Online Professional Development

 

Why use Online Professional Development? Simple! There are many tools online that can be of great benefit to teachers of all grades everywhere. Some of the best resources (especially with technology related professional development) are found online. Many studies, such as the one found here, show how effective such online programs can be. Here are some online learning resources for educators who wish to do some professional development online. 

 

McREL

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) is non-profit organization designed to provide professional development for educators.  On their website at www.mcrel.org, they list the following attributes as their principles on their mission statement:

 

• Significance
• Quality
• Responsibility
• Integrity
• Ethics
• Openness

 

View the video below to see find out how their organization can help you.

 

 

 

 

 

PBS Teacherline

 

PBS Teacherline is an educational site that provides high quality online professional development for educators K-12.  They have been recognized for outstanding service by many organizations, such as the United States Distance Learning Association, the National Educational Association, and the Software and Information Industry Association. They provide more than 130 graduate level courses for teachers in a variety of curricula, such as Reading/Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science.  

http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/

 

eLearning Workshops:

 

http://www.paec.orq/teacher2teacher/index.asp

 

 

Blogs: 

 

Educational blogs are another great source for collaberating with other teachers and developing professional skills.  They can be used to share ideas you may have, or learn from things other teachers are sharing.  One example of an educational blog is Beth's Elementary Blog: (http://k6educators.about.com/).

 

You can also keep other teachers up to date on technologies that you may have learned about by making your own blog. Simply follow the directions in this short instructional video found below.

 

 

Quiz-yourself Questions:

 

1. True/False - Professional development is the responsibility of only the school adminstration.

 

Answers to quiz:

 

1. False

 

Suggested Reading:

 

Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models of Methods By: Chris Dede

 

 

References:

 

 

http://educational.blogs.com

 

-blog

 

 

http://www.pbs.org/teacherline - website

http://www.mcrel.com - website

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Rural+creativity:+a+study+of+district+mandated+online+professional...-a0144606692 - study of online professional development

http://www.edtechleaders.org/about/research/articles/SuccessfulOPD.pdf

 

Developers of this page

  

Jesse (spring '08)

Kim (fall '08)

Mindy Johnson (spring '09)

Ashley McClain (spring '09)

Tyler Parrish (Spring '09)

Bryan McDonald (Spring '09)

 

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