About Professional Growth and Leadership

This six-week course will focus on developing and demonstrating the competencies that Utah school leaders draw on to create a culture and supportive environment where high-quality instruction will flourish. Focusing on the Foundations of Instructional Design and Pedagogy, this course will deepen participants’ understanding of instructional frameworks & varying modalities of instruction. The course will support leaders to leverage their understanding to plan for implementation in their school, including the observation and coaching of instruction. Participants will also learn about and explore digital tools & content curated by the state to best support their use for teaching and learning. Across the six weeks, leaders will demonstrate understanding by developing a plan that articulates the instructional framework(s) in use at their school and articulates their vision for engaging stakeholders and supporting implementation.

Participants: Principals, Assistant Principals, Executive Directors
Credit: 1 USBE or 1 SUU Credit
Course Type: Online with required two virtual sessions (via Zoom)
Cost: Free to Utah Educators
Endorsement Category: EdTech Leadership Endorsement

 Expected Learning Outcomes

Module 1: Tenets of Adult Learning

1. Leaders will develop an understanding of how to plan for and provide professional learning experiences for a grade-level team, department, school, or professional conference.

Module 2: Professional Growth Through Collaboration

• Leaders will develop skills to support collaboration with colleagues to identify, adopt, and evaluate digital tools and resources for learning.
• Leaders will seek out, join, and participate in local and global learning communities to pursue professional learning and stay current with research that supports them.

 Final Assessment Project

Create a product that articulates your implementation plan based on your current school community that supports continuous learning for leadership and staff.  Your plan should include the following:

• A reflection on at least one prior professional learning offering for your school that articulates whether and how the learning reflected the tenets of andragogy.
• A plan to implement at least one professional learning offering for your staff in the upcoming year with details on how that offering will reflect the tenets of andragogy.
• A commitment to seek out, join, and participate in at least one learning community for yourself to pursue professional learning and stay current with research. Articulate how participation in this learning community will support your professional growth goal(s).

The product can be in any format that meets your needs and communicates the above information. (video, slides, written plan, podcast, other) We encourage you to leverage details and plans from the work you have completed in this course to support your thinking.

 Education Technology Endorsement

Through the completion of the Ed Tech Endorsement for School Leaders, UT leaders will understand the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed for teachers to implement Utah’s Edtech competencies and will be equipped with the tools needed to create a culture and supportive environment where high-quality instruction will flourish. By earning this competency-based endorsement, leaders will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and learn from peers while creating a plan for strengthening their school learning community.  

The Full EdTech Endorsement for Schools Leaders will require the completion of four online, competency-based courses. Each course will align with one of the Utah Ed Tech Endorsement Competencies Strands for educators as follows: 

1. Foundation of Instructional Design for School Leaders
2. Supporting 21st-Century Learners
3. Digital Citizenship and Information Literacy
4. Professional Growth and Leadership