Professional development! What can I say? It’s one of those practices that businesses and education establishments alike need; unfortunately, few organizations know how to truly develop professionally or do it appropriately. According to the text, even while much money has been invested on training educators, we do not have much to show for it. There has been little difference (if any at all) in the way that teachers use technology in the classrooms. Since the focus here is on schools, I will talk primarily about schools while briefly discussing corporation practices from a technological perspective. I’m not a teacher myself, but based on my experience of observing in classrooms, I have not seen much technology outside of overhead projectors and occasional television use. The internet is reserved almost exclusively for library research, which really is not much different from the way technology was used when I was in grade school. I don’t know if it just has not reached my state, but I have yet to see technology being implemented the way I’ve seen from watching other educational technology videos.
`I identified with the passage of professional development with web 2.0 tools because I’m at a place in my educational career, where I am using technology for (school purposes) more than I ever have. Even as far as my undergraduate college education, I did not use technology the way I do now. This is not to say that I’m advanced by any means, because there are high schools using forms of technology that I only wish I had the experience of using. Even at the age of 24, I still have not had any direct experience with a promethean board, even though I would love to. With that being said, I’m really beginning to see how social networking tools like Facebook, twitter, MySpace, and blogging websites can be used other than for entertainment. We also use a university tool to collaborate on our peers work, and ask questions I identify most w/ this passage because I’m present, and experiencing the emergence of these tools being used in schools and businesses alike. Blogging, as you know, I love the tool, I have been using since 2005, however until recently, I have only used it as an online journal or way to promote something. Blogging can be used to promote teachers comfort with the understanding of Web 2.0 tools and some teachers use them to create their own networks. According to Guhlin (2006a) blogging and podcasting are great ways to build these networks of learning [where teachers alike can learn from each other and more technology advanced educators can guide those who are not as comfortable with utilizing technology]. He states:
This idea of building your own professional development network – where you find the people from whom you can learn, ask questions of them, comment on their thoughts and links, and have them do the same for you --- is one of the major benefits and blogging and podcasting. It is the art of conversation captured in digital format. (n.p.).
This final paragraph will be some commentary on my personal viewpoint on professional development. Last summer I took a course devoted to this practice and in my opinion professional development is not limited to Web 2.0 tools nor is it only something that educators and business owners should learn on their own. I’ve watched videos as a requirement in class, and I’ve seen the way that some high schools are utilizing interactive games that the students catch on to quicker than the teachers, in this case students were teaching the teacher how to manipulate the product! In order for professional development to be the most successful, learning communities must be established, and these communities do not have to only be educators and business owners. Business owners may, grocery stores deciding to include self-checkout registers in a store or including computer based planograms to read for the merchandiser that goes and services their store. When it comes to PD learning communities, maybe business owners can stand on their own, however in my opinion when it comes to education, a learning community should include students, teachers, administrators, and to some extent parents who may or may not know about technology. The ones who are more equipped could provide assistance to those who are not as savvy. These should me somewhere other than online and should meet periodically. Even when not in these learning communities, teachers could meet and discuss what they are using in their classrooms and discuss the success (or lack of) with/ the particular program based on the subject matter. In my college Spanish classes, we had to do an hour a week in lab work, where we had interactive puzzle games to help us with the homework. This was around 2008, prior to this we had to bring a cassette tape with us and have the lesson recorded for us to answer the questions that we were supposed to answer. Environmental Science and Geography classes could use the web TV and display interactive maps, to better explain satellites and contour lines. Business and office systems, and statistics could utilize colorful charts on an excel spreadsheet more often to provide a better understanding of stats. Basic mathematics could include animation in the traditional PowerPoint software to show adding, subtraction, diving, and multiplying fractions. (I actually created a product on this in my Instructional Media Design class I took last spring). In English, literature, and history classes, we could have students create YouTube accounts, to do presentations and provide feedback via commenting or doing a response vide. YouTube could also be utilized in Geography to talk about culture, trips, or the vegetation of a certain area and get feedback. In homeschooling, promethean boards could be used to give students a better look at curriculums or to do presentations. Online charter schools could utilize Skype and ooVoo to better communicate with students by including live lectures. With this all being said, we cannot forget about the traditional web 1.0 tools such as Alta vista, ask Jeeves, Google search, and yahoo search. When it comes to doing a research project sometimes these are needed, if you are doing an example on the history of a particular area in your city or defunct corporations, you are more likely to find news on these by searching the internet than you are with twitter or Facebook.
NETS*A
I. Leadership and Vision – Educational leaders inspire a shared vision for comprehensive integration of technology and foster an environment and culture conducive to the realization of that vision. Educational leaders:
A. Facilitate the shared development by all stakeholders of a vision for technology use and widely communicate that vision.
B. Maintain an inclusive and cohesive process to develop, implement, and monitor a dynamic, long-range, and systemic technology plan to achieve the vision.
C. Foster and nurture a culture of responsible risk taking and advocate policies promoting continuous innovation with technology.
D. Use date in making leadership decisions
E. Advocate for research-based effective practices in use of technology.
F. Advocate, on the state and national levels, for policies, programs, and funding opportunities that support implementation for the district technology plan.
