Thursday, March 19, 2009

Online PD

Today I had an interesting conversation with some colleagues. The topic was where and how to spend PD money? It was interesting to hear how other individuals know to go online to look for PD opportunities but have no idea where to go from there. I now realize how I can go to California for PD or stay in the comfort of my home for PD. Even the person who feels there is no PD for them can find something of interest online. My practice before would be to look in the Bulletin and use opportuunities to promote advertised PD with staff members. I have moved from that to looking online for places to go. With the goal of using technology to promote student learning there is a multitude of resources and PD available for teachers without them having to actually go anywhere.
The TIL I worked with last year truly promoted online PD. She would often look at Smart Board PD and then show the rest of the staff. The cost was minimal but the payoff was huge.
My feelings regarding PD are quite simple now. Teachers should continue to learn and because of the accessibility of online tools there is no reason for a teacher not to grow professionally. We should take advantage of online opportunities and share them with teachers, parents, and students.

1 comment:

darrell said...

Agreed, however, the key word is share. If we expect teachers, and students to use this technology we must sit down, roll up our sleeves and do it with them. Once they truly see the benefits they will be motivated to do more exploration on their own.