I’d like to point your attention to an interview Anthony Rebora, from Teacher Magazine, did with Chris Dede, a professor of learning technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, about online professional development. There’s a lot of good advice in there for both teachers and administrators about what they should be looking for when exploring online professional development.
The interview serves as a nice follow-up to one of the panels I moderated at the Smart Ed-Tech Strategies for Tough Times event Education Week and Digital Directions held in Chicago last week. Ed-tech specialists from around the country came for a day of panel discussions about the topics that are most important to them—using IT to improve achievement, how to maximize IT budgets, and improving professional development, among other topics.
For the professional development panel, we were lucky enough to be joined by Myk Garn, the director of education technology for the Southern Regional Education Board; Robert Gravina, the chief technology officer for Poway Unified School District in Calif.; and Barbara Treacy, the director of EdTech Leaders Online, which is part of the Education Development Center. The panelists discussed what makes professional development most effective, how to tell whether it’s working, and the importance of professional learning communities in both online and face-to-face professional development.
And if you couldn’t make it to Chicago, there’s still time to join in the discussion. We’re holding the event again in Jersey City this Friday, September 25! Book your ticket today by clicking here, and get $50 off your registration by using blog50 as a discount code. Hope to see you there!