Getting Started Series is an essential part of the successful implementation of any new initiative. To ensure a successful start for your organization, School Improvement Network has created the Getting Started Series for. The Getting Started Series consists of five courses: Essentials School Leadership and District Leadership and School Leadership and Observation 360 System Administrator Your Strategic Partner Advisor will help you develop your training and implementation plan. Essentials Target Users: All users Prerequisites: None provide the essentials for using for professional learning. Participants learn to integrate the essential functions of into professional learning routines, quickly find professional learning videos that apply directly to mission-critical needs, track professional learning activities and access reports to provide evidence of progress, and collaborate with other education professionals from across the country and around the world. Essentials (Distance Learning) Format: Self-paced online Maximum Course Size: Unlimited Target Users: All users Prerequisites: None quickly and effectively provide all of your users the essential training for using for professional learning. This selfpaced, online course is automatically available to all of your users right in itself. The course addresses the same information provided in the instructor-led format of the course. To access the course, users simply log in to, click Courses on the Application Bar, and select ESSENTIALS from the Select a course menu. School Leadership and Target Users: School leaders Prerequisites: Essentials empower school leaders to fully integrate into their school s professional learning practices and culture. Participants learn to facilitate educator professional learning through the M4 Leadership Framework: Map, Model, Monitor, and Motivate. Page 1
District Leadership and Target Users: District leaders Prerequisites: Essentials empower district leaders to fully integrate into their district s professional learning practices and culture. Participants learn to facilitate educator professional learning through the M4 Leadership Framework: Map, Model, Monitor, and Motivate. School Leadership and Observation 360 Target Users: School leaders Prerequisites: Essentials and School Leadership and train school leaders how to conduct both informal classroom observations and formal educator evaluations. Participants learn how to conduct observations using both Mobile and Observation 360 Web. In addition, participants learn how to facilitate educator improvement through recommending resources directly aligned with observation indicators. System Administrator (Distance Learning) Format: Self-paced online Maximum Course Size: Unlimited Target Users: /tech system administrator Prerequisites: Essentials ensure that each client implementation site has a trained system administrator ensuring that each client can be as self-sufficient as possible. Participants learn to reset user passwords, add new users, move users from one school site to another in, and communicate effectively with client support to resolve questions and implementation issues. Custom and Consultation Occasionally, you may require training and consultation specifically customized for your school or district. The School Improvement Network training and curriculum group is happy to develop customized training materials, i.e. agendas, presentations, hands-on exercises, handouts, etc, as well as provide consultation services and expertise to address your district s specific needs. Contact your Strategic Partner Advisor for more information. Page 2
Develop Your Plan As you develop your training plan, make a list of the critical people who will be involved in using and supporting in your school or district. This list should include: school and district leaders, PD coordinators, teacher leaders, instructional coaches, teachers, and a school or district technical person to be your system administrator. A typical training plan for the Getting Started Series includes two days of instructor-led training (on-site or online) with the majority of teachers receiving training through the Essentials (Distance Learning) course.* A typical training plan will look something like this: Day 1 AM (3 hours) - Essentials All school and district leaders, teacher leaders and instructional coaches (Max 20 participants) Day 1 PM (3 hours) - School Leadership and All school leaders and PD/instructional coaches (Max 20 participants) Day 2 AM (3 hours) - District Leadership and District leaders and district PD coordinators (Max 20 participants) Day 2 PM (3 hours) - School Leadership and Observation 360 School leaders and any others who conduct teacher evaluations (Max 20 participants) Essentials (Distance Learning) All teachers (No max) System Administrator (Distance Learning) Technical person assigned to be the system administrator *Larger client sites may require additional instructor-led days to accommodate training for all school and district leaders. Single-site districts may combine School Leadership and and District Leadership and into one course. System Requirements Browser Plug-in Flash Player 10.3 or higher To get the latest update of Flash Player point your browser to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer Internet Browsers Internet Explorer 8 or higher Google Chrome Firefox 3 or higher Opera 8 or higher Safari 2 or higher Operating Systems Windows 2000 SP4 Windows XP SP2 or SP3 Windows Vista Windows 7 Windows 8 (excluding RT) OSX 10.4 - Tiger or higher Hardware 1.2 GHz processor or better 2 GB RAM or better 10 GB of free hard disk space or better 64 MB video card or better A monitor capable of 1024x768 resolution or better Mobile** ios Devices: ipad, ipod Touch, iphone with ios 4 or later Android Devices: Compatible mobile devices with Android 2.1 or higher Evidence 360 ios Devices: ipad with ios 4 or later ** Mobile provides a subset of the full functionality of. participants must have access to a computer and will not be able to fully participate in training sessions with only a mobile device. Page 3
Preparation Checklist School Improvement Network is committed to providing you the best, most effective training possible. We accomplish this by: All instructor-led and online training courses are hands-on and based on research-driven principles of adult learning. Every training course includes an organized and easy-to-use handout that training participants can refer to during and after each training session. All of our trainers are experienced and have extensive professional backgrounds in education. Prior to All In order for your school or district to get the most out of the training, and by extension, the most out of your investment in, please complete the following checklist to ensure that the training for your faculty and staff is successful. Contact your Strategic Partner Advisor to verify that the following items have been completed: licenses setup accounts created for all users (verify email addresses for spelling and accuracy) Content server setup and configured (optional) dates and sessions confirmed Complete the following items for your school/ district: Verify that all user computers meet the minimum system requirements outlined on Page 3 of this document In addition to the minimum system requirements, also verify that browser cookies are enabled and pop-ups are allowed on all user computers Verify that all user computers have access to a high-speed Internet connection Verify that all user computers are able to play video content and can display PDF documents Communicate usernames and passwords to all users Communicate dates, times, and locations of training sessions to all training participants Instructor-Led On-Site Setup projector, projection screen, and external speakers for the trainer Provide a district/school technical support person throughout all onsite training sessions Meet the trainer at the training location at least 30 minutes prior to training start time Instructor-Led Online Setup projector, projection screen, and conference call equipment Download and install online webinar software on presenter computer Test the connection to the webinar and verify that the webinar is compatible with your district firewall settings Bring training documents that were shipped to you to the training location Provide a district/school technical support person throughout all online training sessions Connect to online webinar and conference call line at least 15 minutes prior to training start time Distribute training documents to participants Page 4
Preparation Checklist (Continued) Observation 360 Instructor-Led (both on-site and online) In addition to the previous checklist items, districts/schools that are implementing Observation 360 must also compete the following: Each participant has a mobile device such as an ipad, ipod Touch, iphone or Android phone/tablet as well as access to a computer during the training (See the System Requirements section on Page 3 for more information) Mobile and Evidence 360 (if applicable) must be downloaded and installed on each participant s mobile device prior to the training Frequently Asked Questions I see that each training course is three hours, is there any way that courses can be facilitated in less than three hours? No. Our training courses are developed based on research-driven principles for adult learners. Each training course includes numerous hands-on and interactive activities to ensure that participants have the opportunity to practice and can later apply what they learned. Can I have more than 20 people in an instructorled training course? No. Because the courses are hands-on and interactive, having more than 20 participants decreases the effectiveness of the training course and therefore will also decrease the overall usage and results of in your school or district. Can I combine training courses together? No. Each course has specific objectives and outcomes that require the full three hours. Does my staff really need to use computers or laptops for the training? Can t they just bring a mobile device such as an ipad? Because the full version of uses Flash, Windows or Mac OS X computers are required for each training course. does have a mobile app for both ios and Android platforms; however, this app does not have the same functionality as the full version of. Both Windows or Mac OS X computers and ios or Android mobile devices are required for the School Leadership and Observation 360 course. Can we have several one-hour sessions throughout the day so that teachers can attend an instructor-led session during their prep time? No. However, your teachers can complete the Essentials (Distance Learning) course at their own pace during their prep time. How do I get my training documents? For on-site training courses, the training documents will be brought to you by your trainer. For online training courses, the training documents will be shipped directly to your school or district, once a training date is scheduled. Late Booking and Cancellation Policy If a training is booked, changed, or cancelled less than two weeks prior to the training date, a $500 penalty will be charged. Version 1.0 Page 5