Professional development falls into many categories. There are so many ways that you can gain knowledge within your profession from traditional to nontraditional types of PD. The traditional that most of us are familiar with is when everyone sits in a room together and someone with an expertise dispenses information to the group; with or without activities to strengthen that knowledge.
Since I have taken on this new role as an Instructional Technology Coach I have really been focusing on my own professional development. I want to learn as much as I can so I can provide my teachers with a valuable resource. I have become involved in multiple PD opportunities that all offer different styles of learning. They all approach their goals from very different angles,agendas, and goals.
The first professional development opportunity I have become part of is an Edmodo training group. At the end of the class I will be a Certified Edmodo Trainer; I joined this group because many of my teachers use Edmodo and I wanted to learn as much as I could to better understand Edmodo to better help my teachers. The course is very structured with weekly online webinars, a syllabus with project due dates, quizzes, and assignments. There is also a leader who is an expert that guides us through the course content. It is similar to a traditional online class where there are grades and assessments where someone is monitoring your work.
The second PD growth opportunity that I have involved myself in is a MOOC (massive open online course). Wikipedia describes a MOOC as "an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web." The course description states, “the MOOC-Ed is a self-directed learning experience. Therefore, the amount of benefit will reflect the amount of time and effort you spend on the course.” The course designed into six one-week units. Each unit has tasks to complete but they are not graded. Each section builds upon the last one to create a final takeaway from the MOOC. In this MOOC we are building an Instructional Technology Coaching Action Plan. At the end of the course a certificate of completion for 20 hours of professional development if we submit proof that we completed the course.
The last professional development that I participated in was an EdCamp. An EdCamp is billed as an “unconference”, meaning that it is participant driven. Our edcamp had four hour long sessions broken down into 9 different topic groups. The way an unconference works is that anyone attending can come up and propose a topic that they want to talk/learn about. As people start pitching their ideas the board fills, when the board is full the conference begins. As a participant you choose which sessions you want to attend. You vote with your feet. If you don’t like the session you’re in, get up and try a different one. No ones feelings are hurt and everyone gets what they want. Each session has no leader or expert, everyone can be an expert. It is an open conversation that goes in the direction of the group discussion.
All have their own strengths and benefits. Each one offers a different style that fills a unique role. For the Edmodo course I need an expert leading and teaching me how to use Edmodo and become knowledgeable to teach it to others. In the past I have tried to teach myself Edmodo but never got too far. I would always run into a bump and I would get too far off course and just give up. This keeps me on track. The MOOC style of PD works well because it lays out a topic of learning and gives you all of the tools to learn and be successful. The challenge is to stay on top of the work since there is no real pressure to complete it. You have to be self-driven and organized. The Edcamps are a great way to surround yourself with other very passionate people that have a lot of knowledge and are willing to share. I left the Edcamp with a lot of ideas to pursue and many new contacts that I can seek out their help.
There is no “one size fits all” for professional development. As teachers, we understand that about education. Each person needs to find what works for their own needs, as long as they are always learning! We need to model that for our students in our own lives.
Break over, now it’s time to get back to my homework….
No comments:
Post a Comment