Effective Professional Development...Please

The following is from a workshop I co-taught in July 2010. While not a blog post per se, it pulls together my thoughts on effective professional development. As we begin the new school year, may we all be welcomed with effective professional development. -Kate

Teachers, by occupation, must be life-long learners. Life-long learners adapt their own teaching and learning to meet the needs of the students and the curriculum they are required to teach. To meet the needs of 21st century students, technological and 21st century skills must be seamlessly integrated with both content and pedagogical skills. Teachers' professional development must be ongoing and an integral part of the teacher's professional life. Poorly planned professional development is frustrating, disheartening, and disrespectful. It can halt momentum, cause confusion and affect student learning. Simply put, poorly planned professional development is unacceptable. Effective professional development is essential. It must be well-planned, authentic, meaningful,purposeful, and meet the instructional needs of the teachers and their students. Schools and districts must provide professional development that will promote teacher's effective use of technology in the classroom in order to support students in the 21st century.

What is professional development? "Professional development is a comprehensive, sustained and intensive approach to improving teachers and administrators effectiveness in improving student achievement" (www.nscd.org) Specifically, it builds skills and knowledge with the purpose of directly connecting to student's learning. This can be in the form of online courses, workshops, webinars, after-school programs, just-in-time support, social media, department, school or district-wide professional learning communities, professional book clubs and other similar resources.

What does effective technology integration look like? Effective technology integration occurs when the technology deepens learning, increases engagement, offers enrichment and increases opportunities for feedback and reflections. The T-PACK framework effectively illustrates technology's role in teacher and student knowledge. (www.tpck.org) The framework illustrates three primary bases of knowledge- content knowledge (ck), pedagogical knowledge (pk) and technological knowledge (tk). "The TPACK approach goes beyond seeing these three knowledge bases in isolation. Instead, it emphasizes the new kinds of knowledge that lie at the intersections between them. At the intersection of all three elements is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). True technology integration is understanding and negotiating the relationships between these three components of knowledge. A teacher capable of negotiating these relationships represents a form of expertise different from, and greater than, the knowledge of a disciplinary expert (say a mathematician or a historian), a technology expert (a computer scientist) and a pedagogical expert (an experienced educator). Effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, [transactional] relationship between all three components." (www.tpack.org)

Using the T-PACK framework to guide planning takes teachers from a traditional "skills approach" when learning tech integration and instead helps create technological solutions to authentic pedagogical problems and content-based learning needs. This approach, called Learning by Design, helps teachers link content-based learning needs with content based-activities and related technologies that will support successful implementation. Designing lessons with true technology integration takes time, planning, collaboration, and practice. (www.tpack.org)

What are the characteristics of effective professional development on technology integration? First and foremost, the professional development must be authentic and meaningful. Teachers must be able to make a direct correlation to their classroom and the needs of their students. Effective professional development must be ongoing and have sufficient time. The objectives of the professional development must be clear and attainable. Ideally, the objectives are created by a team of administrators, teachers and tech staff to ensure commonality and pertinence. These objectives are revisited periodically to make sure they are being met and the objectives are still relevant. Professional Development opportunities must meet all learners' needs- in this case, the teachers' needs. Opportunities should include hands-on learning, video tutorials and follow-ups as well as taught in a variety of formats. These formats may include 1 on 1 instruction, small group, large group, online instruction and personal and professional learning networks. PD should have curriculum specific applications to allow teachers to immediately apply what they have learned to the classroom. Teachers must "buy-in" to the professional development opportunities being offered. They must be active participants in a collegial professional learning community. New roles must be made available for teachers to encourage in-house experts and allow for "just-in-time" support as teachers begin integrating new ideas, methods and tools into their classroom.

A key characteristic of effective professional development, especially when it involves technology integration, is differentiated instruction. "An effective teacher understands their students and creates opportunities for them to learn based on each student's needs." (George Couros) This must include teachers of teachers. Professional development can not be offered in a "one size fits all" model. "Administrators should try to differentiate the learning to help move people along based on their own learning and needs. This is especially true of tech integration." (George Couros) In his blog, "The Principal of Change", George Couros shares how he encouraged his staff to begin using interactive whiteboards in their classroom. Through differentiated instruction and ongoing support from peers and administration, he was able to increase the quality of tech integration offered to students and meet the learning needs of all teachers. Couros had a group of teachers who were already efficient at integrating the interactive whiteboard into their classrooms and he didn't feel he needed to make them relearn what they already knew. Couros blogs, "If you had a student that already knew the objectives, what would you do as a teacher? Would you still make them go through the content or would you try to move them forward?" These teachers created their own initiatives such as building their own classroom blogs. Differentiated instruction also built the leadership capacity from one to many. Couros identified tech-savvy teachers who became expert resources for other teachers. With support embedded in the school, confidence begins to build and teachers are more willing to take risks.

Effective professional development comes from the bottom up. When teachers help plan district or school-wide professional development opportunities, students' learning needs are more likely to be met. Administrators can support teachers by addressing their concerns, visiting classrooms, staying involved, and securing resources. Administrators must model effective technology integration by being life-long learners and maintain their own professional learning network.

What are some of the resources available? Professional development programs include Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd), National Staff Development Council (NSDC) and MLTI. CITed and NSDC offer formalized professional development opportunities. MLTI offers webinars, tutorials and in-house workshops for Maine school districts. Some programs are free and others have a small fee. There are also great resources out there, for instance 4Teachers, K12 Online Conference, Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook: " Reinventing Professional Development in Tough Times" and K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work. One of the most effective resources for me has been social networking sites like Twitter and Ning. Social media offers immediate, real-time support from educators from all backgrounds. While social media, programs, and resources each have a lot to offer, professional development will fail unless direct connections to student and teacher's learning needs are made.

Are you aware of other resources? Share them here or on Twitter. @edukateme

Follow George Couros on Twitter @gcouros Many thanks to George for his ongoing support.