Hybrid PD Models

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Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] providing online PD and hybrid models
From: jataylor jataylor at utk.edu
Date: Thu Feb 2 09:09:41 EST 2006

Hi George, Jeff, Debra and all,
George, thanks for the description of SABES online PD, as well as advantages and disadvantages from your perspective. To others out there (subscribers/guests) -- I'm wondering, what is each state's capacity to offer online PD as well as distance learning to adult learners?

George mentioned a hybrid model of PD below. George, could you tell us a bit more about it's design? How many weeks does the online component last? How much time generally lapses between face-to-face meetings? How far do teachers taking the online component generally need to travel to meet in-person and does that, in some cases, pose barriers to participation in this or other hybrid models? Is travel expense the responsibility of the PD provider or the teacher?

For subscribers or guests, what are some other hybrid models you've been using, and for what purpose? (why hybrid?)

Thanks! Jackie

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] Hybrid models
From: Marian Thacher mthacher at otan.us
Date: Thu Feb 2 11:13:14 EST 2006

Hi Everyone,

I'll chime in as another voice from California, a state that is lucky enough to have WIA leadership dollars to support four different leadership projects. One is CALPRO, and you've "heard" Mary Ann, Erik and Wendi describing CALPRO's prof dev offerings, which are many and varied. Another project is OTAN, which focuses on information, electronic collaboration, and technology integration.

One hybrid model is the Technology Integration Mentor Academy. This project brings together 15 teachers 6 times over a two year period. In between face-to-face meetings, participants have phone and email contact with their mentor (everyone has an assigned mentor), and participate in 3 or 4 online meetings (online shared desktop plus audio conference) and one videoconference a year. This model has worked very well in building a feeling of a learning community, and keeping people in touch and on track in between the face-to-face training days.

One of the goals is to build a group of technology integration leaders for adult ed in CA. It's a challenge for teachers to look beyond the scope of their own classroom or program, because the day-to-day demands of teaching are so absorbing, so the variety and frequency of contact has been important in keeping us focused as a group.

We are now in the second year, and are fine-tuning the amount and type of contact. Participants didn't like going more than a month without contact with the group, so we are building in more ways to have that, including adding a regional meeting, so that there is some face-to-face contact without a lot of expensive travel. (The whole group days are in Sacramento, which means the people from southern CA have to get up at 3 or 4 a.m. to fly up.)

In the area of electronic collaboration, lately our main activity has been to host a variety of listservs. I think we're now hosting over 20 listservs for various groups and projects in CA, and I see this as a hybrid model of PD in that usually there is a face-to-face meeting, or periodic meetings, and in between there is email communication on the list. These lists, for me at least, are an important source of PD, meaning I learning a lot of things I wouldn't have learned otherwise that help me professionally.

One list that isn't based on face-to-face meeting is the CA Technology Mentor Network. This is a list of adult ed teachers, coordinators and administrators who see themselves as tech mentors within their programs. This list has been great for asking questions, sharing ideas and cool web sites, etc. And we host a get-together of list participants at the state conferences, which adds a face-to-face component for some. (OK, this meeting usually takes place in the hotel bar, can you still call that PD??)

Marian Thacher
OTAN

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] providing online PD and hybrid models
From:Jennifer Rafferty Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu
Date: Thu Feb 2 11:39:01 EST 2006

Hello, everyone. I will try to respond to some of Jackie's questions below:

How many weeks does the online component last?
Massachusetts is a member of the Project IDEAL (Improving Distance Education for Adult Learners) consortium. We have offered two online PD courses that they developed, DL101 and DL102. Our dl teachers as well as interested ABE professionals have participated in the courses for the past two years. DL101 is an 8 week online course and DL102 is a 4-5 week online course. Traditionally we have had a face-to-face orientation for the longer (8 week) DL101 course. Despite the fact that we have had that one full day face-to-face meeting, there is still a drop in participation by the 4-5th week. It has been suggested by some participants that we incorporate another face-to-face meeting half way through the course to re-energize participants and keep them motivated. We have not implemented this strategy, but I have played around with the idea to see if making the course more "hybrid" would increase retention. The other 4-5 week course I mentioned, DL102, has no face to face meeting. We have an initial one hour phone conference call, and the rest is online. Folks seemed to remain engaged in the course despite the fact that it is not a hybrid. I question if the length of the course is something that we need to consider when deciding whether or not it is a hybrid or pure distance delivery. I do believe that if we made DL101 hybrid, it would pose barriers to participation. Perhaps we will look at integrating a mid-term videoconference gathering in place of a face-to-face meeting.

Within our Distance Learning Project, we have experimented with a few different strategies & technologies to offer PD opportunities. One is the use of videoconference on a monthly basis for sharing strategies related to: orientation, teaching at a distance, outreach, data collection, etc. The other is the use of our Community Zero webspace. Last year the DL Project offered three face-to-face workshops. Because of distance, not all programs were able to participate in the face-to-face portion. We ended up using the discussion feature in the Community Zero webspace so that teachers who could not attend the face to face portion felt connected to the workshops. We posted discussion questions before the workshop and after the workshop for all participants in addition to uploading the hand-outs that were used in the session. Trainers were paid to moderate the discussion threads for 2.5 hours before the workshop and 2.5 hours afterward.

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] providing online PD and hybrid models
From: Marcia.Hess@state.sd.us Marcia.Hess at state.sd.us
Date:Thu Feb 2 12:08:36 EST 2006

No capacity to develop it ourselves so glad to have access to other states when we can.
Marcia

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