A Scenario That Works

2018 ◽  
pp. 184-191
Author(s):  
Patricia K. Gibson ◽  
Dennis A. Smith ◽  
Sarah G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Military Training ◽  
General Information ◽  
High Tech ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Teacher Learning Communities

Technology use in K-12 classrooms in this era of rapid high-tech change ranges from deep and meaningful technological immersion to an outright classroom ban on electronic devices. Attempting to mitigate this technological divide between students and teachers, school districts increasingly require professional development in applicable student technologies and teacher support resources. Unfortunately, the standards for continuing education requirements are broad, money is tight, and development efforts are often far less organized. As unfortunate, current issues and general information sharing dominate the professional learning communities (PLCs) or teacher learning communities (TLCs) originally designed to fulfill professional development requirements. These challenges render the occasional professional development initiative included in a PLC or TLC event, ineffective where the fragmented, uninteresting, and often poorly planned technology instruction very rarely seems to stick. Drawing on experience with military training and continuing education training, the authors propose a simple, inexpensive, and internally resourced means used by soldiers to train individual and collective military tasks, to assist elementary and secondary teachers to learn how emerging technology works, and more importantly, how to maximize its effective use in the classroom.

A Scenario That Works

2018 ◽  
pp. 1689-1696
Author(s):  
Patricia K. Gibson ◽  
Dennis A. Smith ◽  
Sarah G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Military Training ◽  
General Information ◽  
High Tech ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Teacher Learning Communities

Technology use in K-12 classrooms in this era of rapid high-tech change ranges from deep and meaningful technological immersion to an outright classroom ban on electronic devices. Attempting to mitigate this technological divide between students and teachers, school districts increasingly require professional development in applicable student technologies and teacher support resources. Unfortunately, the standards for continuing education requirements are broad, money is tight, and development efforts are often far less organized. As unfortunate, current issues and general information sharing dominate the professional learning communities (PLCs) or teacher learning communities (TLCs) originally designed to fulfill professional development requirements. These challenges render the occasional professional development initiative included in a PLC or TLC event, ineffective where the fragmented, uninteresting, and often poorly planned technology instruction very rarely seems to stick. Drawing on experience with military training and continuing education training, the authors propose a simple, inexpensive, and internally resourced means used by soldiers to train individual and collective military tasks, to assist elementary and secondary teachers to learn how emerging technology works, and more importantly, how to maximize its effective use in the classroom.

Professional Development to Increase Teacher Capacity for the Use of New Technologies

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-118
Author(s):  
Matthew L. Love ◽  
Lisa A. Simpson ◽  
Andrea Golloher ◽  
Brian Gadus ◽  
Jennifer Dorwin
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Teacher Knowledge ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Referral System ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Knowledge And Skills

As technology continues to provide new instructional options in the classroom, opportunities to embed new tools in their pedagogy are critical for teachers. One avenue that could encourage teachers to adopt new technologies in their classroom is professional development. This column outlines how a comprehensive program can be implemented to build teacher capacity for implementing new tools in their classrooms. Suggestions include developing a referral system that connects teachers to necessary supports, developing ongoing trainings that build teacher knowledge and skills for using technology, and creating site-based leaders for technology use through professional development and the creation of professional learning communities.

A Decade of Research on K–12 Teaching and Teacher Learning with Social Media: Insights on the State of the Field

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-72
Author(s):  
Christine Greenhow ◽  
Sarah M. Galvin ◽  
Diana L. Brandon ◽  
Emilia Askari
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
The State ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
K 12

Background and Context The increasingly widespread use of social media to expand one's social connections is a relatively new but important phenomenon that has implications for teaching, learning, and teachers’ professional knowledge and development in the 21st century. Educational research in this area is expanding, but further investigation is necessary to better determine how to best support teachers in their professional development, collaboration, and classroom teaching. Prior literature reviews have focused extensively on higher education settings or particular platforms or platform types (e.g., Facebook, microblogging). This article provides needed insights into K–12 settings and encompasses work from a variety of social media types. We describe a systematic review of more than a decade of educational research from various countries to present the state of the field in K–12 teachers’ use of social media for teaching and professional learning across various platforms. Research Questions To define social media's potentially beneficial roles in teaching and learning, we must first take an in-depth look at teachers’ current social media practices. Toward this end, we approached our review with the following research question: How are social media perceived and used by K–12 teachers for their teaching or professional learning, and with what impacts on teachers’ practices? Research Design Guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) established standards for rigor and quality in systematic literature reviews, this article reviews empirical research to examine how social media are perceived and used by K–12 teachers with what impacts on teachers’ practices. Findings We find that social media features offer several benefits for helping teachers fulfill their goals for classroom teaching, including enhancing student engagement, community connections, and teacher–student interactions, but these affordances come with challenges that must be navigated. The literature also suggests that social media features provide benefits for teachers’ professional learning within both formal professional development programs and informal learning networks. Conclusions Implications of this literature review for future research and the design of educational practices are discussed in the final section. Among our conclusions are calls for more data triangulation between teachers’ and students’ learning and experiences on social media, more attention to teachers’ observational behaviors on social media, and further exploration of how social media facilitates interplay between teachers’ formal and informal learning.

scholarly journals A case study of two teacher learning communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Free-Queen Bongiwe Zulu ◽  
Tabitha Grace Mukeredzi
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Education And Development ◽  
Teacher Learning Communities

In the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development, a South African policy, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Higher Education (DHET) call for the formation of professional learning communities and envisage support for teachers and access to enhanced professional development opportunities at the local level. However, the formation and operation of professional learning communities in a South African context is still unclear. In this article we use the concept of professional learning communities to examine the extent to which 2 teacher learning communities operate as professional learning communities. We used interviews, observations, survey questionnaires and document analysis to generate data. The findings of the study reveal that the 2 teacher learning communities were initiated by the DBE and not by teachers. However, the size of 1 teacher learning community and the nature of its functioning seemed to adhere to the characteristics of a professional learning community while the other did not. The findings indicate that professional learning communities that operate in developing contexts might be functional when all the stakeholders play a meaningful role in supporting professional learning communities.

Professional Development for Classroom Teachers

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-71
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Maiden
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Technology Professional Development ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Modeling Technology ◽  
Technology Professional

The professional development of teachers in instructional technology is of paramount importance. This chapter provides an overview of the topic, beginning with adult learning as a foundation. Teachers are adults, and any type of professional development, whether related to technology or not, should meet the needs of adult learners. The chapter subsequently provides a review of professional learning communities (PLCs), which may provide a venue for impactful, sustainable technology professional development. Next, teacher-led technology professional development and peer coaching are addressed, followed by a discussion of the use of the community, corporate, and university partnerships that may enhance professional development through symbiotic relationships. The chapter concludes with a discussion of virtual professional development, which may serve a dual purpose of enhancing professional development sustainability as well as modeling technology use for instructional purposes.

scholarly journals Factors That Influence Curricular Adoption in a Sustainability Focused Marine Science Professional Development for In-Service Teachers

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Goodale
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Science ◽  
Marine Science ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Sustainability Initiatives ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Impact

The focus of this article is on the evaluation and outcomes of a professional learning opportunity that focused on 13 current K–12 public school science educators in the United States. This teacher training concentrated on sustainability education that utilized marine sciences as a unifying concept. Findings from this training helped to identify models within teacher professional development in marine science that lead to comprehensive adoption of presented curricula. Four established models/frameworks of professional development were identified and their subsequent classroom implementation was evaluated. Results include adoption rates of the various session materials, the impact and effect size of differing variables (such as deliverables or standards alignment) among the four models and their frameworks and changes in perceptions towards sustainability initiatives. These outcomes underscore several methods and strategies for successful science teacher professional development implementation in regard to marine sciences.

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