Genially Training Storyboard

Using Genially to Empower Student Learning

ABC Online School: New teacher OnboardingPresenter: Sarah Rawlings: New Teacher Trainer

Learning Goal

Participants will learn about the Web 2.0 tool Genially and how it can enhance asynchronous student engagement in the online learning environment.

Learning Objectives

Given an overview of the Genially tool participants will:

• Explain how Genially can be used to enhance student engagement
• Collaborate with their subject area peers to create a student resource in Genially.

1. Welcome and Introductions: 5 min

Teachers are welcomed to the training, introductions are made, and teachers are given an overview of the agenda.

In this training, teachers new to the ABC Online School will explore a Web 2.0 tool and how they can use it to enhance their teaching practice and empower student learning in the online environment.

Learning Theories

This training will be based primarily on the Constructivist learning framework. This learning theory as pioneered by John Dewey (as cited in Kolb, 2021), focuses on encouraging learners to engage with the tools of society and think through real-world problems to co-construct their own learning. As the teachers have varying levels of teaching experience and also teach different content areas within the 6-12 grade levels, they will each use this Web 2.0 tool differently. They will all bring their wealth of experience and build on it using the new information in the training. The teachers will also be broken up into groups based on their content area, allowing them to negotiate how best to use the tool in their given content area. Utilizing groups also follows a Connectivist theoretical perspective (Siemens, 2005). The teachers can build on the diversity of opinions and experiences in the group, and come back with stronger resources than they would have alone.

2. Ice Breaker: Let it Rip: 5 min.

For the icebreaker activity, the teachers should leave behind the stress of beginning a new job, and whatever else might be fogging their minds and focus on what we are doing in the moment.The learners will complete the activity Ann Stanford uses at the beginning of her training sessions (Taylor & Marienau, 2016, 95). They will need to have paper and a writing utensil, and then have the opportunity for four minutes to free write about anything they may have brought with them today into training. “What do they need to leave behind to focus on the here and now,” (Taylor & Marienau, 2016, 95). Since the original design for this is to have them crumple the paper and throw it into the middle of the room, this activity will need to be adjusted for a virtual training. The students will instead get up and physically remove the paper from the room they are in. A trash can close by will suffice if another room is not an option. Ideally, this process will help to put a name to stressors and anxieties and regulate how they are feeling during the training.

Using Genially to Empower Student Learning

ABC Online School: New teacher OnboardingPresenter: Sarah Rawlings: New Teacher Trainer

In this training, teachers new to the ABC Online School will explore a Web 2.0 tool and how they can use it to enhance their teaching practice and empower student learning in the online environment.

3. Genially Intro: 10 min

The facilitator will present the Genially tool, help the teachers create an account, and showcase some of the many features offered by the online tool, i.e virtual escape rooms, interactive presentations, and interactive images. The facilitator will then present several artifacts created by teachers at the ABC Online School showcasing the ways this Web 2.0 tool can be used to increase student engagement with specific content areas.The teachers will be provided the links to the different artifacts so they can interact with the content.

4. Breakout Groups: 20 min

Once the new teachers have been presented with their new information, it is time for them to work within the tool and with each other. The facilitator will create groups prior to the training based upon the subject areas taught. Preferably, each subject area will have enough people, but if not Social Studies can be grouped with English, and Science with Math. Electives may go wherever they feel most comfortable based on what they teach. Their task in the breakout rooms will be to begin the planning process for use in their virtual classrooms. Can they see this as a project guide? A game to make grammar more fun? An escape room to master a math concept? The teachers will use each other to plan and begin to create a resource in Genially.

5. Share: 15 min

Once the teachers have had time to explore the tool, the examples, and start to create their own resource within the tool, they will choose one person to share with the rest of the group what they have planned or begun to create. They are not meant to go into detail, but summarize how they will use the tool in one or two minutes.

6. Debrief and Dismiss: 5 min

There will be a breif recap of their learning goals and objectives, and then teachers will be dismissed to their next training event.

References

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Kolb, L. (2021). From 1916 to 2021: What would John Dewey say about remote learning? Teacher Librarian, 48(5), 26-29. https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=bd850494- 72b6-344f-aa09-06bbfd5247adSiemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1), 3-10. https:// www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan%5F05/Jan%5F05.pdfTaylor, K., & Marienau, C. (2016). Facilitating learning with the adult brain in mind: A conceptual and practical guide. Jossey-Bass. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amercollofeduc/detail.action? docID=4405575&query=Facilitating+Learning+with+the+Adult+Brain+in+Mind%3A++A+ Conceptual+and+Practical+Guide