Characteristics of effective professional development
Partners in Learning Institute, July 2011
Systemic and sustainable change
“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go
far, go together”African Proverb
Key trends impacting education systems
• Role of educators changing with abundance and access of resources on the internet.
• Work, study, learn anywhere, anytime (“just in time” and “found” learning).
• Cloud-based technologies and decentralised IT support.
• Collaborative work increasingly important as we enter a multidisciplinary world
Critical challenges
• Training of educators.
• New assessment methods to cope with new ways to author and publish.
Driver 2: Capacity building• Anything that is done to increase the collective effectiveness of
a group
• This requires the coming together of 3 areas:- New skills/competencies- New resources/ideas- New commitments
• In the case of new technologies not only must educators acquire new skills and understandings, they must integrate technology into curriculum, teaching and learning, and the assessment of learning.
Resources in the toolkit www.is-toolkit.comThis material is from work done by Michael Fullan
Taken from David Warlick
Taken from David Warlick
What are the key ingredients to a good PD session?
• Reflect individually (5 min)• Make notes on post-its
Common themes -15 min• In small groups of 8, share individual
reflections• Come up with top 6 themes• Select a group recorder and add a
sticky to the Corkboard: http://bit.ly/nVVViI
PD-Challenges?
• In groups of 8, quickly brainstorm challenges and come up with between 1 -4 challenges.
• Select a group recorder to type on corkboard.
• Post on corkboard of challenges. http://bit.ly/oHUzSX
Challenges-Solutions• Each group assigned one challenge• Each group will use their computers/each other/whatever
they can find to develop some potential solutions to overcome the challenges.
• Each group will select a recorder and using the template found in the Professional Development folder of the Partners in Learning Participant Community, record their solutions.
• Each group will upload their Challenge-Solution sheet to the Community.
Presentation• Each group nominates two
representatives to present their challenge and solutions.
• Each group gets 2 minutes to present
What research says…• Conventional forms of professional
development have little effect on educator practices, organizational changes, and student outcomes
• Programs are too top-down and too isolated from classroom realities to make a difference
Characteristics of Effective Professional Development
integrated with district goals to improve education; guided by a coherent long-term plan; driven by disaggregated data on student outcomes; designed according to teacher-identified needs; primarily school-based; provides a strong foundation in subject content and methods of teaching; informed by research on teaching and learning; designed around collaborative problem-solving; enables teachers to work with colleagues, in and beyond their school
building; is continuous and ongoing, providing follow-up support for further learning; incorporates principles of adult learning; provides sufficient time and other resources; is evaluated ultimately on the basis of its impact on teacher effectiveness
and student learning. http://www.sharingsuccess.org/code/bv/pd.html
New promising approaches..• Teacher networks• Collaboration between schools/colleges• Professional development schools• Action research projects• Mentor programs• Peer coaching
Professional Development- Knowledge Library
On Sky Drive
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