Online Courses and Croke Park Hours

Online Courses and Croke Park Hours: Ideas from Schools

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Having noticed an increase in the number of teachers engaging in our online courses for Croke Park hours, we thought teachers and school leaders might be interested in hearing how other schools go about supporting this activity.

We collected information and experiences from teachers and school leaders on how they are using Oide Technology in Education online courses during both ‘whole school’ Croke Park hours and for the hours allowable for non-whole school activity.

While it is easy to see how teachers might use online courses during individual/discretionary hours, ways to access them during whole school hours are, perhaps, not so obvious, so we will focus on that. We also document tried and trusted activities that complement online course engagement.

We present the ideas collected under five headings:

A strategic approach
Whole school hours
Non-whole school (individual/discretionary) hours
Complementary activities
Features of our online courses

1. A Strategic Approach

School leaders recommend taking a strategic approach to supporting digital learning ideas, developments and practices, gradually building interest and consensus. Aligning the school’s School Self-Evaluation (SSE) focus with the DL Plan focus, and then supporting engagement in related online courses, will enable this integrated and strategic approach to supporting digital learning.

Completion of specific online courses can be added to your DL plan as an action to address stated targets, using Croke Park hours to support course engagement by teachers. This will help to spread good digital learning practice throughout the school.

Examples

One post-primary school (Maryfield College, Dublin) took part in an initiative supported by our Digital Technologies team with selected teachers around digital portfolios. It was successful and the school made a strategic decision to extend the initiative throughout the school. They used whole school Croke Park hours during an August ‘Return to School’ day to enable all teachers to get an introduction to the topic with our online course on Introducing Digital Portfolios (Post-Primary). They allocated specific hours during this day and requested all teachers to (individually) complete the course on a laptop or other device during that time, while in the school. “We were able to achieve our target of establishing a baseline of knowledge among all of our teachers, courtesy of the online course,” says Principal Rebecca Carroll.

At primary level, one primary school principal (Elaine McHale, Kilfinny NS, Limerick) suggested that schools may wish to consider linking their DL plan focus and targets with their chosen area for new curriculum implementation next year. They can then consider subsequent choices of online courses to complement this area of focus.

2. Whole school Croke Park hours

Some schools are successfully using a whole school hour, or more, for courses relevant to all teachers. The idea of engaging in a specific course often comes from the teaching staff themselves as a proposal to school management, sometimes emerging from whole school discussions during August planning days. Schools can then use whole school hours for online courses during the school year. In some circumstances, teachers may even have a preference to do a course during a Croke Park planning day in August…not often an option with busy pre-school preparations, but perhaps worth considering for some.

Examples

Dominican College, Muckross Park, Dublin, has had a long history of linking their professional learning activity to their SSE focus and engaging in related online courses. This year, they took time during Croke Park hours to have a face-to-face session where separate groups of teachers discussed specific themes such as wellbeing, digital learning etc. The group looking at digital learning suggested that the whole school would benefit from the AI for Schools course. A few teachers did the course first to confirm its suitability. Then, the whole school engaged with the course during a Croke Park hour, in the school, on the same day. “Why reinvent the wheel when there’s a suitable course already available from Oide Technology in Education?”, says Principal Siobhán Kelly.

Taking a similar idea but a slightly different approach, the IT coordinator in St Paul’s Community College, Waterford, came up with the suggestion that the school would benefit from a whole school approach to AI. School management allocated a Croke Park hour for this and requested all teachers to complete the AI for Schools course at their convenience (rather than in the exact same location and at the same time, unlike in the other schools mentioned above). The school requested teachers to submit their completion certificate and collected these for the records. This worked very well, said the IT coordinator, and enabled teachers to complete the course at their own pace and at a time and place that suited them, while still supporting a whole school approach.

3. Non-whole school Croke Park hours (on ‘other than a whole-school basis’)

Did you know you can use up to 10* (*or 14 in some cases) hours to pursue non-whole school (individual, discretionary) activity, subject to school management approval? This includes planning time and professional learning activities, such as online courses. Teachers can also address whole class group or whole subject team priorities during these individual Croke Park hours.

(*For some post-primary teachers, up to 14 hours are now allowable for individual activities.)

Examples

At both primary and post-primary levels, school management can allocate hours to the digital learning team to engage in our suite of courses relevant to the DL team, including Leading Digital Learning, AI for Schools, Cybersecurity for Schools and Developing a Digital Learning Plan for your School.

Recommendations to engage in our Cyberbullying courses (primary and post-primary) as part of the school’s Bí Cineálta procedures have been taken up by many teachers. These courses were developed by Oide Technology in Education in collaboration with our Webwise colleagues and are part of a suite of courses related to online safety and well-being that are available to all teachers. They include a specific course on Teaching Online Safety in the Post-Primary SPHE Classroom. Two courses on Digital Citizenship (one each for primary and post-primary) complete the current suite of online safety courses.

At post-primary level, all teachers in a particular subject group may agree to engage in a specific course to advance their knowledge of particular subjects or approaches, such as Digital Technology for Modern Foreign Language Teachers (Post-Primary), or Digital Storytelling (Post-Primary).

In larger primary schools, a group of teachers teaching the same class level may wish to engage in the same course, such as our course on Coding and Computational Thinking. This makes it easier to share resources, ideas and expertise with each other.

Where do teachers hear about these online courses?

For those who engage in professional learning during these non-whole school hours, how do they choose their online course? Our data shows that they are regularly self-selected through online searches or by going directly to our website. Others learn about information in our newsletter or on our social media accounts (Instag r am and BlueSky). Many learn about the courses through a colleague’s recommendation or from Oide Professional Learning Leaders.

Increasingly, teachers are learning about the courses from school management. School principals may be interested to hear that our data confirms teachers are acting on communications from the school principal/management, with numbers now reaching 20% of all methods of communication about courses. School management usually sends these recommendations by email or through the school’s communication system.

Getting recommendations or suggestions of specific courses can support teachers in their own attempts to address whole school priorities without impacting their autonomy and flexibility to choose an alternative course or activity during these individual hours.

Certificates and Badges

Engagement in our online courses is easily verified as our online courses come with certificates of completion and badges. Many teachers are keen to build their CV with evidence of professional learning shown through these certificates, while teachers are increasingly using badges in their social media profiles. In addition, certificates and badges provide reassurance for those who need to account for hours spent, as completion is verifiable. Even in a ‘high trust’ environment around non-whole school hours, such verification may be useful for reporting to Boards of Management.

4. Complementary Activities

Teachers and school leaders have suggested some other activities for Croke Park hours that are complementary to our online courses, in that they extend digital learning knowledge, interest and skills. Sometimes, these activities are all that are needed to motivate and inspire teachers to pursue professional learning opportunities provided by online courses during their individual Croke Park hours (or during their own time, as many teachers do).

Here are some examples we collected from good practice videos, impact surveys, course discussions and other communications.

Examples

Put digital learning on the agenda for staff meetings… ring fencing the time to discuss it. (Glanduff NS, Roscommon.)

Allocate time to identify and develop shared digital resources for use across classes. This works well in larger primary schools and in post-primary schools where subject departments can work together to build resources. Consider sharing them even more widely by adding your resources to Scoilnet.

Demonstrate a specific tool or app during a staff meeting and discuss options for its use in class. Ideally, allow time for implementation. Then, follow up with staff to get feedback, discuss impact and consider the next steps. (Patrician College, Mallow, Cork.) Tip: Oide Technology in Education video tutorials may be a useful support to this activity.

Identify, acknowledge and share good digital learning practice that the school has identified. This can be done this be via school communication channels or during a staff meeting. (Talbot SNS, Clondalkin, Dublin.) Tip: Oide Technology in Education Good Practice videos are also a useful resource to spark discussion and inspire others.

Support peer learning. Some teachers can create their own screencast tutorials about specific apps or digital tasks. Then, share their knowledge and skills with others via these screencasts. (St Josephs, Ballybrown, Limerick)

Bring focus and support for digital learning with a ‘digital technology week’. This can be a professional learning event to include a range of activities, from demonstrations to sharing practice to engaging in courses. It may be more easily workable at post-primary level due to flexibility around free classes and so on. (St Patrick’s Classical School, Navan, Meath.)

Share prior learning. Teachers can complete an online course and share their learning at a staff meeting. (Dominican college, Griffith Ave, Dublin.) Tip: Most of our courses include a resource page with useful links for sharing.

Sharing summer course learning. For primary teachers returning from a summer course, sharing summer course learning works particularly well. (Rathnure NS, Wexford.) Tip: These teachers will have a learning record with a list of resources and links to Oide Technology in Education Good Practice videos and video tutorials that they can also share. Or, better still, they can play them during any presentation. These videos are useful to add variety to the teacher’s presentation. They also enable those listening to hear another voice with a reinforcing message.

5. What makes online courses so suitable for Croke Park hours?

It is worthwhile remembering the key advantages of our online courses that make them particularly suitable for Croke park hours:

They are accessible, being open 24/7 and free of charge
Engagement is verifiable, with certificates and badges issued on completion.
They are flexible, as they are self-paced and teachers can study anytime, anywhere.
A trusted, public service provider of teacher professional learning designs and provides the courses.

Teachers in smaller rural schools may find the online courses particularly suitable for individual Croke Park hours. Access to other teacher professional learning options may be somewhat limited in rural areas.

In Conclusion

This article covers strategic, whole school and non-whole school use of online courses during Croke Park hours. It also lists ideas for activities during Croke Park hours that are complementary to online courses and will boost engagement in formal courses. It also mentions the features of online courses that make them suitable for consideration.

Thank you to the teachers, principals and Oide colleagues who provided the information and ideas in this article. See also our related brief video presentation – 2 mins (opens in new tab) and infographic (opens in new tab), also available as a PDF, in English and Irish.

If you want to follow up on ideas to support online course engagement during Croke Park hours and need some help, please write to ictonlinecourses@oide.ie. Otherwise, the links below may be useful to you.

Online Courses and Croke Park Hours