Providing PD Online or at a Distance

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Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1288] providing PD online or at a distance
From: jataylor (jataylor_at_utk.edu)
Date: Wed Mar 31 2004 - 15:37:27 EST

Hello everyone,
At the beginning of this week, we began by sharing our experiences as participants with professional development online or at a distance, and we are having some very energizing discussions! Teachers, as David noted, we *really* would like to continue hearing from you in this regard. I encourage teachers to share your perspectives as participants in online PD as some of us also address additional topics.

Many of us also have a unique involvement in the area of providing professional development online or at a distance, for teachers. Since there is much going on in this area, I'd like for us to share/continue sharing more about our experiences in providing PD online or at a distance.

~ Why did you/your organization become involved in professional development online? What need(s) were you addressing? How did you decide to address those needs?
~ Describe the online PD you/your organization offer. How is the online PD you offer (or have offered) similar or different from more familiar forms of online delivery (i.e. course platforms)?
~ What have you found to be particularly important for making online PD

successful for teachers? What changes have you/your organization experienced in the development and delivery of online PD, perhaps even as a result of this?

~ And please keep raising the tough questions and sharing the great ideas!

What a rich exchange this has been this week! I hope that even more of us will contribute to the experience.

Best,

Jackie

Jackie Taylor
Co-Facilitator
NIFL-AALPD
jataylor_at_utk.edu

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1313] RE: providing PD online or at a distance
From: Beth Wheeler (bwheeler_at_sbctc.ctc.edu)
Date: Thu Apr 01 2004 - 17:30:51 EST

good afternoon, all

  • office of adult literacy staff developed the online "new teacher orientation" as a way to promote access to information that instructors had difficulty getting in another format. many faculty are part-time, so participating in professional development activities is often difficult.
  • we are offering a "new teacher orientation" each quarter in the blackboard platform.
  • flexibility is an important function of the course. instructors have lenghtened the course each quarter to accommodate the busy lives of our faculty. we are still investigating how to offer more pd online.

beth wheeler
office of adult literacy
washington state

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1321] providing PD online or at a distance
From: mmeilleur_at_alphaplus.ca
Date: Fri Apr 02 2004 - 10:54:35 EST

Hello,

Three years ago, every literacy agency in Ontario has to receive training on a new database. It was more financially feasible to do this through Centra's virtual classroom. Once we had this technology available, we saw that there was a lot of potential to deliver other training programs.

Currently, the training we offer is to teach our clients how to use an online adult literacy website (AlphaRoute). We are planning to expand this training in the future and move beyond "how to use the tool" to more pd events that they can take away and apply in a range of different ways.

What we found to be important is to evaluate the needs of our clients and create training programs that are flexible. Using the synchronous classroom is sometimes not enough. We have blended the use of several other tools to create well-rounded training programs. These tools included : asynchronous discussions, recorded sessions (both posted on-line and sent to clients on cd-rom), email support and user guides.

Due to the fact that our courses are not credited, we are struggling with retention and getting interest in our courses. There have been good ideas posted. Any other ideas would be really appreciated.

Michelle Meilleur
AlphaPlus Centre
mmeilleur_at_alphaplus.ca

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