What are some suggestions for our MobileMind kickoff?

We are excited to partner with you on your Professional Development journey! In this article you will find guiding questions and suggestions for having a successful rollout of our platform.

Having a successful rollout means: 

• Leadership and teachers are aligned and understand the goal of this professional learning.
• Timelines and expectations created by leadership align to the teachers’ skill levels so there is less frustration and resistance on the part of teachers.  
• Teachers understand the district’s expectations and how to achieve these goals in the MobileMind platform.
• Teachers have a firm grasp on how to begin the courses, resubmit courses that have been returned to them, and now how to reach out for help via the support link.
• The district support system of the MobileMind Champion and Teacher Champion(s) is established to provide additional assistance and encouragement to teachers that are struggling.

Below you will see some guiding questions and some suggestions that will help you conduct a successful rollout.  Please feel free to use THIS doc to finalize your plans or simply read through the information below.

There are three main parts to consider: How to prepare for your kickoff meeting, Items to consider prior to the kickoff, and How to structure your kickoff meeting.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions!  

1.     How to prepare for your Kickoff Meeting?

1. 1. Who should lead the kickoff?
      1. If possible, we would recommend the MobileMind (MM) Champion(s) or Teacher Champion(s) do the kickoff.  If time allows, it’s great if the Champion(s) get acquainted with the platform prior to the kickoff.
      2. Depending on what the role of the MM Champion is, it may make sense to have the MM Champion meet with leadership (e.g. Principals) and then have the Principals communicate/kickoff this initiative with their teachers.  
      3. Based on your knowledge of your district, determine what works best for you to get buy in from teachers and get your leadership engaged.
   2. What is the best method to deliver the kickoff?
      1. In Person Session(s) - Obviously is best, but in this environment, may not be possible.
         

          

      2. Virtual Meeting(s) - Second best option.  We would also suggest that you get one person to run the chat box and can answer questions there.  The presenter can stop at a few intervals to make sure there aren’t questions everyone should hear.

      3. Email - This is not the best option because it is hard to tell who will actually go through the steps to familiarize themselves with the platform before beginning.  However, if the email is a follow up to previous communication, it may work for you.

   3. What is the recommended audience size?
      1. Unless you have a pretty small district, we would recommend having multiple sessions, for example, a session per school/site, depending on how your school is structured.  
      2. If you want to have a hands on session where your teachers log into MobileMind, we would recommend not having a group of more than 30-40 teachers to keep it manageable.
      3. You may want to consider doing a kickoff with your Teacher Champions prior to rolling this out to all teachers so they can become familiar with the system in advance of a larger kickoff.  They can be a great support system for smaller groups at the school level.
   4. Will the teachers have access to the system for the kickoff?

1. 1. 1. As a reminder, the ‘Welcome’ email is generated and sent to teachers when they are added to our platform.  You will want to coordinate the timing of this email so it works with your kickoff plans.
      2. We would recommend giving teachers access to the system the day of the kickoff.  If they have access the day of the kickoff, they could all try to get logged in and make sure there aren’t any issues right off the bat.  (It can also be helpful to have this ‘hands on’ session to make sure all teachers did receive the ‘Welcome’ email with instructions on how to log in (as emails could go into spam folders if the MobileMind domain has not yet been whitelisted.)
      3. If you prefer to have your kickoff be more informational and not hands on, you can communicate the date that teachers will have access to the system during the Kickoff meeting and remind them that they will get an email with instructions for logging in on that date.
      4. No matter which way you go, doing a short live demo of the system will help teachers build a little background knowledge of the platform so when they login it will all look familiar.  You can also mention the importance of having the extension installed.  You can also show them where to submit a support ticket if they have an issue or if they don’t understand why a course challenge submission was returned to them. 

2.     Items to consider prior to your Kickoff meeting

1. 1. Timeline/Expectations
      1. When are teachers expected to have preselected Learning Paths or courses completed?  When coming up with expectations, please take into consideration you may have teachers that are not familiar with technology and will need some support on things like taking a screenshot, copy and pasting links, etc.  You will also have teachers that may be comfortable with technology, but are very new to the Google tools.  You will need to make sure that the timelines you set up match the comfort level with both technology and Google tools.  Here is a great example from the Oologah School District in Oklahoma. 
      2. For beginners, you may want them to complete the Google Basics Learning Path.
      3. For intermediate teachers, you may want to ask them to complete Distance Learning Essentials Learning Path.
      4. For proficient teachers, you may want them to review the Distance Learning Essentials courses and complete the Distance Learning Expert Learning Path or one of the GCE Level 1 or 2 Learning Paths.
   2. Incentives
      1. To help keep teachers motivated, we have received some great ideas of different types of incentives from other districts to motivate your teachers. 
      2. Beyond stipends, jeans days, and PD credit, here is a great list to help you get the ideas flowing.  Most teachers appreciate the recognition above all else.
   3. Keeping teachers engaged: We have also seen some awesome ways to keep teachers engaged.
      1. Create a Facebook group, an internal website, or even use Google Classroom!
         1. You could include a Google Form or a blog for teachers to submit ideas or an announcement or question in Google Classroom for teachers to share ideas and resources.
         2. If you have weekly meetings or weekly newsletters, recognize your high flyers that are topping the leaderboards and remind teachers of deadlines.
         3. Create a recurring calendar event for yourself reminding you to send out an email, announcement, or social media post to the teachers...
            1. With a course you really liked
            2. A Google tip you learned
      2. You could even dedicate a section of an internal website to information about MobileMind and maybe even highlight some teachers that are doing a great job.
         1. Teacher of the Month
         2. Winners of any friendly competition and what they won
         3. Tip of the week

Website example from one of districts using MobileMind:

3.     How should we structure the Kickoff Meeting?

1. 1. Start with the district’s overall goal.
   2. Introduce MobileMind and how this professional learning will achieve the district’s goal (include your expectations and timeline).  Let the teachers know what the most important courses are to achieve your school/district wide goal.  This will give them a good basis for each of the pieces of Google. 
   3. If you are providing motivational factors, communicate them to the teachers (stipend, jeans days, etc.).
   4. Discuss platform requirements:
      1. MobileMind Chrome extension (and whether they need to download the extension or if the district is pushing it out).
      2. They should use their Chrome Browser.
      3. Discuss any basic technology skills that some teachers may not know (e.g. how to take a screenshot and how to copy and paste,, etc.).
   5. Do a live demo, watch the video of the platform overview, or go through the slides
   6. Discuss ongoing communication process (tech days, Google Classroom, facebook, internal website, weekly newsletters, etc.)
   7. Discuss MobileMind knowledge base and how to put in support tickets
   8. We would suggest following up the kickoff with an email going over a few reminders.  (Teachers will receive the log on instructions once they are loaded into the system.)

Thank you for joining us for the Kickoff! Here are a few reminders about the MobileMind Professional Development initiative…

• You must have the extension on your computer before beginning.
• Our expectation is…
• The timeline we suggest/require is…
• You can find the Support button for MobileMind on your Dashboard in the box labeled “Here For You”.