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Speaker 1: OTAN, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

Yecsenia Delgado: So welcome. I know we're a really small group. So it's going to be a really interactive session. Feel free to ask questions as we go through our presentation today. So I'm really here to bring this idea of creating teacher leaders through our OTAN DLAC Academy. And we'll go over what that is and what that entails. So we'll start today's presentation.

So one of the things that I always think about is how technology has really changed. Right? How much we have changed throughout the years.

Thinking back to my elementary school days, we had one computer for the entire classroom. It was one computer. The entire classroom just had that one where we all kind of sat around and helped each other navigate it, to transitioning to a place where we can't graduate from high school without typing 35 words per minute, to now utilizing our phones for everything.

I just got a chance to ride in a brand new Tesla. And that was another experience, that huge tablet. Everything is so electronic. I went to Home Depot, and refrigerators have a tablet now.

Speaker 2: What?

They have a tablet. And I found out these brand new refrigerators, they connect to your phone. So you could do, like, a list on your refrigerator of what you need from the grocery store, and it communicates, and it tells you what to shop for. So I thought that was really interesting.

But technology has truly-- you know, it continues to revolutionize the way we work with AI now. It continues to revolutionize everything around us-- medical, health care, everything. Our education system.

So today, I've found this new word, audacious. So today we're going to talk about our breakthrough, all right? Audacious. So what does that mean? Who can help me with that vocabulary word? Our English teacher? [laughs] What does that mean?

Speaker 3: So it's, like, out of the ordinary.

Yecsenia Delgado: Yeah.

Speaker 3: And it's unapologetic. Unordinary.

Yecsenia Delgado: So today, we're going to have a really-- this conversation that's going to give us a breakthrough, hopefully, to revolutionize the way we see technology. So this is showing the willingness to take a surprisingly bold risk. How many of us do that on a daily basis? Right? Yes? As instructors, I think we're always kind of-- we have this willingness to take these risks.

So I wanted to start with just-- so we're going to just kind of do our little group here, but I wanted to start with a question. If we had to dream big, if funding was not an object, and the sky was the limit, what would technology look like at your school?

So we have to just think outside the box. What do you foresee, or what would be your dream for technology at your school? What do you guys think? And I think I have Josh, too, if he wants to join in from online. Yes?

Speaker 4: Interactive TVs.

Yecsenia Delgado: Interactive TV. That would be amazing. I like that idea. Anything else?

Speaker 5: Well, I was thinking what you were saying is -- about like the Tesla. Maybe in some way, the classroom could just be some sort of, like, technology. Like, the walls would be technology or something.

Yecsenia Delgado: That would be amazing. Yeah, totally. Any other ideas?

Speaker 6: Maybe the students have access to technology, even if they're not at the school location and stuff. So technology [interposing voices] there's all this virtual teaching, and hybrid, and just students having access to what you would have in a classroom.

All right. Awesome.

Speaker 7: There's a comment from Josh.

Yecsenia Delgado: So Josh, "A working computer, not a cheap Chromebook, with full internet connection for every student." That would be amazing, right? The Chromebooks have limits, right? And I think as part of adult education, you know, we kind of bring this mix of so many different students from so many different backgrounds, so many different socioeconomic areas.

But even at McDonald's, have you guys seen those huge iPads at McDonald's now? You don't go up to the-- well, you do go up to the counter where there's usually a long line, or you order from this huge iPad to get your self-service.

So I think it's kind of become a fundamental, key aspect of every adult education class to teach our students not just to speak English, not just to improve their adult secondary skills, or not just in career technical programs, but also to teach the language of technology. How do we use it in our everyday lives? So let's keep that thought in mind. How would we like technology to work in our schools?

So why teacher leaders? So really, I'm here to present to you our DLAC Academy. And DLAC Academy is really a place where you take a goal, and we help you implement it at your school over the next two years.

So why teacher leaders? Why do we need teacher leaders? So technology is not just about introducing those new gadgets to our classroom, right? It is about really learning how to use these tools to help learning in general. But then, I also feel like it kind of gives our students that edge of learning how to use that technology.

Teacher leaders serve as the bridge, so you are the specialist in the classroom. You know what your classroom needs. Josh knows that he doesn't need a Chromebook. He needs an actual computer to make sure it works for his student needs.

But teacher leaders really serve as that bridge between administrators, students, and change, right? We are the ones that advocate and speak up for the change that our students need. What do we need in our classrooms? You know, we have to look around and see, is this a 21st century classroom? Do we see it differently? And then, ask to advocate for what we need in our classrooms today.

So really, our teacher leaders become change agents. We're going to be able to influence positive change, have a voice within our classroom community.

And then it's essential for that culture of growth, right? Without our teachers that are those teacher leaders that are advocating for our students, you know our classroom isn't going to grow. We're going to have the same table and chair, we're not going to have these beautiful computer labs that allow us to teach what we need.

We also contribute to professional development. And we're advocates, not just for our students, for our classroom, for our schools themselves. So through the Academy, my goal would really be to create these future change agents that are able to communicate back to your administrators that are able to communicate back to the different agencies that have those needs that are able to bring up a new tool. We all use these secret tools in our classroom that we need to share with each other to improve.

So today we're going to talk about DLAC, which is the two-year professional development academy. I'll share a little bit about OTAN, why the academy is two years, the history of projects, the application process. So hopefully if you want to apply, this is the time to apply or to start thinking about applying. What are our stats and our time commitment? Ideas for our projects, and then celebrations of some of the projects that have been completed through DLAC.

So all of you know OTAN. If not, you wouldn't be here, right? What's our favorite thing about OTAN? Who can help me? What do we like about OTAN, or what resources do you use most out of OTAN?

Speaker 2: So we use training. So we have-- hello. We have you, subject matter experts come to our campus to help us do the training. So we don't have to invent, reinvent anything. It's already there and there's someone who knows exactly what to do and what to talk about and how to answer questions.

Yecsenia Delgado: Have you ladies with any of the OTAN resources or press conference?

Speaker 3: Yes. Yes, yes. In my case, I've attended symposiums, but then I've also attended [interposing voices]. Also do like general sessions that are designed to turn [interposing voices].

Yecsenia Delgado: Awesome. Thank you. And anything you want to share?

Speaker 3: Put the thing together. Yeah.

Yecsenia Delgado: OK. Are you guys from the same agency?

Speaker 3: No.

Yecsenia Delgado: No? Different, OK. Awesome. So, yes, OTAN is here to help you. So we offer training in person or online. There's news digest. So if you go to our website, there is tons of resources that you can pull from, lesson plans that are already made for you, right that you can just pull out and use for your classroom.

There is different partnerships, different curriculum offers that we're able to offer. And I think one of the things that we talked about in our last one is, we have a learning management system through Canvas that you can use for free through OTAN. So why long? So we think two years. Two years is a long time. It's a commitment, right?

It takes two years to get a master's. Through the Leadership Academy, you're really getting a master's in leadership and technology integration. That's really what you're doing. It's your master's degree in technology integration and leadership. And really, we know some of our studies show that behind a great team is a strong culture, great leadership and compassionate, committed people.

One of the things that OTAN really or the DLAC Academy really brings together is these professional individuals that are passionate about technology. And we get to network with each other. We get to build these ideas off each other. And there's nothing more powerful than individuals that have that same passion working together to help each other meet their goal. So we kind of bounce ideas back from each other.

And then one of the things that the program or the Leadership Academy helps you develop is that accountability for your project. Whatever that goal is, we're meeting quarterly. We're meeting twice a year in person. So you kind of have this account of this accountability where you are reporting back and you're accountable for your goal that you're trying to accomplish.

So the teams, generally, if you would like to be part of our OTAN team, we're from California. So it's really diverse. They're from all sections of California. So basically, we build those skills and we plan, develop and implement a distance learning technology program.

So whatever your goal is, is embedding that technology into your program. We help you develop that, and I'll explain how we do that through our next couple of slides. So the professional development program has been available for the last 30 years. It's changed names throughout the course.

So we started with Instructional Technology Assistance Project and currently today we're known as the DLAC or Digital Leadership Academy. Our application is competitive. So one, it's an open application process. Teams are generally two or more team members from your school.

Administrators are really encouraged to be part of the team. They do not have to be directly involved in the team as coming out to the different events that we have. But they really have to have a role because we want to create that change within your school. So there's a lot of discussions, a lot of changes that will happen that we really want them to be involved as part of the application and as part of the project, even if they're not part of the team that is completing the school.

It is a two-year commitment. The best part is the cost are covered by OTAN and then part of the cost will be your agency. So the only thing the agency is paying for is your time, your hours, the commitment hours for the program. But OTAN will pay for the expenses of you coming down to Sacramento, your conference expenses. So all of those expenses are going to be covered through the Academy. So it's really cost effective to your agency because all they're paying for is your regular teaching hours that you would be in the class while you do this project.

So the key thing for the applications is we require a strong outline. So we want you to plan your project as a team. So this is the perfect time to start to think about what do we need to accomplish as a team, right? What do we need? What is our goal? And who is going to be part of this team?

And we want to be able to identify what our goal is. That's the key. What is our goal, right? And we want to make sure we implement some type of technology in it. So, for example, maybe you want to increase your program enrollments, right? But how are we doing that? How are we using technology to increase program enrollments?

Whether it's marketing. Whether it's front-end registration. Do we want to change our registration process? How are we using technology into that? So whatever your agency's goal is, it does have to implement some form of technology in order to help the learning, or enhance the learning of our students. So we would need to embed it in there. And that's a discussion that we can have one-on-one if you're questioning what your goal is and how do you embed technology into it.

The program is a two-year commitment. So there's different-- so, for example, our first year, you're going to be meeting in Sacramento three times. So usually, our meetings in Sacramento are two days. It's like a Thursday, Friday. So you fly out to Sacramento during your first year, three times, and then we have our online meetings.

So basically, you'll be meeting with your coach. You meet like once a week. Monthly meetings are online through Zoom. And then you come out to Sacramento to meet with your cohort, your master's and professional development cohort, your DLAC participants, three times the first year.

The second year, we have a few more online meetings, but there's only two meetings that we do in Sacramento. So a total of five trips down to Sacramento. And then between that, you have your online meetings and we have TDLS, where we have our DLAC participants come out too. So you'll be doing that twice wherever TDLS is that year. I think next year we're going to be in Long Beach. So that's exciting.

So again, the first year, out in Sacramento three times. You have four online meetings and then your final presentation at the end. And then year two, you're out twice only with the rest being online meetings for your cohort.

Part of the DLAC commitment is-- so just like any master's degree, you have a course, right. We have our online course where we're actually learning about distance learning. We're learning how to implement distance learning programs into our classroom. We're learning how to develop an orientation process.

So through that, there is an actual learning course that's done on-- it's done on Canvas. Everything's embedded in there. There's discussion boards. There's reading. There's assignments that you're going to do with your cohort that help you with the goal that you have in mind for your students.

So there's different assignments that are due. We have Ideal 101 that's done in year one. And then Ideal number 2, that's done in year two, and that's kind of our centralized place where we do discussions. It's a weekly assignment that's usually done where we connect with each other, get to know each other, and pretty much, it holds everything for our academy in there.

So through the long-term projects, it includes coaching. So you're going to be getting a coach that's going to help you through the process. Each agency has their individual coach.

So why is it important? Because the experienced coaches are going to be the ones that are going to-- not handhold you, but they're going to be your support systems. They're going to be your facilitators. They're going to provide that continuous support. They're the ones that you're meeting with once a week. They are the ones that will come out to your campus and help you with implementation of your goal.

And then we also have project coordinators that will be helping you. And then really the outside expertise is giving you that fresh eyes into your project, right. Somebody's not at your agency, but kind of that has experience, that has developed these programs in the past, and they can give you that advice.

Any questions so far about anything we've discussed? Yes.

Audience: So if an agency applies-- I know you encourage admins to participate in talks about teachers and the online assignments or Canvas into teaching music technology to me. But if I'm thinking, let's say, orientation process, and that includes supporting. So versus support staff, can they participate?

Yecsenia Delgado: Yes. Yes.

Audience: Second thing is how are the lessons adapted to their specific needs? Because if the Canvas is geared to teaching, then that won't really apply to the admin staff. So how would they--

Yecsenia Delgado: It's learning.

Audience: In the course if they're not applying it.

Yecsenia Delgado: So we do have support staff that's currently in our cohort right now, that's working together with the administrator and it's actually a counselor. So it just depends what your goal is. If it's enrollment process, then those would be individuals.

They're learning the learning process and that's still part of that enrollment process, right. How do we engage those students? How do we hook them to actually enroll in our programs and actually sign up? We all know that we get tons of interest, but out of those interest, only a few students actually complete the enrollment process and actually show up to class, right?

So it's all that learning process. And they are going to be engaged in the process because they're learning right along with us. And with your team together, you're developing all these different ideas. So it's not geared completely just to a teacher in the classroom, it's more geared to learn the learning process. To learn how do we work together as a team.

The leadership part of it is really working together as a team. There's a really big focus on communication. And through that, we learn those customer service skills needed. And we learn how to communicate with each other to complete our goal together.

So we have a good mix where there is front office personnel that's involved in that process. And then we have our teacher department that's only teachers in that group. So every group is different and very individual to that goal.

Audience: And how many-- I know you said at least two people. What's the max?

Yecsenia Delgado: You know, I would have to check in with Neda but right currently, we have groups of four and five. So I think in your application process, you would fill that out and then I would confirm with Neda. And then I can get back to you on that to make sure. I want to say she's got five left, but I need to double check and make sure.

Audience: No worries.

Yecsenia Delgado: All right. So we talked about the coaching. So there is a coach that goes along. These are some of our coaches, and we have one here today. So these are some of our coaches that are experienced in the field.

So we have Christina here today, and she's an adult education instructor. She's actually a coordinator for Corona Norco, and she works in adult education. I believe you do a little bit of counseling, right? Enrollment, no? Teaching?

Christina Hyatt: I do the registration in and-- yeah, enrollment. And then I teach Diploma Math.

Yecsenia Delgado: And she is definitely a technology expert in her field. She's a Canvas expert so she's the one that will come and do Canvas presentations for you.

But a lot of our instructors have a lot of knowledge, whether it's ESL. They've been consultants for a long time. They've been coordinating. We have directors as part of our coaches that have been in directing positions. And a lot of us have been working hands-on in those projects and we can-- they will help you with that expertise that you need with your goal.

So I'm going to go over a little bit as my journey as a coach. So currently, I'm a coach for the DLAC Academy and I love it. You're part of a team. So my experience as a coach has been, really, what I have seen from my team, which presented right before us, Clovis Adult School is really-- you get to see these educators that have active roles outside of their classroom, right.

We all work outside of our classroom days. You know, we're thinking away. But really what I've seen through them is the reshaping of practices, right. Just like our main presenter was presenting yesterday, we're stuck with these ideas and the one way to do it. We've been enrolling the same way. This is the way it's always done, right? But how do we reshape those practices? And that's really where the academy comes in because you get to hear new, fresh ideas from all these individuals.

They've become more tech savvy educators, where, at first, they were a little nervous about using new technology tools to where now, they kind of go at it on their own. They find a new tool and they're excited to bring it back to the team. They're teacher innovators. And really, the most beautiful thing that I have seen out of them is the boost of confidence levels when they're using Canvas, when they're using that new technology tool. They really increase their network because they've been able to work in the academy. So you see them asking questions to all the other professionals in the team.

But more than anything, with the visits that I have done to the campus, I've seen them become mentors to the other teachers on campus, right. They are the ones teaching the other teachers how to use Canvas. They're the ones teaching the other teachers how to use Kahoot in the classroom. How to make an engaging presentation.

So they really become mentors through the DLAC Academy. As they're getting ready to graduate, they've really mastered technology in their specialty and really learned how to integrate that into their classrooms. And really show others at their school how they're using it.

I know my team is on the CTE side, the career technical side, and they're the nursing department. But some of them are teaching the academic teachers how to use different tools that they're using in nursing. So it's pretty exciting to see them become mentors.

You will also get training from Dr. Porter. And he is a leader, a skilled leader, in time management, conflict management, mentoring and coaching. And this is the leadership part of the training. So we're going to learn through that training, a little bit of time management. We're going to learn how to resolve conflict within our own teams, right. How do we resolve that miscommunication? More than anything, he's there for mentoring and then coaching throughout the two years of the academy.

You will also get access to CliftonStrengths. And CliftonStrengths is-- have you guys used it before? In the back. So-- yes. So what can you tell us about CliftonStrengths?

Audience: So it's really interesting because you find out, through a series of personality questions, where your strengths lie in terms of your personality and your work strengths. So basically everything that makes you as a person strong and that could help contribute to a group.

So for me, I think I'm relationship building. All five of my strengths are in one, whereas everyone is spread out in different categories. But it helps you see how your strengths play out as a teacher and as a leader and in creating your projects.

So if you're ever wondering like-- oh, I'm weak in this thing but I'm strong in this thing. Dr. Porter will tell you to focus on what you're strong at instead of what your weakest at. Because there are other people who are strong in the places that you're weak, so you might as well do what you're really good at. So that's the CliftonStrength I remember.

Yecsenia Delgado: So it's basically a personality assessment--

Audience: Yeah.

Yecsenia Delgado: That we take as part of the team to really hone in on what each other's strengths are, right. It's basically a personality assessment and it's helping us understand ourselves but then also our team members. Christina, anything you would like to share about Clifton?

Christina Hyatt: I'm just going to say, it was a huge self-esteem booster for me. I was on a team with two really super smart people and I was kind of new to this whole thing. And I remember looking at my strengths and being like, well, how come mine aren't like those?

But then as I started to identify those strengths in me and see how they added to the team in ways that my teammates didn't have, right. Like, for example, one of mine is input, which means that I just have a lot of useless information in my head. Except it became super useful when we were in a meeting and neither one of my teammates had that at the fingertips. But I just had it memorized because that's what input does, right. I just remember this.

And then I started to see through like these-- identifying my strengths and how they were helpful to the team. And how they were pushing the project forward. Realizing that I could be a leader as well. I didn't have to have the assigned on my resume, or I didn't have to have it say that in my official job title. I could just be a leader from where I was standing.

Yecsenia Delgado: I love it. So the CliftonStrengths is part of our leadership training and it's used throughout the training to help us identify the key strengths, understand the key strengths. We've had a lot of agencies that actually bring it back to their agency and their entire department does it.

I had one of my coworkers that actually used it with her family to better communicate with their family members. So it is a great opportunity for us to get to know each other and to get to know ourselves as well.

So some sample projects. So these are just a few sample projects that have been completed through our DLAC Academy. Mobile ESL enrichment, transitioning from Moodle to Canvas, Canvas and Google in the ESL classroom, digitalizing your EL Civics, right. Making those paperless.

Building bridge programs, accessible teacher training, or building a teacher development training for your school, right. Our last team is actually building a teacher PD program within Canvas, that's specific to their campus and the needs of their campus. Online EL Civics, HyFlex education, and then the teacher digital literacy training as well.

So I started in DLAC with DLAC 2. So this is my journey. These were my team members. Susan was our coach. And we developed an orientation process. That was our key project.

We were actually from different departments so we kind of stranded our project and made it really big. But our main goal was really to develop an orientation process for our students, where we had a really resistant team-- teachers that didn't want to use technology.

But what we really did through the DLAC Academy when I was a DLAC member was we took a completely paperless enrollment process to a completely digital enrollment process. So we created our registration form completely online. We created an online orientation process where we feed information to our students about CASAS testing. So then they come prepared.

We preteach them how to do the CASAS online so they can do it from home so they're ready. So once they come in to test, they know exactly where to go. We also converted all of our EL Civics to online curriculum in Canvas. So the entire co-app was completely in Canvas, paperless. Grading, everything was done in Canvas.

We developed Google sites for our instructors. So we developed one main site. And then we created individual teacher sites where the student was just able to click on their teacher's picture, they would take them to the teacher's page.

And then we converted parenting education to an online curriculum. That was one of my main projects. I basically took our in-person parenting classes and created an online, fully virtual academy for our parents. And we went from 300 students to 350 students at the end. So it was really amazing to see our parents using their cell phones to access parenting education videos and just different projects.

But that was kind of like our two years. We had so much growth. And a lot of these-- these four projects really came from working with the DLAC academy. From the coaching, from us meeting and having those dedicated days where we met and made sure that we were working together.

This is currently our DLAC force. This is our current-- those are going to be our graduates this year. They'll be graduating this May. So this is our current cohorts that we're working with. This is our DLAC members for this year, with their coaches.

And why DLAC works? So professional development coaching model really works because you get to see those diverse perspectives, which we've kind of talked about. We complement each other's skills. We learn from each other.

There's a difference. So one of the main things that I remember from being a DLAC member, when I first started in DLAC 2, is leaving my first meeting and feeling empowered because there was so many resilient individuals in the room that it was such a humbling experience. But walking out of our very first meeting in October, I was so motivated. It was like, we got to do this. We can do this. And we were so empowered.

But there's this collective wisdom from the entire room of these dedicated individuals because everybody comes from different schools and different departments. There was an increased accountability because through our meetings, we're kind of reporting to our coaches, we're reporting back to our coordinators. How's our project going? What's the status? Where are we at? What step are we in? That increased accountability and it kind of forces you, right.

Kind of like when you're in school. If I give you a book, it's like, OK, go ahead and read this book. I don't give you a timeline, it could take you three years to read that book or never read it, right. Or never open the page. But when you're in school and you know you have a homework assignment on chapter one, you're going to open it up. It kind of forces you to read it, right. So there's this increased accountability through the program.

There's efficient problem solving because now you're meeting with your team, you're meeting with your coach. The motivation and support is really incredible through this process. And then the innovation, the ideas that come out. How do we turn our classroom into a 21st century classroom?

So we really have seen long-term success. If you look at different coaching models and we look at studies that follow coaching models, we really are able to see long-term success and stakeholder engagement in that process.

Let's take a look.

So we do have our applications that are opening up. Our next cohort is our 2024 cohort. Applications open next month, and that is your time to think of an activity, a goal, some type of-- something that you want to accomplish. How do we integrate technology into that? Find out who's your team. Who's going to be part of your team? And/or who do you want on your team? And talk to your administrator about it. Let them know how accessible the academy is, how cost effective it is for them, and what you're going to get out of it as well.

So technology implementation it's not just about the tools, it's about the leaders who guide the way, the teachers who embrace the change, and the students who benefit from their collective efforts, right. So it's not just about the tools. The tools are going to help us develop something audacious. What was audacious again?

Audience: I forgot my exact definition, but I know--

Yecsenia Delgado: It's taking that bold risk, right.

Audience: Yes.

Yecsenia Delgado: So the tools, right? Like taking that-- that was our new word. So taking that bold risk. And really, the tools are just part of that success in the process, right?

So what I wanted to do is we are going to find-- oh, yes.

Audience: You were mentioning about having the [muffled voice], you prefer our support person, a teacher, and maybe an administrator from each site. What if you're not able to get those people to come but you are interested in it? Are you able to do it without having those partners from your site?

Yecsenia Delgado: So you want to look at the stakeholders. But if you-- or if it's just you need a team member and then an admin support. So the DLAC Academy works best when you're working on a project with two-- and I think we had a question earlier, Neda, that you can help me with. What's the maximum amount of team members on one team?

Neda: So I will answer that two ways. One, it depends on the agency. Two, the maximum, if you're a local-- if you're a local district or community college, the maximum is four.

Yecsenia Delgado: Four.

Neda: Now, CDCR is in the cohort-- in this cohort-- and they are massive. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of-- thousands of students. Tens of thousands of students. So they have six. And so we made an adjustment depending on the agency. Remember, they have sites throughout California so that's why.

But I haven't seen a district go past four, really. Even if they have program areas, sometimes they'll say, we want one from ESL, one from AACABE, one from CTE. Or sometimes they'll say, plus a classified support person. Sometimes it's, oh, I really want to do it. I'm going to bring in a partner from my ESL. It's two ESL people and they have the admin support. And the admin doesn't have to participate, it could just be the two.

So no less than two, no more than four, traditional And then if there's nontraditional, then we can talk about it.

Yecsenia Delgado: Yeah. And it's finding a partner, right. Somebody that shares that common goal or that common interest. Whether it means bringing in new applications into the classroom, whatever your goal is. Finding another teacher and then coming together to your administrator to say, we want to do this project. Because we still need that admin support to help, even though there's only two on the team that are working together.

Audience: [interposing voices]

Yecsenia Delgado: I'm sorry.

Audience: She answered the part about that the administrator doesn't have to participate. We'll need for him to sign off on it.

Yecsenia Delgado: We always say our best teams' results come with admin support in different forms. One form is being a part of the team.. Second form is they sign off but their hands on. You go to them, you meet with them, you talk to them about the project, you regularly update them. They know that you're being released to do the professional development. Those are the best results we see.

If they're more hands off and they're taking a back seat, you might feel a little challenged. And we will too. And so will your coaches. So it's best to get, really, that conversation going with your administrator to really see what their commitment is going to be. They can take the back seat, certainly, but know that long-term good results will require them to at least be a cheerleader at the very least.

Audience: Yeah.

Yecsenia Delgado: And I think that's what happened with-- when I was in DLAC 2, our administrator was hands off. But her goal-- you guys handle it. I just want more technology in the classroom. I want my teachers to use the Chromebooks. So whenever we went to her-- we worked as a team, but we would come to her and say, we need support in this. She was really supportive.

She gave us the tools we needed or the funding we needed to buy new technology in the classroom. So she was really, really supportive but totally backseat.

Neda: Yeah.

Yecsenia Delgado: Totally backseat. But when it came to our project, she was supportive in what our outcome was going to be. And she expressed what she wanted to see out of that outcome as well.

Neda: And I would say Clovis is probably similar to that.

Yecsenia Delgado: Yes. Yeah.

Neda: Yecsenia is a coach for Clovis right now and their administrator is probably taking more of a backseat. But they're totally-- if we go on a site visit, they know. They know what's going on, right. It's no surprise. Yeah.

Yecsenia Delgado: Yeah. Any other questions about our DLAC Academy?

Neda: I'll just use another example since Christina's here.

Yecsenia Delgado: Yeah.

Neda: Her team has active administrators on the team too. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Christina Hyatt: Yeah. Absolutely. So one of my teams is the principal or the director. I don't know what her-- and then two classified staff. And then the other team, who they're working together, is the director of adult education, a counselor, and then her-- I don't know if Pablo's classified.

Yecsenia Delgado: Yeah.

Neda: Yeah.

Christina Hyatt: So it's an interesting dynamic because there's no teachers on the team at all. But the goal, when they looked at what their plan was and what they needed to have happen, it really needed to be these people because there's been things that teachers wouldn't know how to do, like MOUs and all the logistics and understanding the data side of things and how to make sure that they're measurable skill gains are getting met in their collaboration and shared students.

Neda: And they are district community colleges that feed into each other. And so it really didn't probably require an educator-- like a classroom teacher. Those people were needed for that project, when they applied for it that way.

Again, it's tough. There's no real direct answer. We work with you on what that could look like.

Yecsenia Delgado: Thank you, Christina.

Christina Hyatt: Thank you.

Yecsenia Delgado: Any other questions? So I wanted to dialogue a little bit about what kind of projects do we need at our campus? So remember, at the beginning, we thought really big, right. Like if funding wasn't a problem, the sky's the limit, what do we see our classrooms in?

Right now, we're going to find a matching thumb. It doesn't have to be perfect. You're just going to find a matching fund with someone. And what I want to do is, we are going to identify a technology goal that would benefit your agency or department and why the goal is expensive.

What's a goal that we have for next year or for the next two years? What is something you need in your classroom? What is the change that needs to happen? So we're going to partner up by finding a matching thumbs, so we're to have to move around a little bit. And we're going to get a few minutes to discuss or identify a goal that would benefit our agency or department. And then I'll work with our online individuals if that's OK.

So since we have four in the room, we'll make two matching partners. Hopefully, somebody you don't know. But they don't know each other. Or maybe just-- if we can just collaborate together, maybe the four of you guys, if that's OK? So there's four. And then I'll work with the online. And let's identify, for each of our agencies, maybe something-- even our coach and our member, there's new goals that we might want to implement into our school.

So we're going to come back and we're going to share out really quick. And I have Soledad Adult School. So what's a goal-- a goal that you would like to implement at your school or at your agency that would benefit your students?

Audience: What I'd say-- what's always been a goal to implement throughout the year, but thinking of the new year, again, to, at the beginning, is to get the students to be comfortable using technology because, as you know, our students come in, they don't know how to send an email. All they know is how to open their phone, make a call, and that's it. Or sometimes just text.

it's like getting them comfortable with the technology at the beginning of the year. And then as time progresses, know, keep adding more things that they can be using, like then creating Google Slides and creating a presentation, things like that with it.

Yecsenia Delgado: And then we have Capital, if that's cool?

Audience: Yeah. It's a Consortium.

Yecsenia Delgado: Consortium.

Audience: In Sacramento. So my thought would be, I mean, I think most of my agencies would be very interested in streamlining their orientation process and persistence and not just registering students. So I really like what you said about you're online and how you give potential students bits before they're there. So I think that would definitely help with persistence because they know what they're getting into before they ever go to it. So it gives them a taste of what it's going to be like.

And the other thought I was having is we have a small cohort of students who are enrolled in community college for high school diploma credits, and they're from different agencies. So I think it would be interesting to have our transition navigators, or at least a person, to follow them and support their students because it is-- they're not a cohort in the sense that they're not in the same school, so they don't know each other. So it could feel isolated for them. And it's new for them. So just maybe figuring a way to support them in that process. Yeah.

Yecsenia Delgado: And I think for both of you, orientation, I mean for students, becomes so important. One of the things that we did through our cohort with the orientation was feeding those little pieces. But through orientation, we taught them how to log into Canvas, how to take their classes test, how to log in to Burlington English. So they had like all the steps for everything.

But not only that, the teachers, once they go into the classroom, if the student is struggling, they send them right back to orientation, right. So then the teacher doesn't have to spend a lot of time because then they'll say, the student can benefit from orientation again. And they go right back and focus on Burlington English, or focus on Canvas or focus on whatever technology.

In that orientation, the students learn, you need to email your teacher. Does everybody have an email So that orientation is usually like a two-hour session. And they're usually small. Just the new students coming in. And we have two levels. Our higher level and then our literacy level. That's slower for our slower ESL learners and then our intermediate high to high school students.

So they both get the same at different levels. But it's a really good transition for students to help them, kind of their first day, which is scary, right. Coming to the school is scary on its own.

And we have Corona Narco.

Audience: So we were kind of talking about orientation too. But if I were to go back to DLAC, I just became the diploma coordinator recently and our curriculum is in need of a little bit of a refresh. And I would definitely bring that project. Because as I do it at my agency, I am like the diploma person.

And when you go to DLAC, yes, you're working with your team on the project, but you have 7, 8, 10 other agencies in the room who, while that may not be their project, that may be their strength. And you can draw on-- you meet more people, you get more experience, and more opportunities to collaborate with people outside of your walls.

Yecsenia Delgado: Awesome. And then remind me, are you--

Audience: East Side.

Yecsenia Delgado: East Side. Yes.

Audience: East Side Adult Ed in San Jose. So it's our second year for DLAC and we've seen so much progression. And now it's like, what's the next step? What's the next step?

And we were talking about orientation and how-- I was thinking that our student orientation should also be available online all the time. Because we get ESL students coming all the time, and then we have students who-- I teach in the high school diploma department program and there are students who come in halfway to the semester. Or there are students who can't make it to a physical orientation.

So having something online that shows where the students-- where to take the test, where the bathrooms are, just basic orientation things. Who are the counselors? I need to take my CASAS test. Where do I go for that? So just things that would help our students.

And also, if our students are able to use technology, it would kind of-- not pressure, but enable our teachers to try to meet them halfway too because our teachers are resistant with technology. And our project was slowly, slowly, slowly trying to chip away at that resistance at our school.

So if we could get our students in on the technology train too, then our teachers would have to meet them halfway.

Yecsenia Delgado: Awesome.

Christina Hyatt: I love that.

Yecsenia Delgado: Thank you for sharing out some of your goals. I think definitely, now, our next step would be to identify who are the stakeholders, right? Who do you want to be part of your team?