What+is+effective+Professional+Development

I feel that pro grow needs to have a balance of what teachers need and examples of how they can use skills in their classrooms. In my experience good pro gro sessions give you something to take away and use. In tech sometimes it is not done in one afternoon. People always tell me after we show them something "If only I had more time to look at things". I think lasting tech training should be long term over a few months with periodic checks of progress.

The value of Professional Development article
In the article there are three perspectives of professional growth given; one from Ohio, one from California and one from Texas. I am glad that the article covers three different views from three different places. Each faces problems that everyone in Professional tech development face. What I would have liked to know is the number of staff members they have to train. All seemed to have budget issues. I liked the framing that the man from Ohio gave. He stated that tangible hardware is easy to put a dollar amount on but that the training for it was sort of hidden expense. That is very often true. When equipment is purchased is the cost of training included, or if it is when can the training be done the most economically. Having multiple training sessions would be best but that can cost if teachers need to be pulled from class or sent to a separate location for training. All three of the directors mentioned the use of online resources, webinars, training videos and online courses. I believe that teachers are used to having a traditional class and interaction between trainer and fellow learners. Too often I have heard that there are classes available online or through a webinar. That method of professional growth works only with a few individuals. That type of instruction is more useful if a small group meets and is facilitated by a staff member, and if it given at a convenient time. My views are most inline with the gentleman from West Chester Ohio. He seems to understand his learners pretty well and has a scheduled amount of technology training for each school year. It seems from his description that training is heavy at the beginning of the year. I also liked the coordinator from Texas who had as part of their ongoing training a demonstration of what effective teaching with technology would look like. I think having a model to work from is more realistic. Both the man from Ohio and the man from Texas had a provision for a technology facilitator. The facilitator having the job of helping teachers to implement the use of technology in their classrooms.