Refreshing Professional Development: Blogging in/as/for PD

Dear Valued Educator,

Do you try to make all of your students learn the same way? Do you expect that an isolated learning experience (say, one to three hours every month) is sufficient to inspire deep knowledge? Do you think that individual learning is important, or do you think that large-group work is good enough? Can you show evidence of your learning based on those experiences?

Yours Sincerely,
A Questioning Fellow Teacher

If you answered yes to all of the above questions and you’re happy with the results, please skip the rest of this blog – it’s not for you. If, like me, you see the absurdity of my admittedly-exaggerated questions, read on, Macduff!

Many of us have come to see that we need to be a little more thoughtful and flexible in creating learning experiences for our students. So why the heck do we continue to disregard our own knowledge about how people learn when we are involved in our own professional development?

I’ve heard teachers grumble about PD sessions that were not useful, not well-planned, or not held at timely enough intervals. I’ve also been to PD sessions that were inspiring in many different ways. What I’ve also found is that a day or two after PD, I had some ideas, questions, and stimulating discussions with my peers on the previously-raised professional learning topics. Unfortunately, for some, that may have been where the learning surrounding that concept or issue ends.

How can professional development become more exciting, memorable, stimulating, inspirational, creative, and interactive? The magic answer is, “You’re looking at it.” Weblogs such as this one could be the key to unlocking much more fruitful and efficient PD for many. Let’s revisit the questions I posed above.

Do you try to make all of your students learn the same way?

If educators getting involved in reading and writing blogs on professional development, the situation of sitting in a room with the rest of the staff members listening to one speaker is no longer the same. Teachers can read a blog when they are ready to do so wherever they can connect to the Web, post comments or questions, perhaps do some quick research or follow some handy links, share some of that research or new links with colleagues, even revisit the blog if they want/need to do so. If a teacher has their own blog, they can post their own thoughts on the issue being studied. The time and space limitations that are imposed upon whole-school PD don’t have to be so restricting when a person can be brief or thorough according to what their learning need are at that point – PD based on blogs can offer that sort of flexibility.

Do you expect that an isolated learning experience (say, one to three hours every month) is sufficient to inspire deep knowledge?

Hopefully that scenario is not happening in many of ours schools or divisions. Unfortunately, I have heard about some instances where a variation on that theme is being played. Will Richardson posted about his own experience as a the hired gun public speaker:

“Either way, the experience usually serves to overwhelm, and at the end of the day (or hour) the participants head back to the craziness of their teaching lives where I’m guessing much of what they have “learned” fails to take root.” (http://weblogg-ed.com/category/professional-development/)

Again, through blogs and ensuing comments, dialogue about what is important to individuals, groups, and the whole school does not have to end or wait until the next PD opportunity. Some learners need time to process what they have learned, while some clarify their thoughts by writing – why not take advantage of those skills? Also, teachers at one school can develop their learning within a much larger context, be it division-wide, province-wide, or even globally – the Read/Write Web is not concerned with staying inside boundary-lines.

Do you think that individual learning is important, or do you think that large-group work is good enough?

Not everyone does their best learning in group settings, and some learn better individually depending on what is being learned. If a PD topic requires personal study, it’s sometimes hard to accommodate for that in staff meetings. PD through blogs could help encourage more than one style of learner – a person could read, listen, view, write, follow some links for areas of interest, receive comments or feedback from others (perhaps even from those not on staff), and so on. In this way, learners can benefit from self-directed learning as well as group collaboration, with dialogue and sharing staying as priorities. I found a diagram created by Kim Cofino at http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/11/16/second-k-12-online-conference-lan-party/ that got me thinking:



I believe that if we can use blogs (as well as wikis, RSS feeds, and other Web 2.0 tools) in our professional development, we might be able to use aspects from all 3 of the models shown in the diagram. Doug Johnson is one expert who has written about the need for “ongoing, individualized, onsite instruction and support” in professional learning, specifically as regards learning about technology (http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/why-what-how-and-who-of-staff-development.html). What do you think?

Can you show evidence of your learning based on those experiences?

If an educator can comment, recommend further links, open new lines of dialogue, bring in new contributors, and share opinions on PD issues on blogs, at the very least some level of learning will be shown. Surely some of us wonder how much professional development occurred on an individual basis after a particular session – PD blogs could at some level provide a gauge for learning and level of engagement.

I don’t think I’ve said anything revolutionary here concerning using Web 2.0 tools to revamp PD. Are these ideas feasible? Like anything in bureaucratic systems, changing how we create and utilize PD takes some thought. Will Richardson suggests a fairly simple start:
“What about giving teachers new to these technologies just enough to get them started and then take the school year (or more) to immerse them in the tools and networked learning environments where they can learn at their own pace (with some appropriate nudging and guidance from time to time)?” (http://weblogg-ed.com/category/professional-development/)

I feel confident now about the different tools and ideas we’ve been exploring in this course that I am looking forward to talking to the technology guru in my school about some of the possibilities for future PD. I have little experience with working with PD committees (none in my current school), and I can’t say how hard it will be to redesign professional opportunities, but I listened to a colleague discuss limited opportunities just a few days ago. If I can just start small and introduce some blogs that would interest others, help colleagues find some useful, appealing blogs, encourage them to comment on them and start a dialogue, a tiny step towards more rewarding PD may be taken. It seems clear to me that we should explore ways to make PD more effective and enjoyable. Here’s a few blogs and websites I’ve been following that may spark some ideas:

Doug Johnson

Langwitches

Weblogg-ed

Web 2 Tools for the Read/Write/ Web

Classroom 2.0