Professional Development and Online Learning Communities

       In my previous blog post, I commented on Halton's successful adaptation of Google Docs into the "Halton Cloud", and how they are providing continuing ongoing professional development, for teachers and students on how to use this application in and out of the classroom.  Furthermore, I also discussed how there are so many other great tools and applications out there, that the board is not yet providing training for, or at least is unable to provide for students of younger grades.  I have found over my teaching career, that when it comes to professional development, in terms of adapting successful technology integration practices into the classroom, the best way for myself to get it done, is to learn it on my own.

       The fact of the matter is, that technology changes way to rapidly for any school board to stay up to date with the latest trends and innovations with a variety of software.  There is always something new popping up, that is faster, easier to use, or more adaptable in terms of teaching practice.  To provide useful and successful professional development at the board level then becomes extremely difficult, in terms of what programs, applications, and software to focus on, and which ones to provide teachers with professional learning on how to use them.  As such, many teachers are taking to the web on their own, and independently learning about new software through research, and playing with the software to see how it works.  Many of the applications that I have used in the past, I have incorporated into my teaching practice by learning how to use them on my own time, and then teaching my students how to use them afterwards.  It is not as difficult as it sounds.  There is pretty well numerous YouTube video tutorials available, on how to use most software applications out there.

       For school boards to stay on top of the latest trends, and provide teachers with useful and successful P.D., the use of online learning communities is an excellent means to stay connected and stay informed.  An online learning community is a public or private site on the internet that meets the learning needs of its members, by facilitating peer to peer learning, through social networking and computer mediated communication.  It fosters individual's abilities to work collectively as a community to achieve a shared learning objective.  There are many online learning communities out there, that examine a wide variety of issues related to teaching, education, pedagogy, and professional practice.  To find an online learning community that focuses on a specific issue in education, it is only a matter of doing some independent research, taking to social media (Twitter is an excellent place to start, and is considered by many to be the number one educational tool out there), or starting up your own community.  Here is one online community that is taking to the web to provide teachers with online professional development.  Although the video is a bit dated, McREL seems to understand how professional development in education is changing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VJ_D-yVjjw


       For professional development to stay more current with technology in education, online learning communities need to be established for teachers to be well trained on how to successfully use web 2.0 tools in the classroom.  One or two day workshops, that are provided during and after school hours can be made available to a greater audience with a wider range of time slots.  Teachers and educators are very busy with their own personal lives, why not offer professional development that allows teachers to learn from home, and when they are available to do so.  Establishing a MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course would allow this initiative to be a reality.  A MOOC is an online course aimed at unlimited participation over the web, that provides interactive user forums that help build a community for students and teachers alike.  Such an initiative would mean more useful professional development, for a larger number of teachers, in a much shorter time frame.

      The other option is for teachers and educators to continue to learn on their own, through research, discovering various online learning communities, and / or establishing their own learning community. If an educator were looking to establish their own online learning community, whether it be with other educators, or even students in a teacher's own classroom, an educator needs to be mindful of their purposes in establishing this community, and what they hope to achieve from it.  Here are ten useful tips to keep in mind, when setting up an online learning community.

http://screencast.com/t/OCB9jUAEJASX

http://www.slideshare.net/janehart/building-an-online-learning-community