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DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Tools and Technologies for Eff...

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How should districts plan for successful and sustained technology-infused professional development? Here are eight crucial ingredients to a high-quality program.

1. Think Multiples.

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all educators are not equal when it comes to applying technology

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A truly effective professional development program may have multiple courses occurring simultaneously, while addressing the needs of multiple types of learners.

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Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, requires every teacher to have a core level of technology competency and demonstrate mastery on a formal assessment. To prepare teachers for this, technology training and integration manager Charlene Chausis offers a dozen 30-minute sessions a week in the school's staff development lab

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Teachers can also elect to take the "Power Rangers" program, in which they make a commitment to participate in eight hours of professional development each semester in exchange for a laptop computer. This group of teachers then meets with Chausis on a monthly basis to develop integration strategies that can be extended to the entire staff.

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the assessment of educator skill level and readiness is absolutely critical

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rovides a Web-based survey for collecting data

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2. Align with Goals.

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It's key that schools or districts identify technology standards for students and teachers and frame those standards as learning outcomes

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3. Evaluate.

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The purpose of any professional growth activity should be to produce a change in educator behavior that ultimately results in increased student learning

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employ a thorough evaluation sequence that provides multiple types of data about the strengths and weaknesses of its programs and the link between professional development and changes in student performance.

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4. Get Off-Site.

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support teacher as well as administrator attendance at technology conferences, seminars, and workshops.

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develop procedures and tools to extend the conference experience to those not attending the actual event. Most conferences now have wireless access, so a blog makes a handy tool for attendees to post notes, ideas, and resources for staff members not in attendance.

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5. Dedicate Space.

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sends a definite message: Staff training is mission critical.

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Marshall County School System in West Virginia, has made this a priority. The district's two-year-old Digital Learning Center is used to deliver organization-wide professional development

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6. Extend Training.

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All too often, professional development consists of one-shot experiences that last from one to several days - mostly during the summer.

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District 99 in Downers Grove, Illinois employs learning teams and learning clubs. Educators in learning teams receive five two-hour releases during school days following an initial training session. The purpose is to extend the conversation and the learning beyond the session. Participation is voluntary, and educators are required to pair up and make a presentation to the group. Learning clubs are structured similarly but occur after school.

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By moving beyond the "one-shot" experience, schools can take advantage of their in-house expertise while building leadership, internal capacity, and professional learning communities.

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7. Invest in Staff.

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Professional development in Marshall County Schools is supported by a technology integration specialist, who is available for the planning and delivery of all training.

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You can invest money in hardware and software, but technology that is not easily accessed and implemented will not be used," she says. "It is critical for schools to also provide the 'peopleware' - on-site support personnel who can provide 'just in time' assistance once the technology is in place."

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8. Encourage Community.
Web tools like blogs, wikis, podcasting, and social bookmarking make it possible for educators to define their own personal learning environments. These tools enable professionals to connect with experts and peers and obtain valuable information and resources relating to technology best practices. More important, these tools enable conversation, dialogue, and reflection, which are critical to professional growth and development activities.

Educators can take advantage of RSS feeds to deliver high-quality resources directly to their online mailbox or aggregator.

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