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Our goal is to empower schools with the necessary tools and
skills to be proficient with technology for teaching and
learning. Futurekids' Ten Tips for Professional Development
will help give a head start on an
effective professional development plan:
1. Start with Assessment
To be successful when starting a technology professional
development program for teachers, it is important to implement a
private, customized on-line, detailed and standard-based
authentic assessment of each teacher's current technology skill
set. The fact is, technology learning is a journey, and everyone
is on different points of the path. Having this assessment prior
to prescribing a professional development plan is a huge
advantage and assures that existing skill sets aren't
overlooked. Everyone learns and integrates technology
differently. A successful professional development program
respects that and customizes additional content and learning
based on where a person is right now.
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2. Make Professional Development Programs in Technology
Education-based on Technology tool/platforms
A strong technology professional development program should be
customized for the education market should be focused on the
desired academic instruction. Rather than teaching a wide
variety of skills specific to certain programs such as Microsoft
Word®, content should be applicable across a variety of
platforms and uses. Additionally, professional development
programs for educators should focus on actual classrooms results
so that the investment in technology benefits both the
individual teacher and their students.
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3. Build Champions and Mentors
Having a technology and professional development mentor can help
immensely when the program gets stalled or put on the back
burner. As with everything, it's imperative to have a "champion"
who can inspire, encourage and assist. It is also important to
have someone who can offer this support in a completely
non-judgmental way.
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4. Build Communities of Interest
Professional development programs are most successful when there
are "communities of interest" where teachers can exchange
information, converse and inspire each other. This can be
accomplished through blogs, wiki's, podcasts and the like. After
all, we are learning 21st Century technology skills. These
different elements, which may have seemed tertiary to many of us
just a few years ago, are definitely mainstream today-especially
to our younger students.
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5. Use Dynamic, Up-to-date Content
The attributes of any relevant professional development program
should contain the latest, most dynamic content. It is no longer
okay to just pull a PD program for technology off the shelf and
expect it to have that dynamic content. An appropriate program
will have the desired outcome over time with PD content that is
ever changing, updated and migrated to the new platforms. This
new instructional style is imperative to the successful
implementation of a professional development program. Think
about how much technology has changed in the past five years.
The web, new research and expanded content are changing every
day. For example, how many planets are there this year vs. last
year?
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6. Leverage Other Online Collaborative Locations
We all know our own teachers and schools really well. But
there's a much broader educational environment now available to
us with the web, the sharing and inclusion of communities in
lesson plans, new ideas, and best practice techniques that are
readily available. Any new technology professional development
program should contain active and dynamic links to sites outside
of the school district for sharing and optimizing learning
concepts.
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7. Align Your Professional Development Program With Standards
School, district, and state standards should all be integrated
into your customized professional development program for
technology. If not, you run the risk of not having improved test
scores-one of the most important challenges for a school in the
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) environment.
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8. Integrate ISTE Standards
There's another world of standards beyond your school district
or state. It's the international set of standards developed in
cooperation with leading educators, technology companies and
leaders. Your professional development program should include
not only local standards, but also integrate the best techniques
and standards from other organizations, a who's who of
education,
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9. Employ A Constructivist Approach to Build Critical
Thinking Skills
Your technology professional development program should use a
constructivist approach, rather than passive memorization and
passive learning. After all, the investment in P.D. will be
applied directly in the classroom and will affect not only your
knowledge of technology, but more important, how technology can
integrate into your core curriculum and the critical thinking
skills of your students.
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10. Ideal Professional Development will include all relevant new
technology peripherals and software applications integrated
around the academic goals
What's 21st Century Professional Development without the
technology? Call Futurekids today to get started on your
Professional Development plan or visit
21 Century Connections
website for updates on the latest research tools, blogs and
tips.
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PD Tips also found at:
http://21centuryconnections.com
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