Hello everyone!
I will be hosting a session on Tuesday about how we have made use of technology as our primary source of access to professional development for new teachers and mentors. With 800 new teachers hired each year in the Peel District School Board, equity of access is a key goal of our professional development in Side by Side, our new teacher induction program.
We've also learned about implementation of these resources. Posting on a web-site is not enough. Getting people to connect to this learning in meaningful ways has been our primary learning in our professional development.
We've learned to not only communicate the contents but more importantly the possibilities and processes through which professional development can be meaningful and sustainable. What are some of the communication and training strategies you have adopted in your implementation of professional development?
Keywords: access, communication, implementation, mentors, new teachers, professional development, staff development
Comments
Hi Lynn,
I'm really looking forward to your presentation. We are in the process of bringing an online community aspect into our "Great Beginnings" NTIP programs and hope to learn from your efforts. I've got a ton of questions...
Anyway - See you in Huntsville.
./tim
Thanks for this response Tim. You have provided a fabulous framework that will help align the session on Tuesday. We have learned a great deal in the very areas you mention. I am looking forward to discussing these with the participants. I will be very candid in sharing some of the assumptions we made. Best learning of all, "If you build it, and simply build it, they won't come!" We have the data to prove that one! However, we have made very substantial changes in our implementation strategies. This key training was provided to mentors. We have since completed our phase one implementation in 91% of our elementary schools and 67% of our secondary schools. The feedback has been exceptionally positive!
Hi Lynn,
I am also interested in teacher professional development (...in the digital era!). I have recently been involved in an online professional development initiative started by a group of ESL educators which is now a part of the annual TESOL conference.
Each year, the TESOL CALL- IS (Computer Assisted Language Learning - Interest Group) runs pre-conference online teacher training sessions (Electronic Village Online) which allow ESL teachers to gain a greater understanding of the newest technologies available for language learning: learn about the newest tools and discuss thier pedagogical merits. This year, there were over 15 different workshops on technology (blogging, PowerPoint, podcasting, Second Life, etc.,). These workshops are run by volunteer teachers in January/February every year and last for 6 weeks. The main modes of communication are: wikis (workshop content), Yahoo Groups (main mode of communication), and blogs (participants' online spaces).
I co-moderated one of the online workshops, Open Webpublishing Workshop, which focused on using social tools (blogs, flickr, bloglines, 43places) in language learning. We had a group of about 30 ESL/EFL teachers from around the world with whom we engaged in a very productive and rewarding discussion. I have to say that it was an instance of a very successful professional development initiative.