
"Well researched"
"A lot of online knowledge, helpful hints, and ideas."
"Thank you"
"Jeff is great. I agree with everything he is sharing. MASTERY LEARNING. STUDENT CHOICE. etc. Love it."
"Jeff is super knowledgable."
"Some useful information and materials."
"Great help moving toward distance learning"
"There were some good ideas presented around using technology and adequate examples of them. "
"Definitely increased my comfort level with using new tech tools and various online platforms."
"N/A"
"lots of good information, Jeff U was fantastic and very realistic"
"Learning how to do virtual learning"
"Helped with providing online learning."
"Inspirational!"
"Well organized instruction"
"I learned a lot of awesome techniques for online learning. Very informative & helpful."
"Clarity of requirements."
"The people"
"Great direction on how to utilize new tech in the classroom."
"Applicable "
"All of the innovative ideas."
"Presenter very knowlegble"
"Links back to trainings were very helpful to refer back to after my kids interrupted me during some of them"
"Good information"
"Real examples being used by teachers, ideas for direct application, tools to enrich our instruction and student learning."
"I have learned a lot about using online ed tech during this time period, i.e particularly how many online sites can be used with Google Classroom. That will definitely be something that I use moving forward beyond Distance Learning ... "
"Thank you so much"
"Very encouraging!"
"pertinent information to the situation we are in"
"New Tech to use in the classroom setting!"
"LOVE how quickly we have come into the 21st century of digital learning! "
"I appreciate all of the examples presenters like Jeff Utecht used of teachers implementing things like flipgrid, choice boards, etc in their online teaching. This really helped me think about ways that I could integrate the new technology with my students. "
"Just what we needed!"
"I learned technology to use with my students for distance learning and eventually in the classroom."
"Excellent insights from Jeff U and also encouraging data and shout-outs to educators in our district, state and nation!"
"It was wonderful to have these trainings and resources as we were trying to set up for online learning. There were many new resources and tools that were brought to my attention and then given some training for use. I was able to apply them to my teaching as we moved forward without having to spend extra time just trying to figure out the platform. Many ideas and tips were already given and could be put to use."
"Awesome presenter"
"Lots of engagement and learning opportunities"
"Amazing work by tech and district to put together this so seamlessly!"
"Great ideas to incorporated distance learning"
"Jeff is great! A good visionary for where we want to go."
"Excellent knowledge. Thanks for helping us out during this huge transition!"
"Excellent work on the part of our WSD tech department getting us all equipped to teach remotely. I love Jeff's challenges and perspective."
"All good information for our new reality."
"A lot of these trainings were extremely helpful during this time of distant learning and learning to find ways to help & teach our students from afar. "
"Holy Cow...these sessions with Jeff were amazing!!!"
"I was able to immediately apply the training to my job."
"Skilled instructor! He's been through it. He's great!"
"The sessions I've attended have been awesome. I've been able to immediately implement/apply the information and strategies."
"Great for Gen. Ed. - lots of ideas and inspiration"
"opportunity to learn a lot of technology, not only virtual setting but also able to access self paced"
"Important, and valuable pieces of training. "
"I was happy with the different topics that were covered."
"wealth of knowledge from presenters"
"The trainings support students' learning for their distance classes."
"Jeff did a great job with teaching the tech, and the motivational piece was nice too."
"Lots of great platforms to learn!"
"Positive, energized, focused PD that was relevant to tech ed."
"Great for virtual learning"
"Great communicator, kept it engaging"
"Well, it is a virtual world for teaching and learning.... He taught the way he was teaching us to teach... "
"Thank you guys for pulling all this off so quickly!!"
"The tech team ROCKS, and you have amazing patience with all of us tech newbies ;) Thank you for your unwavering sense of calm :) "
"The content."
"Information was presented as it was needed in work assignments."
"choice grids"
"New ideas in place"
"I think the trainings were relevant "
"Flipgrid"
"Gave everyone avenues to increase productivity"
"Very knowledgeable about the technology and teaching aspect."
"Time for collaboration"
"Jeff challenged us to think outside the box, since the box is now a circle! We forged into the future using unknown technology in the blink of an eye. Jeff equipped us to boldly go where few teachers had gone before."
"The positive approach and enthusiasm as well as entrepreneurial mindset really helped to launch us into this new phase of learning and teaching. It was helpful to have examples of what works!"
"I think this quick connect everyday gets us started and makes the school day start off right."
"Amazing training that worked along with what were are struggling to learn."
"Jeff U has a way of inspiring teachers. I think he made some really great points about how education will continue changing now that Covid has happened."
"Jeff is very inspirational."
"Instructor was great"
"Learned a lot - Thank you :)"
"Well organized and easy to understand."
"New technology for remote style teaching."
"Very inspiring and encouraging"
"Good examples of choice grids"
"knowledgable"
"Being able to ask questions in real-time and get specific instruction for new applications we are trying to use."
"I appreciate Jeff's expertise and experience with online learning. It definitely helped me to prepare for what we're doing online now. "
"Experienced teacher/facilitator w/some opportunity for interaction and feedback to help gear the presentation/content to the needs of the clientele"
"Lots of good ideas - time to practice within meeting"
"The ability to watch both synchronously and asynchronously to review. This is a great resource for all of us."
"Was taught things i could immediately apply"
"Thank you for pointing out the pro's of this chaotic time and showing us we're doing better than we thought!"
"He was very enthusiastic?"
"Ideas are great about assessments and proficiency/master level grading"
"I appreciate what Jeff had to say. "
"The presenter did a great job. Loved how he walked us through the Flipgrid activity."
"good content"
"Organized, relevant and engaging topics. I appreciate being able to go back and review the recorded trainings when necessary. "
"WSD has outstanding leadership beginning with Dr. Paul Gordon...and staff. So happy to be part of a great family!"
"I appreciate all the support we have received and the slow roll out to transition to online learning."
"Lots of helpful information about things I knew and still know very little about. But now I know more. "
"I appreciated the ability to interact with colleagues and ask/answer questions in the chat bar."
"SO much great information on tech and online learning"
"I have been super impressed by all of these trainings! So well thought out and planned! Thank you for helping us!"
"I needed all the PD so I could continue teaching remotely. Thank you!"
"Jeff did a great job and was very motivating in this hard time."
"oanline format"
"Considering that this had to be done one the fly, you guys did a great job! A lot of info in a short time. Thanks"
"Jeff Utecht is experienced and knowledgeable, not just about methods for reaching kids, but for understanding what are reasonable expectations when dealing with kids who are dealing with a traumatic set of circumstances."
"Jeff Utecht is very knowledgable and made this PD relevant in our current circumstances and for future best practices."
"Succinct clear on message"
"All workshops by Jeff Utecht were informative and inspiring. Also WSD tech staff have provided great support and training to get this online learning off the ground."
"New technology"
"Great to still have opportunities to learn and grow in this remote teaching environment!"
"Jeff Utech is an extremely knowledgeable about Distance Learning and has helped me understand how to best teach my students during our closure."
"Fast-Paced and informative"
"Great information "
"Very much needed PD at this time. THANK YOU!"
"All very helpful information while online teaching"
"Thank you for the wonderful and diverse instructional support at this time!"
"Just in time information"
"Considering the circumstances, the virtual training or I'll excellent"
"All instructors were awesome and very easy to access with questions or follow up tutorials/office hours/tech help. Thank you:)"
"Relevant material that can be applied to online learning."
"Great trainings! I really think we used our time wisely to learn and get familiar before starting with our students."
"I am going to go back a listen to these earlier sessions. The training was full of information on the best practices of online teaching. If I can incorporate one idea each time and add to that as I continue to play back the trainings, I will be happy. The instructor was motivating and helpful."
"Relevant to my job."
"Time to practice on my own and be able to repeat/review information at my own pace."
"ON THE SPOT training for technology! JUST when we needed it!"
"All the courses were timely and appropriate for our new reality."
"Presenter was inspirational and had a clear understanding of the situation we currently live in."
"I really appreciated the opportunity to take some pd that interested me-- but wasn't forced upon me. I think this distance training based on interest might do very well at the start of the year and additional days. I was able to take meaningful trainings for me,not sit through a meeting on something that doesn't apply to my content or I already know. "
"It's great to have the option to watch it on your own later, at your own speed. Instructors are pleasant, helpful, knowledgable, and PATIENT!"
"Jeff has been outstanding. And all the tech help from Ray and Ron to people in our building. Also,PD video is well organized and easy to find."
"the presentations by Jeff U. were great! He addressed concerns we are all dealing with and helped shift our focus to meet the needs of students working in this new environment. I found his advise useful and relevant for our current situation. "
"Push teachers to think differently"
"Thank you for providing this online training!"
"Programs have been relevant to our work and of high quality. The content is useful for our remote situation but also beyond this situation. That makes it more engaging and meaningful"
"Jeff was very passionate bout what he was teaching."
"This was important information given the circumstances."
"I liked our keynote presentations to give an idea of where the district is going with all this. Tech presentations were good but I couldn't attend half of them because I had Special Education meetings scheduled at the same time. I'm glad they were recorded - my brain is still on overload with learning all these platforms, programs, apps, etc. for k-5th grades, Special Ed and General Ed..."
"Diversity of apps/training for teaching remotely. "
"I liked that all staff was able to watch and learn."
"Really helpful given the circumstances."
"Thank you"
"Jeff Utecht is an amazing teacher. He is just the right person for this job. He is inspiring and understands the difficulties involved. Thank you to the district for bringing him in to help us through this time! "
"Well prepared presenters!"
"All of the distance learning courses were EXACTLY what I needed to get up and running quickly and confidently. Thank you!!"
"Jeff has real-world experience in navigating the exact challenges we are facing."
"Interesting"
"Clear strategies to engage students in distance learning and common priorities for instruction, office hours, and the amount of content covered was extremely helpful."
"great ideas shared, information very valuable "
"Preparation for distance learning"
"His knowledge of material "
"Thank you for the steps into this time. I appreciate not just getting everything dumped at once but the staggered approach."
"Relevant and highly engaging"
"These courses brought practical hands-on programs that I was able to incorporate in my daily work. "
"Loved it"
"Tangible and relevant"
"Very positive. The courses made me excited about teaching remotely."
"I so appreciated this time with Jeff and all of the support from our tech team. You are all rock stars during this difficult time."
"The Jeff Utecht trainings were helpful and there were lots of good ideas that I can use."
"Many resources, I could work at my own pace to practice new techniques and apply new expectations."
"I got a lot of great ideas for how to engage students of all abilities into my current job assignment. Very excited to use them! Loved the padlets app also!"
"These trainings have been so helpful during this craziness! Way to go WSD for being so on top of this new learning curve, I so appreciate the leadership!"
"I appreciated the tools early on that were shared, and I've started to implement them in my online teaching and will continue to do in the future in whatever capacity learning looks like. "
"I liked how Jeff provided useful tech tips and challenged us to think outside the box and beyond the normal instructional methods."
"Ability to clearly offer new and relevant info in an interesting way"
"I think pro development should be given this way every time - you can rewind and watch again, and follow along on your computer without being rude."
"Focused, timely and relevant!"
"Very appropriate for current time with COVID 19 "
"Great thoughts on Alternative learning."
"I appreciated the resources and support. I feel the district has done a nice job equipping educators and families for distance learning."
"Love that I can show up at the last minute and have my questions answered and I don't feel inadequate about not knowing in the first place."
"patience,energetic,team member,resourceful"
Suggestions:
Responses: 96"None"
"None"
"Find a vaccine:)"
"don't ignore the poverty group of kids. "
"Slow down a bit for those of us who are not technologically minded. "
"none "
"Consider linking supportive articles/research for statements regarding "best practices" to draw in more skeptical/resistant mindsets."
"A lot of the ideas given were really geared towards older students. It would be nice to hear MORE K-2 ideas."
"So fast and so much coming at me. "
"Far too much required. Would be better to have a quick overview and allow people who need it to access more. Those of us who don't need to have step by step would prefer to not have to attend repeated sessions. Also, implications that all of these items need to be used is not going to be best for students since it's too many different programs to require them to learn. It should be made clear that these are options for teachers, and they should stick with a few instead of trying to do all."
"Could be a bit overwhelming at times. "
"Training sessions with Jeff U, should have been held in a smaller forum. Too much happening in the chat and not enough time for thinking, questions, and sharing."
"N/A"
"maybe going slower, more than 1 day per topic"
"Would have loved to have seen PD's for all grade levels K-12, some were not appropriate for all grade levels. "
"None!"
"Too much information. Like drinking from a firehose."
"Some sessions were too long (+1 hour). It's very hard to stay focused on a video that that period of time. If possible, perhaps break the sessions up into 30 min chunks?"
"I think Jeff Uttech should have been researched a little more before hiring. WSD has a tendency to attempt what is trending to say that we "are trending." We then never see follow up with these consultants. We have professionals in this district that could have taught what he attempted to share with us. He was not that impressive nor had any revolutionary ideas. His entire foundation is premised on existing relationships with students. If there are relevant and quality relationships, there will be learning in any educational setting. There are also so many other variables to consider, such as accessibility. WSD states that less than 5% do not have access to the internet, that may true, but if we validate our actions based on this statement, then we need to restructure our vision that every kid has the opportunity to learn."
"Improved tech"
"N/A"
"None"
"Some of the Utech sessions were too long. Keep those live stream online instruction segments to 30-40 minutes (?) with the Q&A lasting 20 minutes (MAX out time at 60 minutes)"
"Keep access to the trainings so we can go back to them even in the summer. Don't shut down the archive."
"I know $$ is tight, but as we move forward I'd love to see us dive into blended learning, with at least grades 3-5 moving to 1:1 device model (as well as rest of district, I'm just elem)"
"Was good as is :)"
"It would be nice to see some examples of how other teachers are using some of these platforms in our district and even around the country to get even more ideas of how we can use these tools. "
"I wish that there was training for Kinder (or K-2). How do I make online learning accessible for non-readers?"
"Even though the links are available for further review, many tools move too fast for real newbie techies to follow along."
"Continue this into the future even when returning to school"
"Use Utecht this summer for district/principal's days. He has obviously made an impression and connection with district staff. Keep him on the books!"
"No suggestions"
"More focus on how to engage younger students, those with special needs, and their families."
"none"
"go a bit slower for those who need it...maybe have different leveled trainings (differentiation to meet teacher needs)"
"Please consider what teachers need and ask for their input based on their teaching and learning."
"Keep bring them!"
"none"
"Some of us have a difficult time finding the link with just a quick mention of where it is. Please be more deliberate in not only telling us, but showing us, where the links are. don't just say at the bottom of this."
"Please leave the discussions/recordings up for awhile- even if we go back to school. "
"n/a"
"Group of participants at the time to ask questions"
"Future hands on classes will assist in improving our skills"
"The implementation of "break out rooms" (zoom feature), could have been inspiring to hear from other staff members. However, do to the high numbers in the session it may have "broken the internet." Also, meeting with our department regularly and offered ideas, support, and friendship."
"None"
"NA"
"none"
"slow down"
"None"
"Break up the sessions into Primary and Secondary teachers. The more focused the strategies, the better."
"None at this time"
"More time to practice stratagies and platforms"
"None"
"offer advanced classes for those already familiar with most content on a particular subject"
"It would have been nice if there was more information for teaching the special needs population. (Blind, Deaf, lower functioning autism etc....) or having a separate session for those needs if it doesn't apply to the Gen. Ed. population. I would think that would apply all since we have low learners in every grade."
"He educate himself on students with disabilities and their needs."
"go more slowly"
"None"
"None"
"More tech help when needed and not via a tech ticket. I have had one in for two weeks and have not got the help I needed. "
"I know it was necessary to learn a lot quickly and we did not have a lot of time, so my suggestion probably isn't even possible. I would suggested less information in such a short amount of time...it was overwhelming. But, I don't think that could have been helped."
"None"
"Integrate analog reality"
"More time to practice "
"I'm not sure how you would change things but the amount of information/time was impossible to absorb/apply..."
"None"
"N/A"
"Way too much content was put in hour-long classes. However, it's totally understandable. I learned from each session. I'm so appreciativeFather trainingsBetter school district offered."
"N/A"
"More course specific PD options "
"This is all new to me and I felt a little overwhelmed "
" We need time to practice"
"None."
"Training was very effective when students have access to computers, but not all students do or are not as successful in using them. There could be more time used to address these discrepancies and offer other ways to help those students to stay engaged."
"None at this time"
"The sheer number of trainings was a bit overwhelming. Spread them out a bit more?"
"None"
"This one is directly for the Jeff Utech trainings- I felt there were a lot of great ideas, but I'd like to see more of what it looks like to plan and implement the creative ideas- not necessarily just the finished project. I know given the time allowed, that may not have been reasonable. "
"There needs to be differentiated instruction for teachers."
"none at this time. "
"Possibly to many suggestions"
"It was too face paced. Too much, too fast."
"none"
"Got a bit stagnant here and there."
"?"
"Keep the good training coming! "
"was a little long for our on-line format"
"none"
"None"
"Possibly offer the course training with the live instructor a couple times in the same day. (Offering it on the staff intranet was a good thing too!)"
"Love to see things tailored to each level, elem, middle , high. "
"Next time, if there is a next time, can there be some differentiation in the pieces of training? The first couple of pieces of training were solid and good tools were shared but by the last training it was reviewing tools that had already been used by my team and I wish there would have been something more. Do evaluators read these? I understand that many teachers are most "tech-savvy" or whatever you want to label and I understand it's a crazy time for training with everything going on, but it's important to see those teachers who are solid and help them out too. "
"I wished Jeff had gone a little slower and been more explicit about the steps of how to actually do some of the tech things. He seemed like he was in a rush sometimes. Teachers often need a little more explanation or clear steps. The Padlet activity was an example of one where Jeff did go slower and was really clear, which is great."
"None really. I'm always pleasantly surprised that I can enjoy a "training" so much."
"Try this again in the future."
"Sometimes the pacing is fast and with so much information-NEW information!-the option to go back and review the training is helpful and appreciated."
Questions:
Responses: 51"None"
"None"
"none still thinking"
"None."
"No"
"N/A"
"None! =)"
"N/A"
"None"
"How do we reach more students / get them access to free technology -- the ones without home internet connection and/or devices are really struggling, falling out of the picture during this time."
"Can we have tech hours in the "normal school day?" I find it SO helpful to be able to as a question to highly knowledgable folks and get a respons. If I'd had this support before, I would have jumped into more tech exploration...probably"
"How many more of these sessions will be offered by Jeff U in the coming weeks? Access to his other materials developed for our district and others?"
"None"
"none"
"What are you doing for those students who have many learning disabilities? "
"none"
"n/a"
"Is there any data on the number of apps that students can successfully utilize in a given lesson?"
"How can we push toward assessing mastery instead of assessing compliance without having a battle at the department level in the high school?"
"None"
"NA"
"none"
"None"
"None"
"How much time (years) has the online system been going on in Washington, the US, the world AND have there been any studies showing how effective it is versus traditional schools"
"None"
"I am confused on what the district wants. Jeff U's ideas don't seem to follow what I am being told by the district. Some of his stuff does, but it does make it confusing when we get a video on how our videos are supposed to be and he says not to do it that way..."
"Were recordings of the district tech-teaching sessions done? I had to miss one that I really would like to see."
"None"
"None"
"Will student online engagement go up if we somehow grade? Did Jeff's student engagement increase or decrease with time as the crises he taught through went on over time? Maybe kids just need more time to figure their end out-- to somehow help each other, or maybe some will give up. I just know that we HAVE TO make online learning a huge success because some our lives depend on it. If we go back to school before there is a vaccine and someone in the building gets it, which they will, will school close for two weeks? Will we just do that over and over until there's a vaccine? Doesn't it make more sense to continue online learning until there's a vaccine instead of switching back and forth from building to virtual over and over? What will we do if someone gets what appears to be the virus (which we may or may not even know about) but not officially diagnosed? I am really scared to return to school next fall. "
"None"
"N/A"
"N/A"
"none"
"None."
"None at this time"
"None"
"None"
"none at this time. "
"no"
"None"
"Plenty, but nothing that can be answered here "
"Would it be possible for a part of the training to include how to incorporate our paraeducators within the virtual classroom? "
"?"
"None "
"none"
"None"
"Will more courses of similar nature be continued through out the future school year?"
"Will Jeff be coming back next year? And if so, can there be levels of training. Or at least showcase some work from other teachers. I saw that Ron mentioned something Greg Chambers did. There should be more of that. "
"None"
Comments:
Responses: 116"Great job of putting this together."
"None"
"Thank you Jeff for your help and expertise!"
"Some parts of this training have been helpful. Attitudes of some of the instructors were questionable. This training is appropriate for the kids who are well connected and have parents to help. This training is not appropriate for all the kids who are still not online, who still have not been contacted. They matter. It is a disgrace that we keep passing the buck on getting ALL kids connected."
"Thank you for providing meaningful professional development during these strange times. "
"good stuff in a strange world"
"Thanks!"
"None."
"No"
"N/A"
"Thank you for all the virtual support these past few weeks. Very helpful in aiding me, getting me started up and ready for distance learning. "
"We have been told to limit the platforms we use to instruct in this manner as students are having trouble learning the myriad of platforms. It's causing a lot of anxiety in students."
"Overall, I found the presentations extremely helpful. There were moments where it felt a little overwhelming, but considering the situation, I'm not sure if there was a way for it to not be overwhelming."
"Thank you for all the work from the tech team at the district. Very helpful. "
"Keep up the good work, Wenatchee."
"N/A"
"Jeff Uchtect has been very helpful, along with the WSD tech team!"
"When you add the link to the chat it was easier to find it and get to it. Thank you!"
"Thank you for all the learning opportunities! I am proud of how WSD has been proactive and supportive to all during this crazy time."
"YouTube video tutorials really do a great job of explaining / showing education tips / apps / programs, etc for distance learning. Many teachers I know have just gone to YouTube to get their fix and learn how to do things (in a shorter amount of time) -- Perhaps WSD can focus on collecting / putting out those kind of links for teachers to watch as part of their PD either now or in the future of distance learning."
"If not for Jeff U, and also the tech team, I don't want to think where we would be now. I sure hope what Jeff is saying helps change/push change in processes and beliefs here in WSD. So excited about the possibilities, if I can just keep up! Fail loud and hard and try again. Good stuff. "
"Thank you for helping us prepare to move into distance learning and keeping us learning while in distance learning. Grateful to the Tech Dept. "
"Thank you."
"Thank you for so much tech instruction and help!!!"
"Excellent session!"
"I appreciate the work that has gone into providing us with the training we need to move forward with online learning, especially in such a short time. It has been invaluable."
"Great job Wenatchee School District. I am so blessed to work here."
"Thank you!"
"Great training for teachers. I don't feel like the information was significantly relevant to what I do as a secretary, but it was a good PD nonetheless. "
"All this training really helped me prepare to teach through distance learning."
"Thank you for providing clear and concise information. The presenter was dynamic in content and delivery. "
"Thank you so much for supporting us so well with appropriate PD. I know other districts that did not take the time to help teachers like you have. I feel so well supported because of you all!"
"The pace was a bit frenetic at times! I still have not been able to go back and try some of the tech tools. I will have to re-watch some of the trainings to remember what we were taught, but now I see the benefits of asynchronous learning. "
"I appreciate EVERYTHING our tech department has done (and continues to do) to support our WSD family."
"I really appreciate the training that WSD has provided given the craziness of the times. THANK YOU! Coming from the perspective of Special Education, see an opportunity for us to utilize technology to improve the learning of ALL students regardless of differing abilities and needs. As Jeff said this morning, online learning and technology are the future of education. If that's the case, then accessibility is something we need to seriously embrace as a district. Buying Grackle for Docs or using the speech-to-text feature are steps in the right direction, but they are the tip of the iceberg. We need a comprehensive understanding of what it would take for all students to have access to content. For example, Lexia and iReady are currently not accessible to our screenreader users. Additionally, the onus should not be placed on gen-ed teachers to vet whether an app is accessible or not, since they likely wouldn't know. Again, thank you. This is a good push in the right direction, and I appreciate the challenge that it brings to us."
"Excellent training! I have learned an abundance of good information that will help me provide the best education possible to all of my students through this new remote learning. "
"Please continue providing us with more professional development and resources to support students better."
"The last session seemed a bit of a Bully Pulpit with the push toward grading practices and assessment. This was unwelcomed in tech PD."
"I appreciate the flexibility of the presenters and their patience in answering questions."
"love the pd options"
"Thanks!! Very valuable knowledge"
"Thank you."
"Thanks!"
"Thanks for providing "
"Learned many new things"
"Thank you for getting us all on the same page."
"Tech team is doing great; however, more follow up on applications mentioned in presentation would be helpful. Slowing down enough so that we teachers could try it out ourselves instead of feeling a bit isolated. Perhaps that's what office hours were all about and I didn't take advantage of them. Overall, very timely, energetic, and challenging presentation and support team. Thank you!"
"Thank you Learning and Teaching and Instructional Technology! "
"Thanks so much for the support and the clear guidelines to help us all out!"
"I am so impressed with the quality of work and trainings that have been offered to teachers in such a short time frame. Thank you so much for all of your support!"
"Just incredibly grateful our district hired Jeff! His ability to explain, motivate, and encourage teachers to jump into the world of online teaching with all we've got was perfect."
"Thanks!"
"NA"
"Keep up the great work Jeff!"
"none"
"I really liked the first 2 workshops by Jeff. The last workshop felt preachy to me and I didn't take much away from it. I would appreciate less "preachy" and more content. I thought the Tech team did a great job on providing PD on how to use Google platforms and Flipgrid. They are amazing and I hope we can continue more trainings with them!"
"Thank you! "
"Thanks"
"Keep up the good work"
"Very encouraging!"
"I think out tech staff have done an outstanding job of guiding us, providing us with useful, effective trainings, and really appreciate their humility to admit they are learning with us."
"It was an enthusiastic pep talk without much useful information."
"I would be great if the webinar could be more interactive, and not quite as long. 90 minutes is tough"
"Thank you to all the tech people involved with the trainings. "
"Great information!"
"Kudos to the District Tech Team! "
"Thanks to all the presenters within our district...tech staff and beyond...Jeff Utecht! "
"I really enjoyed the PD and learned a lot. Though it was directed toward online learning, I think lots of the tech and skills learned will be useful when school gets back to face to face learning "
"Jeff Utect was a bit too much yesterday, May 5. His speech at the end depressed me. His second instruction was good, but I got overloaded and could not learn. His first instruction was great, and very helpful."
"thanks for brining in this PD."
"Good effort"
"I just can't say thank-you enough for finding Jeff Utecht and bringing him in to help us find our path through this set of circumstances. I appreciate the compassionate tone that has been set for students and staff, permission to experiment and fail, and acknowledgment of the things that are going right. I am really proud of our school district and what we have done in a month and a half. I really hope we can make online learning progressively more successful because I think if we do, our odds of teaching this way until there is a vaccine are better. I am terrified of being made to return to the classroom before there is a vaccine. Sixty teachers in New York City have died in the last month and a half. Sixty. How many teachers in Wenatchee are we willing to lose? I, personally, am willing to lose ZERO. I looked around at my colleagues on our last day of school and I wondered who would still be alive in a year. So, we've got to make this online learning work for a few more months. Our lives depend on it."
"Thank you Tech Team for putting all of this together!"
"Thank you"
"Lots of review, but good review"
"Was valuable"
"Great trainings!!! "
"The biggest learning curve of my life! Thank you for all your support WSD Rocks!"
"Thanks for the PD. It made a difference in this weird time and will carry over into my future school years."
"N/A"
"I have appreciated the trainings in the process of navigating this online teaching model. As a district I love how we as teachers are supported, helped and encouraged in this process"
"none"
"Thank you!"
"Thank you for pushing me, but not overwhelming me..."
"THANK YOU for all the offerings and for recording them for future review. You all have done a TREMENDOUS job helping us learn new tools!"
"Thank you. I have learned a great deal!"
"Thank you so much! "
"None"
"I have learned so much since remote learning started!"
"WSD- you are doing a great job! Thank you."
"none at this time. "
"good"
"I appreciate all of the virtual support for our online teaching."
"Good job! Good information for those who will be using it. "
"Nothing really anyone can do about this!"
"My tech un-savvy brain is on overload."
"Thank you for the opportunity!"
"Thank you"
"I think parents also need this kind of training and inspiration! "
"I love the fact that it was recorded!"
"Thanks for all you are striving to do to help us support our students!"
"Thanks!!!"
"None"
"All sessions were grear"
"Thank you for bringing in a professional to help lead this discussion and training!"
"I have been bragging about our tech training as far and wide as I am able in this strange time. We have gifted brains working on our behalf to train our teachers to go out and train kids and families. This has been an amazing opportunity for us in our district. Thank you very much!"
"I have learned a wealth of technical knowledge to use in my remote/computer classes. I've also been able to "think out of the box" because of the Utecht training. Thank you!"
"I appreciate the time and energy it takes to get Jeff U. as a guest and he has great ideas, however it would be more beneficial for me if the tools he talks about were provided as PD for me after. I have had to learn so many new things quickly it’s just a fly by. "
"I hope our district continues to work with Jeff. He offers so much hope for our teachers and our kids."
"Excellent-great PD! Thanks"
"Man, utilize the teachers you have in the district. Shout them out. You started to. Keep doing that. You're losing people in these trainings because you aren't utilizing or using them as examples. It's great to have a trainer who knows his stuff, but then take it the next step and use some teachers in the district who are using those tools to teach in their buildings. Use examples from those teachers. If you are going to want us to try out some tools, have some teachers "beta" test to show some real-life examples within our own district. I think that would have a bigger impact than just showing us some tools we can use. "
"These training sessions have been very helpful. I feel I am better prepared to help my students learn online."
"I may be one of the few, but I taught an online course through WIA for 10 years and have already experienced the differential models for online learning. I have a MA in EdTech and I'm Google Level 2 certified. I didn't find the trainings to be all that helpful to me as I am someone who integrates tech into the classroom as I am able to. "
"As a parent of a student, I don't see my child's teachers using the great strategies Jeff shared.....so that is really disappointing. Things as simple as sharing workable Google meet links, providing asynchronous videos of the teacher saying something to the students or explaining via video how to do assignments, etc. As an educator who is also a parent, seeing this great PD and then no implementation is really tough. I know some teachers are doing awesome at implementing and that is fantastic, but the reality is that some simply aren't....for whatever reason."
"None"
"Thank you! WSD was always prepared and provided many learning opportunities and time to answer questions."