Successful Online Professional Development

As eLearning credit courses and degree program opportunities continue to expand, early childhood professional organizations, training providers, and community-based training groups are looking for ways to design, develop, and deliver effective non-credit online professional development.
An article in Learning & Leading with Technology, published by the International Society for Technology and Education (ISTE), identifies benefits and elements of successful online professional development and shares “lessons learned.”
The benefits of successful online professional development include:
• Increased access to meet individual learning goals
• Experience with the use of technology as a learner
• Use of rich multimedia resources and new technologies
• Ability to meet special needs
• Collaborative learning opportunities with other educators
• Direct impact on classroom practice
• New opportunities for follow-up
The authors identified the following essential elements for successful online professional development:
• Assess local professional development needs and develop a plan based on these needs.
• Connect online professional development with other ongoing, face-to-face professional development activities.
• Carefully select and train online professional development specialist team members.
• Build a strong local team.
• Develop incentives.
• Publicize the online professional development program and involve local stakeholders.
• Provide readily available and reliable access to technology and support.
• Foster a rich, interactive online learning community.
• Integrate onl ine workshops with face-to-face meetings.
The authors conclude that successful online professional development can build capacity for technology integration and help meet the challenges of providing effective professional development for teachers and administrators. And, when a vibrant, interactive community of educators is built online it has a significant effect on classroom teacher practice.
July 13, 2007