4 Easy Ways To Improve Professional Learning

Professional learning for educators comes in many flavors:

• Face-to-face, blended, online
• Content-driven, instructional practices, Edtech focused
• Faculty meeting, half-day, conference session

If we were all to think long enough we could come up with a list of the best professional learning we've participated in and what made it great. For me it was learning where I connected to the presenter and the presentation immediately. And where the presenter helped me make connections to what I was learning and why it was important.

We could probably make a much longer list of the professional learning that wasn't so great and why that was. For me it was the times where I was forced to sit in a room with other educators who didn't want to be there, learning something that was of little value, wasn't aligned to anything we were aware of and where our experience wasn't taken into consideration.

What separates good from great professional learning isn't particular to one type of learning or one style of presenting. To improve professional learning I believe there are only four considerations anyone who delivers professional learning needs to focus on to improve.

Create Communities of Practice-Perhaps one of the strongest and most rewarding ways to improve professional learning is to move from the one-off, disjointed learning events and move towards creating communities of practice (CoP). CoP's are formed when educators engage in a process of collective learning to improve  their overall practice together. The purpose is to bring all voices to the table to learn and grow together. Everyone from educators to leaders to coaches should be participating as a collective unit. CoP's align directly with collective teacher efficacy, which research and evidence shows is one of the best things educators can do to help students improve. Within the CoP members share and learn and grow together, defined by a shared outcome. Everything from identifying the goals of the CoP to the steps taken to meet those goals, to the evaluation of where to go next is done within the CoP.

Examine Relevancy-Thinking back to all the professional learning I did as a classroom teacher there were many times I sat in a room for hours on end wondering what I was doing there. The learning may have been valuable to some in the room but it was not obvious to me. What is often lacking with professional learning is clear relevance to the participants. Our minds crave understanding, especially when we are learning. What may be obvious to the presenter may not be to those in the room. And even more critical is the alignment of the learning to things like walkthroughs, school improvement plans, the goals of the Communities of Practice or other measurable outcomes. Therefore, not only should relevancy be driven by the needs of the participants but also the overall needs of the group.

Andragogy Isn't Pedagogy-Modeling is an important aspect of professional learning. Certainly, if we are learning a new instructional practice or an enhanced way to teach specialized content, then engaging in modeling can be beneficial. However, much of the way that professional learning is taught is done so using skills rooted in pedagogy. And it makes sense, right? Much of professional learning is lead by educators. Pedagogy makes up the foundation of our skills. However, the teaching of adults, Andragogy, looks much different. Adult learning is rooted in the synthesis of knowledge rather than memorization of skills. Admittingly, there is overlap in pedagogy and andragogy. When we look at the 7 Principles of Adult Learning, there are some differences, such as learning is best in informal situations or how previous experiences shape our learning now. The takeaway is that understanding adult learning theory (andragogy) by those that delivery and participate in professional learning is as important as understanding student learning theory (pedagogy).

Reflection Is How We Grow-It's easy to participate in professional learning and leave it behind when it's over for both the participants and the presenter. When we do that we miss an opportunity to not only improve but to put into practice what we learn. Time for reflection must be built into professional learning, both guided an open-ended. These opportunities for reflection do two things. The first, reflection acts as a formative assessment for the presenter. Understanding where learners are in their learning and where we are in our teaching is just as important with students as it is as with adults. The second, when the presenter engages in deep reflection about what they have presented we discover, what worked, where we have been with our teaching and what areas are ripe for growth. What are we doing well and how will that lead us to improvement the next time around?

Professional Learning is an important part of our growth as educators, yet it is often overlooked for improvement. By focusing on building Communities of Practice, improving relevancy, understanding the needs of adult learners and building in deep reflection, those that deliver professional learning can create a culture that craves these opportunities for improvement.

3 Ways Leaders Can Support Ongoing Professional Development

When I was leading an Instructional Technology program, one of the hurdles my team had to overcome was the lack of involvement from our leadership on the professional development we were delivering. In the feedback we would get from teachers we would hear that the learning was good, but that their Principal, AP, Curriculum Director, whom ever, didn’t know what they were learning, or why they were learning it. Even worse, when leadership came to do walkthroughs or evaluations, they didn’t know what to look for to ensure the professional development was effective and implemented correctly.

We can’t just throw learning against the wall and see what sticks.

One of the best ways to judge the effectiveness of professional development by leadership is to conduct regular walkthroughs of classrooms to specifically look for what was learned and how it was implemented by teachers. However, if the leadership doesn’t know what to look for, because they weren’t involved in the professional development, then how can they truly judge the effectiveness? Or worse yet, if they aren’t involved in the professional development planning cycle at all then how do they really know what type of professional learning needs to take place in their building or their district?

The key is for school and district leaders to be involved in the complete process of professional development. At every step of the way these leaders need to come out from behind their desks, open their doors and participate, not only in the student process of learning but in the educator process of learning as well. In order for professional development to be seen as providing a value to the learning all educators must do, school and district leaders must be involved in the cyclical process of learning.

Professional Development should impact every single staff member in a school and district to improve overall learning targets. From the Superintendent on down there has to be not only buy in but involvement from Curriculum Leaders, Technology Leaders, Principals, etc, to ensure that professional development is carried out is a systematic and cyclical way. If we want professional development to be effective then leaders need to be involved so that everyone can continue to hone their craft and develop professionally.

Here are 3 easy ways for Leaders to support ongoing professional development.

Be Involved In Planning-School and District Leaders, at all levels, need to be involved from the very beginning in professional development planning. Ultimately, the Superintendent should know the learning needs of the district and provide a guiding hand in to how ongoing professional development will look each year. This is then replicated at the building level. Taking cues from the Supt., the School Leadership Team needs to be directly involved in the plans for professional learning for their teachers.

This was important when I was working with my schools. I could have easily created a district-wide, technology-learning plan for educators that touched on what I wanted them to learn but we know that learning needs to be individualized and tailored for the learner (In this case, teachers). I needed my principals to meet with me on an ongoing basis to look at where their teachers were and where they needed them to go. What specific needs did the teachers have that my technology program could help them meet? How was the professional development we were going to provide align with their School Improvement Plan and help them meet their overall learning targets?

The bottom line is, school and district leadership needs to be involved from the very beginning of the ongoing professional development planning process to ensure the learning is going in the right direction and stays on track throughout the professional learning cycle.

Be Involved In Learning-The biggest failure by leadership I see in supporting ongoing professional development is the lack of involvement in the actual learning. I saw it all the time when I was leading professional development and still experience it to this day. How can a leader best evaluate the use of technology or a literacy program or implementation of a specific pedagogical technique if they weren’t somehow involved in the same learning the teachers participated in? This doesn’t mean leadership has to learn how to use the Chromebooks or Flipgrid or PBL to the same extent as the teachers but they do need to have an understanding of how they are used and implemented with students so they can identify strengths and gaps.

Teachers also want their leaders to not only be involved in the same ongoing professional development that they are but they want to be led by their leaders as well. I hear this time and time again, school and district leaders are a valuable source of knowledge and experience and staff needs them to take the lead. Time needs to be set aside for them to lead specifically targeted professional development that brings everyone closer to their goals.

The bottom line is, school and district leadership needs to be involved in the participation and delivery of high-quality, ongoing professional development that shows educators their understanding of what they are learning and their capacity to lead these programs.

Be Involved In Reflection-In order to make professional development truly effective there has to be opportunities to reflect and evaluate its overall impact. Those that deliver the professional development need to be open to the comments on feedback forms and evaluations to learn and grow. Equally important is the reflection done by the participants on their own learning during and after the professional development sessions have ended. School and district leaders must lead and participate in these conversations to ensure learning is on track and on target but to also decipher where the learning will go next. These reflections should help determine next steps (either additional resources, or the next aspect of learning) thereby making the the professional learning cyclical.

These conversations might ask questions like:

• What are our strengths now that we’ve had this learning and are implementing it in the classroom? 
• What weaknesses do we still have? How do we overcome them? 
• This professional learning will be successful because...
• What support do we still need? 

The bottom line is, school and district leadership needs to be involved in the reflection process of professional development to ensure that educators and leaders alike are doing what is best for their students.

There is no doubt the role of school and district leadership is tough. And considering adding “one more thing” might not seem appealing. However, if we want professional development to be ongoing, meaningful and something teachers look forward to then leaders need to be involved in planning, be involved in learning and be involved in reflection.

Flipping Out For Professional Learning

During a professional development session a while back I thought I killed someone.

He didn’t respond when his name was called.

He didn’t respond I tapped his shoulder.

Finally, he responded when I shook him a bit harder.

Lucky for me (and him) he was just asleep. But it was a wake up call to me and the way I approached delivering Professional Development. It also got me thinking about how much boring time educators spend in meetings and “PD” when they could be doing something more authentic.

I'm going to bet we can all recall a meeting or boring PD we had to endure. Those meetings that drag on, and on, and on. Seemingly pointless meetings that, while they may have had a purpose when being planned that purpose got lost in the message and delivery. Many meetings are just information transfer. What are the dates for training for administering the next state exam? Who is going on the field trip? Remember to walk your kids to the cafeteria.

Think about Professional Development, specifically technology-related PD. Much time is spent on the how-to of technology. How to sign into the LMS. How to create a Google Doc. How to send a Tweet. Much of the time in the actual PD is eaten up by tasks that can be learned outside the actual PD, freeing up the time when we do get together on more the why-to with technology PD or any type of professional development really.

What if that hour/90 mins/half day was spent on meaningful, embedded professional development that was participant driven? We complain we don't have the time for that really good PD. Why? What if we adopted the model of the flipped classroom and applied it to meetings and Professional Development?

Flipping PD and faculty meetings is essentially the same as flipping the classroom, but with adults. The idea is, there is some sort of information transfer (basic information about a learning concept) outside of the learning environment (classroom/meeting/PD) allowing for further discussion or extended learning when in the learning environment. The watered down version of flipping is that we front-load information about a concept outside of the classroom (meeting/PD) so when kids (adults) are in the classroom (meeting/PD) the time is spent on knowledge extension or deeper understanding of the content.

I will admit it. I am not a big fan of flipping the classroom. I am, however, a huge fan of flipping faculty meetings and Professional Development.

Now, I am by no means the first person to think about flipping PD or faculty meetings. Many have come before me and even my friend Peter DeWitt has a book dedicated to the subject. The notion has been around for a while yet it is still not yet caught on in many places.

The time we spend together as professionals improving our practice should be meaningful and we should be able to walk away feeling as it the time was well spent. Meetings and Professional Development should provide opportunities to examine current pedagogical trends, learning, classroom embedded teaching techniques and technology and, above all else, the chance to talk with other educators and learn from each other. Each time we meet and learn together is another opportunity to be better for kids.

It seems educators meet all the time. When I am working with teachers or administrators the consistent thing I hear is we meet too much with little or no end result. So instead of continuing meeting with no purpose, let's flip that time. Let's front load with all the basic information we all need, freeing up that faculty meeting or professional development time for more learning, PLCs, sharing, etc.

The traditional notes in the mailbox and faculty memos are a great start. Distributed information ahead of time for review or study certainly frees up time when meetings or PD takes place. However, this is an area when technology can be of much benefit. There are many tools that can be used to share different types information ahead of time. You need to find something easy and something that won't take a whole lot of time, but will communicate what you need to. There is no rule for which works best. Try a few and see which is most effective and run with it. But don’t be afraid to gather feedback and refine your practice.

What are some simple and easy to use tools you could flip those faculty meetings and professional development sessions...today?

Videos-These are the traditional tool of the flipper. For many this will be a great option. There are some easy to use screencasting tools out there (Screencast-o-Matic being my favorite). Think about it like this. You can sit for 10-15 mins and record a mini presentation. Review the notes for the faculty meeting or demonstrate how to use the particular tool for the technology PD. Our attention spans aren’t much longer than that anyway. Participants can watch as many times as they need to get the information. And you don’t have to be Spielberg. Keep it loose and keep it natural. Have fun with it!

Blogs-A simple faculty or technology blog can transfer a great deal of information pretty simply. When I was an Instructional Technology Director many of my principals used blogs as a way to get the basic information out to staff each day. Who was going to be out of the building, reminders and links to important information. It becomes a running record of the day’s events and a great look-back for information. The same could work for a technology blog. Post all the how-to information or videos on the blog. Either way, you’ve freed up that time to spend on more meaningful conversations when you meet.

Collaborative Docs-Tools like Google Docs could be used in the same way as blogs but more privately. Post all the necessary information ahead of time, but now we can add in a collaborative element. Using the commenting feature participants can share ideas, other resources or ask questions. The doc too can become a running record. Simply put the newest information at the top and push the previous information down the page. I’ve seen many faculty meetings flipped using something simple like Google Docs.

Collaborative Learning Space-Perhaps your district or your school uses a Learning Management System like Canvas, Edmodo, Google Classroom or something else. No matter what you use, create a space for faculty or participants in a PD session. This was wildly popular in my district. We’d create spaces for PD sessions where we could communicate ahead of time with registered participants, get them started on the how-to, and they had a space to share with other participants in the class or course. The same was true for faculties. I had many principals using Edmodo with their faculties because they could post book study questions, presentations, and other information. Then the actual meeting time was spent on more meaningful conversation.

Remember, the tool is the least of your worries. There are many more tools here I could list that could aid in flipping faculty meetings or professional development. The point isn’t the tool you pick. It’s what you do with the time you gain when you flip. Focus on using that time in faculty meetings to build culture or problem solve or dig deep into how to make the learning environment better. In professional development use the time gained to focus on the why. Why is this method better? Or how can it be applied to a specific discipline. Either way make the most of the time gained and you’ll reap the rewards.

Download the Image: https://spark.adobe.com/post/Ov8al0MDa0Ri0/ 

Let's Make Professional Learning Meaningful Again!

I remember it as it if it were yesterday...

The worst professional development session I have ever delivered.

It had already been a long week. And this was the last session I was delivering. The participants could tell that this was the last place I wanted to be and really it was the last place they wanted to be too. I trudged through the scripted content with little passion. They asked questions because they thought they had to in order to move things along and I answered with one word or two.

It was a disaster. 

As everyone was getting up to leave I noticed one person didn’t get up. In fact he wasn’t moving at all. Great, my PD was so boring I’ve killed someone. Fortunately he was just asleep. But still. He was so disengaged that sleeping was a better alternative.

I know this is an extreme example but this type of PD happens all the time. Just ask the teachers in Chicago Public Schools. The fact is, educators have to sit in terrible professional development all the time. Either because there is a true lack of understanding of what goes into the needs of educators when it comes to their learning or like my example, it’s just plain boring.

Many, if not all educators, are familiar with pedagogy, or the theories related to learning and teaching children. Andragogy are the theories related to teaching adult learners. These are two totally different concepts and the ways that kids learn differ from adults. Yet if we look at the way PD is designed it often neglects the needs of adult learners.

I have the opportunity to take part in, observe and deliver hundreds of hours of professional development a year, either through conferences, meetings or during the work I do. Sometimes I am lucky and I get to sit in with someone who has a passion for what they do and it shows during our time together. Other times I see PD delivered to teachers that is much like the kind in the video from Chicago Public Schools, boring, scripted and participants that are disengaged.

We would never stand for teaching kids this way. Why do we not take a stand when it comes to our own professional learning? 

Professional development comes in all forms and can be delivered in a multitude of ways. But I believe there are 3 things for us to remember when it comes to any type of professional development or professional learning.

3 Essentials for Professional Learning 

Keep It Simple: Professional development that is overly complex and over-planned tends to lead to disengaged learners. Limit the focus of professional learning to one or just a few concepts at a time. I am an advocate of depth over breadth in the professional learning rather than the “one and done” or “6000 Tools in 60 Minutes” type sessions. With a concentrated focus, learning can include application, collaboration, and evaluation. Adult learning theory tells us adults need to have their voice as part of the conversation within the first six minutes of the learning to promote engagement. When we keep things simple, more time is available to hear those voices, provide choice in learning path and better understand the needs of all learners to cultivate a more meaningful professional learning experience. Keep things simple and build in time for exploration, conversation and tangents.

Reflect, Reflect, Reflect: As a PD leader what I do is never perfect. There is always room for improvement. One of the tenets of instructional design theory is taking time to reflect on what works and what does not. By keeping it simple, and having that concentrated focus we get the opportunity to take a step back to determine what is going well or what changes to the instruction are needed. What is working? What isn't? What do we need to cover again? What would I do differently the next time? Is there someone who needs some extra help?

Educators need time to think about how a new tool or learned skill fits into their classroom and with their kids. Even if we believe what we are presenting is an easy concept to master there has to be some time for reflection. Adult learning theory tell us that educators want that tie back at the end of a learning session to goals and objectives laid out in the beginning. They also need direction in their thinking for afterwards. We want to have them leave thinking about what we want them to be thinking about. Giving opportunities during and after PD for reflection can help solidify the learning we ultimately want them to walk away with.

For leaders, time absolutely needs to be taken to look at the session as a whole. During the session temperature checks and informal formative assessments (simple feedback questions or times set aside to see where learning is) are critical to ensuring that the learning is on the right track. And afterwards take a look at what went well, and what could have been better? Solicit feedback from individuals and use those comments as opportunities to build even PD the next time.

Play: Look back at those teachers taking part in the PD from Chicago Public Schools. I have a hard time believing that providing an opportunity to play entered in at any part of their day. For professional development to be truly effective individuals need to be invested in their learning. And it’s hard to deny that when one is having fun they are engaged. Build in time for exploration and play, especially when it comes to Edtech or technology PD. Educators need time to digest and experiment (guided practice) with the tools they are learning. Look at BreakoutEDU and how they are redefining how PD is done. Learning is fun again!

Professional development is an important part of the learning process for all educators. More time and attention needs to be given on crafting PD that is simply designed, utilizes reflection as part of the growth process and lets everyone play a little more. As we head into another school year let us all, educators and professional development leaders alike, resolve to make professional learning meaningful again.

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Taking Control Of Your Professional Development

Recently I was talking to a teacher friend of mine. He is what I would consider a very good teacher. He is engaging in the classroom, works very hard to meet the needs of all his students and regularly reflects on his teaching to understand his strengths and weaknesses. It's through that reflection that he is figuring out how to be better.

He told me about an email he got from his district. Over the summer teachers were going to go to some professional development in their content area. The district had looked over where the majority of teachers were weak and were going to provide them some learning in those areas. When he looked at what this PD was going to consist of he was dumbfounded. This wasn't at all the areas he was weak in. In fact he was one of the highest performing teachers in those areas.

And now he was being forced to sit through PD that was meaningless to him.

The fact is my friend is not alone.

This happens to educators more often that we can count. Many schools and districts are trying to do the right thing by meeting the needs of as many educators as possible when it comes to professional learning. But the reality is most schools and districts are not equipped to personalize the professional development of every educator.

Often we talk about the need for more personalized learning for students. There are countless books, webinars and other resources dedicated to the topic. Yet when it comes to the personalization of professional development there is a barely a slow moment by educational leaders to move in that direction. Time, money and personnel are just a few of barriers they face.

The fact of the matter is educators, no matter their position, can no longer rely on their schools and districts to provide the targeted professional development every educator needs and deserves. 

So, if we come to that realization, the next inevitable question is, what do we do about it?

Lucky for all of us we live in an age where all known knowledge is at our fingertips. The digital age has ushered in a new era where anyone can learning anything anytime anywhere. And the type of professional learning we need is readily available if we know where to find it.

Blogs-I've written many, many times about the benefits of blogging for both kids and educators. This open reflection of what we are doing, learning, sharing and thinking about can have very positive effects on our learning. Reading blogs as well can have a great impact on our learning. There are so many wonderful and thoughtful educators who are sharing various resources, ideas and thoughts for the classroom and beyond you'll easily find many to read and grow from. Start with the Teach 100 list. This is a ranked list that, while I think the rankings don't mean much, it's full of great educator blogs to explore. You can also visit the list of the Top 50  Must Read Edtech blogs and take a look at the Edublogs Awards Nominated blogs. Lots of great blogs in all these places.

Webinars-Virtual learning is nothing new. From correspondence courses to videotapes you could buy, watch and learn new skills, we now can learn virtually, in real time, anywhere in the world. There are so many places to take in a good webinar. Many of your favorite tools and products you use have thought-leadership programs that offer all sorts of webinar experiences. Edweb.net is one of my favorite places to catch a webinar because not only is it easy and free to join, the topics are endless and there are archives of everything. The folks over at ASCD regularly have the authors you read for webinars on their books and various other topics. #Edchat Interactive is redefining what a webinar means. The traditional webinar is passive; sit and get. The webinars at #Edchat Interactive allow you to be on video with the other participants and the presenter, like you are all in a physical place together.

Twitter Chats-Like blogging I've written about the benefits of hashtags and Twitter chats many times. Something simple like spending an hour engaging with other educators can open your mind to new ways of thinking or finding resources you didn't know existed. The Educational Twitter Chats calendar is a great place to start to find a specific chat for a topic you are interested in or even more simply a hashtag to follow to see what others are sharing.

In-Person Events-There are countless in-person events that take place year 'round so there's always somewhere to go. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Annual Conference for example is the largest education conference with nearly 20,000 attendees takes place the end of June every year. There are other smaller, regional conferences that take place throughout the year as well. Check with your local education agency or state department of education to learn more. The problem some (like myself) have with these conferences is they are expensive to attend and they don't exactly have sessions to meet your learning needs. Edcamps can help fill that void. These are free events, generally on a Saturday, put on for educators by educators. The sessions are decided in the morning and everyone is an expert. You can read more about Edcamps and check out the Edcamp calendar to learn when one is taking place near you.

Taking control of your own professional development doesn't have to cost any money or require you to invest a great deal of time or energy. It's a matter of using the resources you are already familiar with and combining those with non-traditional sources like Twitter chats and Edcamps and you can put together a very powerful personalized learning plan for yourself. 

photo credit: New Academic Year in the Renovated Atrium via photopin (license)

Creating A Professional Learning Collection With @appoLearning

Last time you read about this new site I had been checking out, appoLearning. I have really enjoyed getting to know this new platform and even create a collection myself. And I think for educators it can be a great way to organize sites, apps, videos and more so they are more easily shared with students, colleagues, even parents and the community.

Before we take a look at my collection I've been working on, lets think about why we would even want to create a collection in the first place.

Curation is a super important topic to me. We are teaching in what might be the most incredible times ever, due to the shear amount of information we have access to. Websites, apps, videos, games, you name it, there is probably countless number of resources for it. The more and more we rely on the knowledge of others (as we should, in addition to creating our own new knowledge with it) we need a system to organize and share that information.

And for students it's equally as important a skill to have.

But sometimes we all just need a little help. Be it to find good resources that others have curated or an easy platform to curate and store that information ourselves.

Thats where appoLearning can help, a lot.

I've been working on a Professional Learning Collection. I get asked all the time about the best places for educators to learn from other educators on their own time. So creating this collection will be an easy way to share all the places I've gathered over time to share with others.

Creating a collection couldn't be easier. You sign in with your Google, Twitter or Facebook account. Then give your collection a title, a description and decide if you want it public, private or viewable by anyone who has the link.

A note about the privacy settings. This can be really helpful. Some of your resources you'll want to share with the world. Others, you might have resources that can only be viewed by the teachers on your team or grade level. And other times you might just want to keep a personal collection. The choice is yours!

Once you've set up the collection you then need to add the resources. Remember you can add any type of resource. For mine I have websites, apps and some videos. All you need a link.

And you aren't limited to resources you bring in. Use the wisdom of the other users of appoLearning. You can search from the entire collection of resources already uploaded to appoLearning and make incorporating them easy too.

appoLearning will figure out what kind of resource it is and some basic information. Then you can fill in the rest. Give it description, tell what grades it's good for and tag it so its easier to find. The more information you can provide, the easier it will make to find it in search.

And thats it! Easy peasy! Collections are only as complete as you want. If you find a new resource, come back and add it. One not relevant anymore, delete it.

As we mentioned earlier you can create collections for a yourself, your students, your colleagues, you could even create collections of resources for your parents and the community. The possibilities are only as endless as what you can create.

Remember, all this is free. So give it a go!

Oh and check out the Professional Learning Collection. Tons of places to improve your practice on your own time!

Thinking About Redefining Professional Development

As a former Director of Instructional Technology my job was to provide technology embedded professional development (PD) to a district of 4000 teachers. Each day was filled with new and exciting challenges, trying to figure out how we could best help our teachers understand technology integration, while keeping our PD fresh and engaging. I’ve been a part of a lot of successful PD and been a part of a lot of not so good PD.

The traditional forms of sit-and-get PD are giving way to MOOCs, webinars, Edcamps and flipped learning. But what does all that mean? What does this transition to innovative PD practices mean and where can we find these new forms?

One idea that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is Flipped Faculty meetings. I always heard there wasn’t enough time before school/after school or during the day to do professional development. So we had to look at how to reclaim some of that time. If we take the traditional staff meeting, many times the information shared is just “for your information” or anything that could be posted to a blog or in an email. The idea of the flipped faculty meeting means the time normally spent on the boring stuff can be turned into a time to share, learn and grow, together, as a faculty. There are lots of ways information can be shared to capture that time back. Check out this blog post to learn more.

Faculty Meetings aren’t the only thing we can flip. Traditional PD models can be flipped too, where work is done before to learn basic skills via video or through course work. Then face-to-face time is spent going deeper with that understanding, creating something or looking at how the learning can be applied. The post on The Flip Side Of Professional Development really captures how to make this work and gives several examples.

Professional Development is more than just flipping the traditional models. There are lots of new and exciting ways to take control of your own professional learning. The DIY Professional Development Kit from Edutopia is full of ideas and resources you can use to drive your own learning. Everything from learning on Twitter to Unconference models to building a Personal Learning Network is covered here. What else would you add?

There has never been a time to think about how to break free from boring professional development. With so much information being shared online and off, now is a great time to think about how you can take control of your learning!

photo credit: hawkexpress via photopin cc

Favorite Apps For Learning On The Go

I spend a great deal of time on the go. From working with all the schools in my district to traveling to far off lands to work with teachers, I sometimes feel like I am disconnected from my learning. And that bums me out!

There are a few apps (and some sites too) that I rely upon to keep me updated with whats happening and to teach a me a thing or two as well.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Zite-A lot of folks reading this have probably heard of Zite. But just in case you haven't, Zite is a curated magazine type app that delivers content to you based on your interests and feedback. When you create an account the app asks a couple of questions about what you'd like to see. They have thousands of sources so just a few key words and you will be greeted with hours of reading and learning. You can also choose to bring in your social feeds from Twitter and Facebook too to further the reach. I have a couple Education phrases along with Leadership and some technology stuff as well.

Flipboard-Similar to Zite, Flipboard looks and feels like more of a magazine. You can subscribe to your favorite sites with a simple search (or RSS feed address) and you can search what others are curating too. I will often times go into Flipboard and do searches to see what others are reading. That really helps me expand my learning. One board you will want to check out is FieldFlips from AnEstuary.com. They have lots of great education topics curated for you.

Podcast App-The popularity of podcasts seems to come and go. A few years ago loads of folks were listening and creating their own. Then the excitement seemed to wane but now they are on the rise again. I like hitting up the Podcast store in iTunes and seeing whats new in the Education, News or Tech categories. I can be walking through an airport but still feel like I am learning something new. #Edchat has its own podcast where you can hear a break down of that week's chat. But I also like the NPR Technology podcast and one of my favorites is the Get-It-Done Guy, which is full of short productivity and life hacking tips.

Lifehacker-Speaking of life hacking, I am a huge fan of Lifehacker. While it isn't an app, it is a pretty awesome website with tons of advice for, well, hacking your life. They have everything from design tips for presentations, to ideas for cutting the cord from cable or satellite, to what to do when you don't feel like working any more. I can always spend 5-10 minutes (but most of the time, way more) there and learn something pretty neat.

TED Talks-I've written about the power of TED talks before and their app is no different. All of the talks are available there along with short spinets which are great when you don't have the time to watch a full talk.

Twitter-Of course I have to list Twitter. But when I am on the go I spend a lot of time with Lists. Lists help me organize tweets into specific categories. So I have a list for tweeters I don't want to miss, policy folks, funny twitterers, etc. Lists are a great way to not feel like you have to be tied to Twitter all the time.

There are lots of options out there to keep up with learning. What are some of your favorites? Leave some suggestions below.

Happy learning!

photo credit: Daniel Y. Go via photopin cc

Professional Development On Your Time, Your Way

As someone who helps develop and deliver professional development to teachers, I've heard lots of reasons why some of the PD schools offer to teachers might not be a good fit.

It's not relevant to me.

It's a waste of time.

Boring.

I am sure if you ask, most teachers can recall some PD they've suffered through with great detail.

PD should be something that we look forward to. It should be something that we are excited about. It should be something we are in control of.

Yep. In control of.

Did you know there are tons of ways to learn new concepts, techniques and ideas for both in the classroom and for you as an educator?

Simple K12 Webinar Series (http://simplek12.com/webinars) The girls over at Simple K12 have been offering free webinars on a wide variety of topics for a while now. Everything from going Google Apps, formative assessments, iPads, administrator specific stuff, you name it, they probably have an upcoming webinar on it. The webinars range from 30 mins to 1 hr and are completely free to watch live. (If you want the recordings you have to be a member of the Community which comes at a fee.) Check out the upcoming calendar for all they have to offer.

Classroom 2.0 Live! (http://live.classroom20.com/) Classroom 2.0, one of the largest member communities for educators anywhere on the Internet, has been doing these Saturday live webinars since 2009. Again, the topics vary week-to-week. But no matter the topic, you will find yourself having lots of fun and learning too. The sessions take place every Saturday at 12 noon Eastern. Miss a show? Not to worry! They archive every session and tag them so they are easy to search. This archive is a place I regularly go to find information on tools, trends in instructional practices and just to learn something new. You can also subscribe to the audio feed in iTunesU.

Bam Radio Network (http://www.bamradionetwork.com/) Bam Radio has grown into the place to visit for educational podcasts. With so many topics to choose from, my iPod is about to bust with all shows I've downloaded. You may already know 2 of the shows there, Edchat Radio and my show, Edtech Radio but those are just 2 of over 50 with hosts of every caliber. Oh, and all the shows are free and short too (about 10-20 mins) which makes them perfect for listening while riding to work or going for a stroll.

School Leadership Summit Recordings (http://admin20.org/page/summit-recordings) The School Leadership Summit was a 1-day, completely virtual conference aimed at school administrators but the topics reached much further than the school principal. With a keynote from Yong Zhao and over 100 sessions, you are sure to find something that you didn't know before. I am certainly going to spend time going through all the sessions over the next couple of weeks.

TED Talks (http://www.ted.com/) By now most have heard of TED Talks but in case you haven't, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) are talks given by some of the world's best thinkers and doers. Whenever I watch one, no matter if its on the designs of 404 pages on websites to a talk given on monkeys and game theory, I always learn something. There are over 1400 to choose from, and while not all are education related there are several that are. And even the ones that are not, there are still takeaways that you can use in your teaching.

Open Courses (Various) In just the past year there has been an explosion in the number of higher ed institutions providing open courses to the world, meaning you can take a course on Physics from MIT or economics from USC. From MIT Open Courseware to edX (which is a combined effort of over 10 universities) there is so much out there to choose from, all for free. These can be great places to beef up your content knowledge or just learn something new.

Twitter Hashtags (http://bit.ly/hashtagsedu) A list like this wouldn't be complete without mentioning the great learning that happens on Twitter 24/7. And hashtags are a great way to organize and follow that learning. (Want to learn more about hashtags? Read this post I wrote a while back.) The spreadsheet linked above is one of the best I've seen. Organized by day, it has most all of the Educational Hashtag chats and their times, along with hashtags that might not have a chat but folks still share using them.

Now, take control of your professional development. Use these as a starting point and go learn!

Do you have other places, webinar series, podcasts or courses that have helped you take control of your PD? Leave some comments below.

photo credit: Βethan via photopin cc

Reflections On Being A Blogger

Last week on #edchat the discussion turned to blogging and the importance (or maybe not) in and out of the classroom. As always the conversation was a lively one with lots of different ideas on student blogging, administrator blogging, platforms and more. (Check out the archive to read and follow all the discussions.)

I wrote about how to be come a blogger a while back. Lots of platforms, ideas for use and more in that post. I encourage you to check it out. 

This post is more a reflection about blogging. 

And really, that is what my blog is about. 

I am honored to have you reading this right now. Really I am! When I started in this space almost 4 years ago I never though more than just a few people would read what I wrote. It's humbling to me when someone stops me to tell me about a post they read or an idea they got from one of my posts. 

During our #edchat discussion I was asked why I blog? 

This space is an open reflection of me, my philosophies on technology and education and a place to share. 

I can write here anything that is on my mind. I get to put words to paper (albeit virtual) to get thoughts and ideas out of my brain and into print so I can figure things out. I get to reflect on my ideas for the classroom and for teaching. And the best part, I get to do it publicly. 

If I kept a journal under my pillow I might be able to accomplish some of the same sort of thought processes I go through when I blog. But when I make those reflections public in this space, I get to tap in the collective mind that you are a part of to reflect with me. Sometimes, some are moved to comment and that is even better because that not only adds to my thoughts and thinking but the thoughts and thinking of everyone that reads. 

We all get smarter because we share. 

And I write when ever I feel like it. I write when the mood strikes. I have no set schedule. Like this post. It has been brewing in my mind since #edchat last Tuesday but I am just now writing it. I have 4-5 posts always in some form of completion (or lack there of). I used to hold myself to a schedule. I nearly killed myself to try and meet it. 3 posts a week I said. And I ran out of stuff to say pretty quick. So I decided to write whenever I had something to say, think about or share. And for me that works. 

Look. Blogging is personal. It shouldn't be forced. Someone brilliantly said during the chat if you won't blog yourself don't make kids do it just to make them do it. Encourage it. But don't force. 

And don't force yourself to write one either. I can lay out for you all the benefits (maybe I did that here) and why you should do it but if it's not your thing, then its not. But, do me a favor. Read posts. Comment on posts. Share your wisdom and knowledge. And you never know, you might find yourself writing your first post and sharing it with the world.


photo credit: Annie Mole via photo pin cc

Twitter Series-A New Kind Of Twitter PD

 This week I am going to do a series of posts on Twitter. I get asked a lot of questions about it so I though, why not write about it and put all the details in one place. 

You can read Part 2 here and Part 3 here. 


Today I am starting with Twitter Professional Development.

As many times as I have talked to folks, done workshops for and even preached about Twitter, there are some that just won't (for whatever reason) jump in. When I first started I didn't understand. How could someone not want to just ride the rapids like me, soak in all the information they could? There was so much out there to discover, why not engage, react, comment, all the time? It took me a while to realize that maybe, for some, the best way to use Twitter was not to use Twitter.

Huh?

Yep. I have taken a radically different approach to teaching educators about Twitter.

Take a step back and think about PD done about Twitter. Many will start with a basic example of its use (if the participants are lucky) or how the presenter started with Twitter or maybe a shoutout, asking their followers to tell where they are from and why they should Twitter. All good stuff. It's great to see how someone actually uses it but most times I find folks who take the time to come to PD on Twitter already know or have heard of the benefits from others or they just don't get that stuff to begin with so why start with it?

After the example comes the registration process. This can be a battle. Twitter has a limit as to the number of accounts that can be created from the same IP address. Many school networks are set up so that no matter what machine you are on it appears to the outside world every machine has the same IP. So if you are all trying to create accounts you could get bogged down in the process.

Then comes the terminology. What is a RT? Hashtag? Mention? Direct Message? At this point the folks who were super excited to learn might be feeling frustrated or overwhelmed even. Lots of information has been covered up to this point. Maybe an hours worth all ready.

And there is still so much more to cover...

Now comes the first Tweet. Then looking at chats or search or lists. The resources could go on and on and on and on and on...

When someone leaves this session one of twothings will happen.

They will be super excited about it all. They were engaged and soaked it all in. They are pumped and are going forth to the world to tweet to their hearts content.

Then there are the others. Those that might have been excited at one point but now are overwhelmed because of the amount of information covered. They may try to give it a shot but ultimately will walk away because it was simply too much for them to take in.

I used to teach PD like that. Exactly like that. Then one day I went back and looked at the number of people who actually stuck with Twitter. I talked to them, asked them if they were tweeting or even checking in now and then. For the vast majority of them, the answer was no. It was just too much for them.

So I had to do something different..

I developed a new method of teaching folks about Twitter where I don't actually teach them how to use Twitter. How you might ask. Well, sir, it's actually pretty easy to use Twitter without using it.

I always break my Twitter PD into several sessions. In the first, depending on who I am talking to, we look at the reason why they should use it. We have to make that personal connection to them so they see how valuable this tool can be.

So let's look at Administrators. They are usually the toughest folks to convince. We would start by talking about Twitter Search. We could brainstorm some common search terms for administrators and plug them into Twitter search and see what comes up. We may find stuff, we may not. (That's the beauty of search.) That then opens up the conversation to hashtags. What are they, and how are they used? So we would look at common hashtags Administrators use (like #cpchat or #edchat) and plug those into search. That's when the eyes light up. They see specific resources and people, right off, related to their area. (If you don't know a hashtag to search for with your specific group, check out this page from my good friend Jerry "Cybraryman" Blumengarten).

Now, it used to be we could save that search very easy with RSS (Twitter has since removed that feature but you can still add that search to Google Reader using these instructions.). Since it isn't quite as easy, a simple collaborative Google Doc with the link to Twitter Search and common searches works just fine. That way, after our time together, folks can add what they are finding and searching. The doc also serves the purpose to show how powerful things can be when we share. Then when we actually talk about how to use Twitter, they are used to it. The idea of sharing like that isn't foreign to them. So transitioning to the Twitter medium isn't that much of a jump.

Before they leave that first session, I give them my Twitter Livebinder. In it they will find loads of information. Videos on how to sign up, dictionaries, examples of use and best practices. They have it because they might decide to go ahead and sign up before the next time we meet. And if that's the case, it's one less thing we have to spend time on. And they will use it as a resource through out their learning and their journey.

The next time we meet we will go over all those basics about signing up, tweeting, etc. But we will spend most of our time on the other 2 things that drive educators away from Twitter; the Twitter Website and organizing information.

First the Twitter Website. We visit it one time. Then from there on out. They know not to return there. The web interface is the most unfriendly way to look at Twitter. We look at 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to help begin organizing our streams. They can take some of those searches they want quick access to and add them here. (Don't get me wrong, for some, the web interface works. For most, they need to get away from there as quickly as possible.)

One of the last things we look at is what to do with all the information they have gathered and will gather. Users need to feel like like they don't have to evaluate every resource that comes to them right then. Thank goodness they don't. I teach my participants about ReadItLater (hands down my favorite tool.). And I show them how to use Diigo too. And guess what? Learning about both of these are in the Twitter Livebinder so they have a way to go back and brush up their skills when they leave me.

So that is 2 days and about 4 hours worth of time learning about educators should use Twitter. We can then go further looking at setting up class/school/district accounts, or hashtags or anything else really. But I have found that this is pretty effective way for educators to learn about Twitter. They have got to see the value in. They have to see the resources first, before they even sign up in order to see why they should stick with it.

What do you think? What kind of Twitter PD worked for you? What kind didn't? Leave some thoughts below.

In Part 2 we will look what what people wished they had know about Twitter before they started. Check that out on Wednesday.

From The Shamelss Promotion Department

I don't often promote my own stuff but in this case I am going to do a little shameless promoting. Tomorrow I am doing a free webinar for Simple K12 entitled, Navigating Social Media Policies, One Schools' Journey.

I get asked a lot about what policies schools should have about social media and what guidelines they should have to teach their students about social media. I have spent the better part of this school year working with an elementary school in my district to develop social media guidelines for the faculty, staff and students. In this webinar I will walk everyone through the rationale, the process and where we will go with things next year.

The webinar is free and open to anyone. So head over to this link, register and hope to see you there!

Learning What I Want To Learning! Creating Meaningful Professional Development...

Last night on #edchat our conversation centered around Professional Development. Specifically, what are some of the roadblocks that prevent teachers and administrators from engaging in PD. 


Pretty deep huh?


There are lots of ideas out there as to why teachers don't want to engage in PD. Many times the PD, when it is required, isn't meaningful. When I was in the classroom I was part of a team that helped to decide the direction our PD at the school level would take. That was always a lot of fun and we always had positive experiences because the teachers had a voice and role in what we would be doing. 


On the flip side, at the district level, teachers rarely got to choose the direction of the PD. Now, I understand, working at the district level there are just some things that we need to do PD on for on reason or another. But what has seemed to work well for us are buffet offerings. Several of our divisions like Title I, Social Studies and others have taken whole days and run them like a mini conference. There are sessions to choose from and the only requirement is that you attend a minimum amount of sessions for the day. Even better, teachers are the ones in charge of decided what will be presented and there are some really great offerings. 


Time is always a classic complaint. As a person who conducts a lot of PD for teachers I hear this one more than I like. There never seems to be a good time. Mornings, before school are bad. After school is bad. Saturdays are bad. Ideally the solution is on-demand, anytime PD. Great! There is a solution for that. Social Media. Look at #edchat. Teachers come together for an hour and talk about various topics, get ideas, take them back to the classroom, reflect and many blog about their experiences and learn from others. Perfect PD! Or look at the Reform Symposium. Last Saturday there were 18 sessions, 2 keynotes and tons of great learning. Everyone who was there, didn't have to be there. They wanted to be there. They attended the sessions they wanted to and spent their own time doing it. The problem is, if the vast majority of educators tried to turn in that time for credits or renewals on their teaching licenses, they would be denied. But why? With the right steps in place (like opportunities for reflection and practice) on-demand, real-time PD could take a huge time and budget burden off of districts. 


However, one theme that came up again and again was maybe too much blame was being placed on teachers and district administrators. Maybe "bad" or "ineffective" PD is the result of poor design. What can those that design PD do? 


K.I.S.S. Keep it simple..well you know the rest. Often, especially in technology professional development those that do the training try to cram in every little thing into a session. I can't tell you the number of sessions I have sat in on various products where the trainer tried to explain any and all details about some tool or program. Now, I love technology. I live, eat, and breathe this stuff. But most teachers are completely different. Most are content specialists. They know what they teach backwards and forwards but when it comes to learning technology they really have to take their time. And we try to pump too much information into their brains all at once the likelihood of them shutting down and not using what we are teaching is very high. If possible we have to focus on one thing at a time. I am always an advocate of looking at one thing for 3-6 months to a school year. We can really dive in, spend lots of time talking about the ins and outs of the tool or resource. Of course there might be people that don't need that much time but you probably know who that is by now anyway. But taking lots of time on very specific topics leads me to my next suggestion.

Reflect. Reflect. Reflect. By taking it slow and spending lots of time on one specific tool or resource we provide times for all involved to do some reflection. As a trainer what I do is never perfect. There is always room for improvement. One of the tenets of instructional design is taking time to reflect on what works and what does not. By taking it slow we get the opportunity to take a step back every now and then and see what is going well. What is working? What isn't? What do we need to cover again? What would I do differently the next time? Is there someone who needs some extra help? I never would have been able to help my teacher with her webpage had it not been for the simple reflection I did after the first training. And the reflection is important for the teachers as well. They get to really think about how this new tool or learned skill fits in to their classroom and with their kids. They also need time to soak it all in. Even if what we think we are presenting is as easy as copying and pasting there has to be some time for reflection. And reflection leads to play.

Play. Everyone needs some time to let loose and play. The fact is, often, in PD there is not enough time for play. Time isn't taken for play. There is usually some time to mimic but not really play. Teachers who are learning new tech skills as part of PD desire more time to just get in and play. Not during the actual PD but afterwards. Teachers need to have time to go back to their classrooms and get their hands dirty. But they need that support of the trainer. We have to be available and offer follow-ups and 1-on-1's. We can't send our teachers back to the classroom with some new skill and not check on them or simply follow-up. Would we do that to our kids? Doubt it. Why do that with teachers.

So the time to play leads to reflection. And we would have neither had we not taken it slow and kept it simple.

There is no doubt that teachers need PD. And there is no doubt there is meaningless PD out there. But we can begin to make it better and have a greater impact on our teacher learning.


What do you think? What was the most meaningful PD to you? Why was it that way? If you design PD how do you make sure it is effective? Leave some comments below.


Now get out there and learn something!


Image From Flickr CC

Professional Development And The Modern Teacher

My district is changing website providers over the summer. In anticipation of the change our teachers have been learning how to move their content from their current page to their new one. For most this is just another task in an otherwise busy day. For some of our teachers it is one more stressful thing to do. You see, we just changed providers 4 years ago. There was a big transition with teachers learning how to customize their pages, adding in all the bells and whistles. Some had just now, after 4 years become comfortable and were designing great pages. Then we come in and change everything again.

One of those teachers that was just feeling comfortable is at my school. She is a wonderful teacher with 20+ years of experience. But she will be the first teachers to tell you that her and technology, any kind of technology do not get along. Now, she will attend PD and and be polite and try but normally gets very frustrated and shuts down. That was the case with learning about the new webpage. During the initial session there was not a great deal of time to learn all the in's and out's of how to do everything. The teachers were just going to learn how to create a new page and how to copy the content from their old page to the new one. And again, for most it was no problem. But for my teacher it was a huge problem. She really needs things step by step by step and she was just not getting it. She became so frustrated she left saying she would not be doing a new webpage.

I talked to her after a few days and told her what if I brought in someone to work 1-on-1 with her. Would that help? Would she be receptive to that? She doubted it and she doubted her use of technology at all in the classroom from that point forward.

But I knew there was a chance. I didn't want this teacher to feel like she had failed. And, deep down, I felt like she didn't want to give up. My very good friend Melissa is our district expert in our new website so I asked her if she wouldn't mind coming out and just doing a follow-up session for my teachers. It wouldn't be required but we both would be there if anyone needed any extra help. She agreed, we settled on a date and we were on our way.

When Melissa came out to my school my teacher wanted nothing to do with the follow-up. She had really decided she was not going to learn anything. But, she walked by the room and reluctantly went in. Unfortunately for me I could not be there with them because I had another meeting but later on in the afternoon the teacher came to thank me. And then the next words out of her mouth I will remember as long as I am alive. She said that was the best technology training she had ever had and if I needed an advocate for how easy this stuff can be she was it. And if I ever needed an example of someone who was so against tech but could change she was it.

On #edchat this week the topic centered around what should be the required elements of professional development for teachers and how trainers could make PD more meaningful. It was a great discussion and I encourage you to check out the archive.

There is something to take away from this whole experience that maybe those of us who are responsible for professional development. I have been thinking about it a lot lately and have come up with my 3 suggestions for improving the quality of professional development.

K.I.S.S. Keep it simple..well you know the rest. Often, especially in technology professional development those that do the training try to cram in every little thing into a session. I can't tell you the number of sessions I have sat in on various products where the trainer tried to explain any and all details about some tool or program. Now, I love technology. I live, eat, and breathe this stuff. But most teachers are completely different. Most are content specialists. They know what they teach backwards and forwards but when it comes to learning technology they really have to take their time. And we try to pump too much information into their brains all at once the likelihood of them shutting down and not using what we are teaching is very high. If possible we have to focus on one thing at a time. I am always an advocate of looking at one thing for 6 months to a school year. We can really dive in, spend lots of time talking about the ins and outs of the tool or resource. Of course there might be people that don't need that much time but you probably know who that is by now anyway. But taking lots of time on very specific topics leads me to my next suggestion.

Reflect. Reflect. Reflect. By taking it slow and spending lots of time on one specific tool or resource we provide times for all involved to do some reflection. As a trainer what I do is never perfect. There is always room for improvement. One of the tenets of instructional design is taking time to reflect on what works and what does not. By taking it slow we get the opportunity to take a step back every now and then and see what is going well. What is working? What isn't? What do we need to cover again? What would I do differently the next time? Is there someone who needs some extra help? I never would have been able to help my teacher with her webpage had it not been for the simple reflection I did after the first training. And the reflection is important for the teachers as well. They get to really think about how this new tool or learned skill fits in to their classroom and with their kids. They also need time to soak it all in. Even if what we think we are presenting is as easy as copying and pasting there has to be some time for reflection. And reflection leads to play.

Play Everyone needs some time to let loose and play. The fact is, often, in PD there is not enough time for play. Time isn't taken for play. There is usually some time to mimic but not really play. Teachers who are learning new tech skills as part of PD desire more time to just get in and play. Not during the actual PD but afterwards. Teachers need to have time to go back to their classrooms and get their hands dirty. But they need that support of the trainer. We have to be available and offer follow-ups and 1-on-1's. We can't send our teachers back to the classroom with some new skill and not check on them or simply follow-up. Would we do that to our kids? Doubt it. Why do that with teachers.

So the time to play leads to reflection. And we would have neither had we not taken it slow and kept it simple.

There is no doubt that teachers need PD. And there is no doubt there is meaningless PD out there. But we can begin to make it better and have a greater impact on our teacher learning.

What else would you suggest? Are you a teacher that has been in a bad PD? What was bad about it? What would you change? Are you a trainer? What do you think about my suggestions? What would you add or change. Leave some comments below.

Back To School-The 23 Things Project

Over the past few days I have been writing about ways to get your year started off right. I gave some resources on introducing your school or district to social media. I also gave some advice to school leaders and administrators as we move education into a more digital age. Today I want to introduce a Professional Development opportunity that I have been working on over the summer.

Schools and districts are having to become more creative when it comes to professional development. With tightening budgets and staff reductions we all have to find to do more with less. Even though we are having to make cuts we still need to do what we can to introduce technology to our classrooms and students.

My goal is to infect every classroom, around the world with technology. But I can't be everywhere at once. (I have a hard time managing my day-to-day life!) Its hard for tech. trainers and regular folks to teach and learn about all the great tools available for classroom use.

To meet this need I have created an 8-10 week professional development series called The 23 Things Project. Originally developed by Helene Blowers, the goal of the project is to introduce teachers and other school leaders to a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools and their potential uses in the classroom.



Participants work each week, completing activities and reflecting in a blog that they create and maintain throughout the project. The idea here is that work is self-directed, with videos, web resources and personal experiences that help participants gain an understanding of how to use the tool and how it can be used in the classroom, with the ultimate goal of each tool being use with students. Topics include:

Blogging
Wikis
Social Bookmarking
Twitter
eBooks
Customized Search Engines
Photo Sharing
RSS/Newsreaders

I am putting all this online for anyone to use any way they see fit. Maybe you are a teacher who wants to learn more about Web 2.0 tools or maybe you are a school leader/administrator that wants to bring these tools to your school or district. Or maybe you are a technology trainer who is looking for another way to get the message out. Who ever you are or whatever you do The 23 Things Project is there for you to use to change the way you teach.

So I encourage you to visit the project and see what it is all about. If you have any questions about how you can use The Project in your school or for yourself don't hesitate to contact me!

The 23 Things Project


Thanks to Elizabeth Farmer for creating the Logo.