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Why was this decided?
Which comes first? Clearly professional development needs to be evaluated first rather than resources.
'a heightened awareness that the need for professional development in the area was likely to continue after the end of the project' Taken from a Ministry of Education report. The project mentioned is the ICT cluster project that both Lisa and my school are due to finish.
Professional development takes a number of forms and what we want to do is find out what works for staff rather than assume you know. Coming to the end of this contract is an ideal time to look at what a school could do for its staff rather than get 'bogged down' with tools.
Before starting the report I spoke to a number of people and one view stood out. Should the next step for the schools be 'tool-based' or 'purpose-based'. Often what happens is a new tool gets people excited but serves no purpose. An example of this was a teacher told me how her school wanted Skype but no one uses it. A recent reading '100 ways Google can make you a better educator' listed all these lovely tools but ordered them under a purpose heading eg collaboration, news, sharing. This is the direction I would go after looking at professional development.
Hi Katie - as you can tell, I really enjoy reading your blog and just can't seem to help commmenting most of time but I really like your approach of development versus resources :) It's not about the tools, it's what you do or can do with them that makes the difference. How many people do you know who only use their mobile for receiving & making calls? And yet, quite often they have many other hidden features which may (or may not!) be of use in making the user's life easier ... you can give someone a fish and feed for them for a day, or teach them how to fish and feed them for life ... keep up your thought provoking topics, they make my brain sing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel your comments make this tired woman smile. By the way I use my phone for just calls - personally don't like phones.
ReplyDeleteGee thanks (sarcasm) Rachel, that Google list is just what I need right now, more hours to commit to more information :-). Seriously, it is a source I'll keep my eye on, I've read some and I like how they are grouped. Some people and the their toys/tools 'eh, like kids at Christmas, open/try/discard by noon.
ReplyDeleteOpps...of course I meant Katie (sorry Rachel) :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Katie and Rachel - approaching PD for teachers is most effective when they look at what they want to do, and then select the right tool for the job.
ReplyDeleteImagine a builder going to the hardware store and picking out a bunch of saws and hammers and drills and special nails for every occasion - then thinking - well what sort of house shall I build now? Then he is offered a contract worth big bucks to build 100s of straw bale houses - but he spent all his money on tools to build straight wooden houses. He can still use some of the tools, but needs others ...if only he had thought it through carefully before rushing in to get the toys. Plan is the motto - Plan and design - get some tools, plan and develop - get more tools, plan and implement - get other tools. I can see you are on the same page.
Do you get the horse first or the cart?