June 2004 — Editorial
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Redefining Professional Development
Because of what I see from leading districts and states, I think it is time that we redefine, and perhaps rename, professional development. In talking to educators and companies, I find that I spend some of my time talking about the differences between training and professional development. Training is ensuring that a user knows the features and functions of software programs or pieces of technology, and thus can use them. I view training as a necessary but not sufficient component of having educators use technology effectively in education.
Professional development is so much more. It is considering when it's appropriate to use which technologies as part of the teaching and learning process. It is considering such questions as how d'es having five computers connected to the Internet in the back of my classroom change what I teach; how I teach; and how I arrange the desks, tables and chairs in my classroom. It is also considering who controls what information and how I assess students' learning. Professional development helps teachers and administrators answer those questions for each student and every standard to be taught. These are questions with no single right answer, but the more professional development one is engaged in, the more confidence educators have that their answers will be appropriate for their students each day. And if the answers are appropriate, student achievement will increase. This simple distinction between training and professional development helps administrators realize two things: (1) they need to do more than provide a Saturday workshop for teachers on how to use a software suite; and (2) using technology appropriately really will help to transform a campus or district if this kind of questioning is a part of the professional development process.
Reading the applications for the Charp Award helped me realize that a very different model for professional development has emerged. More than half of these self-defined innovative districts were using a model of providing an instructional resource person on a campus whose sole task is to help teachers use technology effectively with kids. The specific tasks varied, but most included model teaching with technology, assisting teachers with planning lessons, providing just-in-time support, giving mini-workshops, etc. Often, these people organize and put on summer academies and workshops. I have been on campuses with this model, and the difference in how technology is actually used with - and more importantly, by - students on these campuses versus others with just a good training program is obvious. What makes this a full-fledged trend rather than just isolated instances among leading districts is that at least two states - Tennessee and North Carolina - are funding and studying pilots using this model. Isn't this model more than training and more than professional development? It may be time we create a term that reflects the raised bar of supporting teachers to help students learn.
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