5.

2 Professional Learning
Candidates develop and implement technology-based professional learning that aligns to state
and national professional learning standards, integrates technology to support face-to-face and
online components, models principles of adult learning, and promotes best practices in teaching,
learning, and assessment. (PSC 5.2/ISTE 5b)

ARTIFACT: Unstructured Field Experience, Upstate Technology Conference (Summer

‘18)

The unstructured field experience was created to showcase presentations conducted at

Greenville, South Carolina’s Upstate Technology Conference. This is a conference that hosts
presenters and attendees from across the United States geared towards the exchange of
information and discourse around education technology. This unstructured field experience
included the development and creation of two presentations Layering with Adobe Spark and
Interactive Google Forms. Although there were multiple participants within each session (I
presented a total of three times), each presentation was completed independently.

The presentations that were developed for the Upstate Technology Conference (UTC)
demonstrated my ability to develop and implement technology-based professional learning.
Both presentations that were developed and presented to attendees integrated technology to
support face-to-face and online learning. While the actual presentations were face-to-face,
participants were provided with resources and additional content through having access to the
slidedeck. The tools within each session were organized to promote best practices in teaching,
learning, and assessment, There were opportunities for attendees to connect the connect to their
own environments and make it applicable to their experiences. In order to ensure that the needs
of the potential attendees were met and that information was sources appropriately, the
development of each presentation aligned to state national professional learning standards by
featuring engagement, exploratory, and inquiry components for various modes of feedback.
Providing digital content as a means of professional learning though these presentations also
allowed me to model the principles of adult learning,

The completion of this unstructured field experience allowed me to continue to sharpen my skills
as a professional learning facilitator and presenter. Presenting educational technology content to
fellow educators is a passion of mine as it allows me to continue to craft resources that will aid
other educators in supporting their students. Since this particular conference was out of state, it
was challenging to align various district and state-mandated verbiage with the content I shared to
make it more meaningful for teachers. Since my three proposals have been accepted to present
summer 2019, I would like to incorporate more of South Carolina’s educational lingo to ensure
that teachers are able to maximize their experiences.

As professional learning at conferences have progressed over the years, many ask attendees to
provide feedback at the end of sessions. This feedback is then shared with presenters to support
them with information that will aid them in future presentations. In my case, I was able to gather
a general assessment of the potential impact of each session based on what participants relayed.
Throughout my presentations, I also encourage participants to tweet their creations and
highlights as shoutouts. Based on this feedback, the information was digestible and meaningful
for those who were in attendance. In the end, this feedback gives me the impression that their
experience transferred to the experiences they provide students in their learning environments.