CTE Teacher Collaboration & Leadership PD
Instructional Design Overview
This professional development course is designed to empower CTE teachers to lead and participate in meaningful, sustainable collaboration that directly improves student learning and professional practice.
Through a blended learning model, participants will explore and apply three high-impact collaboration strategies: Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), mentorship models, and cross-pathway planning.
Teachers will engage in real-world tasks, reflective practice, peer feedback, and design-thinking strategies to build systems of collaboration that are relevant, hands-on, and embedded in the everyday work of CTE educators. The course is grounded in the belief that when teachers grow together, student success follows.
Implementation Overview
This implementation overview shows how my instructional design, Strengthening CTE Collaboration, will incorporate a blended digital learning environment in Canvas by guiding CTE teachers through structured PLCs, peer feedback protocols, and co-design of industry-aligned projects to build collaborative skills while actively applying learning in their classrooms.
The teaching methods in this 9 week PD align with the knowledge and skills CTE teachers need in a digital age by modeling blended and online collaboration practices they can use with their students. Teachers experience asynchronous learning, virtual discussions, and digital resource curation, reflecting the realities of modern instructional environments. Active learning strategies (discussion boards, peer feedback, collaborative planning) mirror the digital and collaborative problem-solving skills they will need to foster in students and themselves. Additionally, the course models flexible, technology-enhanced learning, while building teachers’ confidence in navigating digital platforms while focusing on real-world, job-embedded application of collaboration models relevant to CTE.
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Through this coursework, I am committed to creating and sustaining structured, meaningful collaboration among CTE teachers through PLCs. I will support them with framework, coaching, and feedback cycles to confidently align CTE content with academic standards while improving instructional practices.
Usability Testing and Reflection
Testing the usability of the LMS that holds the Strengthening CTE Collaboration PD is important because it ensures the course is clear, accessible, and functional for teachers before they begin engaging with the content. According to Steve Krug (2013), usability testing helps you quickly identify where users get confused so you can fix those issues before launch, improving the experience for your learners. By having stakeholders such as colleagues or committee members test the navigation and activities in my course’s introduction and first few modules, I can find and address unclear instructions, broken links, or confusing layouts that might frustrate learners. This process will ensure that participants can focus on meaningful learning rather than struggling with technology barriers. Ultimately, usability testing demonstrates respect for the learners’ time and helps you create a smoother, more effective professional learning experience.
Engage and Reflect
​During the course development process, I actively sought feedback from my course group to improve clarity and engagement in my course. My group members consisted of Shirley Graham (Annette), Raul Morales, Stephanie Scaletta, Paula Brasfield, Candace Johnson, and Shanina Sowels Pryor. For this learning community, I made it a priority to actively engage in discussions, sharing both the successes and challenges of developing my PD plan. Within this group, we exchanged feedback on our course structures and actively reviewed each other's plans and e-portfolios to provide feedback and implementation challenges.
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Integrating this peer feedback helped me view my course through the learner’s perspective and strengthened the alignment between outcomes, activities, and assessments. This process connects closely with Fink’s concept of Creating a Significant Learning Environment, as I worked to ensure learners feel supported, challenged, and engaged within a clear structure. The ongoing reflection and revision process highlighted the importance of testing and learner-centered design in creating a course that is not only clear but also significant, engaging, and supportive of learner success.