The importance of PD in technology

I have spent a lot of my summer in conference mode.  I have done some online lessons, some free conferences and also some national ones.  All of them have stressed the need for professional development to make a 1:1 program a success. I decided to dive into it myself.

Starting this year, I will be offering a 15-20 minute web 2.0 lesson each Tuesday.  Teachers can come and go as they please, attend or skip if they wish.  My goal is to see everyone at least once and that everyone tries one of the tools, even just for a lesson.  If we build this into the weekly routine, maybe our students and staff will embrace the technology.   There are so many tools out there that can be used in the classroom.  Some can be for the teacher afraid of tech and some can be for the tech vet.  No matter what the tools, there is something for everyone.

We went 1:1 two years ago.  We had a few summer PDs where there was an info overload.  We were shown a hundred tools at a mile a minute and for many, that was way too much.  We have taken some baby steps, some have climbed in the shallow end and done a little wading and some have jumped right into the deep end and started going to town. I am proud of our teachers for doing what they can to embrace this change, it's hard.

My goal is that the 1:1 program will flourish this year and I am hoping my Tech Tuesdays with little bits of info at a time will help guide that growth.

Why twitter is a good form of PD

For the last few years, I have heard numerous colleagues mention that twitter is the new PD.  It got me thinking about the reality of this and much fact can be found in the statement.  Twitter is the best form of Professional Development in so many ways.

I have quickly become a twitter-a-holic checking the stream several times a day, finding articles of interest, adding them to pocket or flipboard and referring to them for my blog posts, my staff trainings as well as my personal training.  I have learned so much from the PLN and others who are out there joining in the chats.  The professional development I have gained exceeds what I have paid for.  I attend a lot of conferences and PD.  Our school has a weekly PD where we cover various topics necessary for our classrooms.  While it is a good way to learn from our co-workers, I think learning from others in other places is also a great help. It shows us we are not alone.  I am the only French teacher in my school. Often, I don't have someone with whom I can collaborate and share ideas.  My French PLN is like PD everyday.  I am also the only librarian in my school and while I have a lot of local librarian colleagues, chatting via twitter with others is a great learning experience.  I have met so many wonderful people dealing with similar situations as me.  

Twitter as a PD is a tool everyone in education should try.  I recommended to some of my colleagues to join twitter just to learn from others.  I told them they don't have to tweet, they can just follow. A few have started and have reported back the cool things they are learning.   I have managed to learn about content, commom core, web 2.0 tools, authors, books, library science, my library software, screencasting, flipping a class, just to name a few.  It doesn't take much time.  Just a few minutes a day can provide anyone with a plethora of information that can benefit the educational environment. 

 I LOVE twitter and if we could convince every educator, administrator and school board member to take a peek, I think our educational world would be a very different place.

From the Archives: PD, Webinars and Web 2.0 tools

Let's face it, there are thousands of tools out there that can be used in the classroom, with kids or without, to make education better or worse, but, how on earth do we know what we should use and how to decide when to use it?  I have spent so many hours learning about things on my own until this past summer when I decided to embark on the free webinar.  I attended a lot of them and left with a huge amount of knowledge I wasn't expecting.  I decided my best bet is to share these fantastic sites with other educators so they might hop on board and try to dabble in the webinar method of professional development.
 So, let's look at some places that offer free and quality webinars.

SimpleK12.  First and foremost, SimpleK12 is a fantastic place to visit to learn about everything web 2.0.  The company has two methods to their use, first of all, everyone creates an account.  To access live webinars, you simply sign up using a free or paid version.  To access archived webinars, you must be a member.  Membership has a lot of perks, however.  You can get certificates for your attendance and access to thousands of free ebooks to assist you in the edtech journey.  I attended about 12 webinars through this site and folks, they get great people to do them.  I learned a lot about google, about polling sites, just to name a few.   They had a program called "A Day of Learning" that ran almost every Tuesday during the summer.  There were scads of free webinars those days. All of them are 30 minutes, you can usually join a few minutes before and stick around a little after to ask questions. I tried to attend as many as I could.  I am still registered for some upcoming ones, as the programs don't stop when school is in session.  This is a great site to check out.  It's worth the time because their webinars are great.

edweb.  Follett software company has donated to this organization.  It's set up a little like simplek12 with free webinars, etc.  But here, you join communities and find your lessons based on the communities you want to learn about.  Being a librarian, I have taken a lot of library webinars. The webinars are archived and you can access them after the fact. They run several series for educators that offer a lot of great services. Their speakers are often some that do simplek12 webinars as well.  I can honestly tell you, I have had nothing bad come from one of their webinars.  I have learned something in every one.

ASCD I can't lie, I have never taken one of their webinars but they have such an extensive collection that there has to be something for everyone. Most of them are geared toward administrators, but, as a teacher, it can't hurt to know policy and what's coming down the pipeline. They also have a massive archive of past webinars.

PBS Yes, the television station has webinars.  They offer an archive of classroom 2.0 techniques.  There are some good ideas here.

Eschoolnews I get a lot of email from eschoolnews but, sometimes a webinar pops up in the email.  I haven't tried one, but they exist and they are often free. Most of them are technology related.

Google Google has a training to be a google certified trainer.  You take the webinars at your own pace.  This is a great place to start if your district is adopting google for education as the platform.  There are hundreds of tools via google to use.  I am doing just the docs webinar.  It's six hours long but divided. Some are shorter.

Edmodo Last but not least, Edmodocon.  In August of each year, Edmodo has an online conference that teaches about edmodo.  If you can't make it, the conference is supposed to be archived.  It's a lot like a webinar.

This article just names a few places to attend free webinars.  There are a lot of other sites out there that offer similar opportunities. (Free online conferences, tutorials, web training, etc.)  A few suggestions: some send a lot of email.  You might set up a free account just for these sites.  Also, don't be afraid to ask questions.  Some places have archives and will send you links to see if you are interested in their site.  You might get a free webinar or two on a trial basis.

PD, Webinars and Web 2.0 Mastery

Let's face it, there are thousands of tools out there that can be used in the classroom, with kids or without, to make education better or worse, but, how on earth do we know what we should use and how to decide when to use it?  I have spent so many hours learning about things on my own until this past summer when I decided to embark on the free webinar.  I attended a lot of them and left with a huge amount of knowledge I wasn't expecting.  I decided my best bet is to share these fantastic sites with other educators so they might hop on board and try to dabble in the webinar method of professional development.
 So, let's look at some places that offer free and quality webinars.

SimpleK12.  First and foremost, SimpleK12 is a fantastic place to visit to learn about everything web 2.0.  The company has two methods to their use, first of all, everyone creates an account.  To access live webinars, you simply sign up using a free or paid version.  To access archived webinars, you must be a member.  Membership has a lot of perks, however.  You can get certificates for your attendance and access to thousands of free ebooks to assist you in the edtech journey.  I attended about 12 webinars through this site and folks, they get great people to do them.  I learned a lot about google, about polling sites, just to name a few.   They had a program called "A Day of Learning" that ran almost every Tuesday during the summer.  There were scads of free webinars those days. All of them are 30 minutes, you can usually join a few minutes before and stick around a little after to ask questions. I tried to attend as many as I could.  I am still registered for some upcoming ones, as the programs don't stop when school is in session.  This is a great site to check out.  It's worth the time because their webinars are great. 

edweb.  Follett software company has donated to this organization.  It's set up a little like simplek12 with free webinars, etc.  But here, you join communities and find your lessons based on the communities you want to learn about.  Being a librarian, I have taken a lot of library webinars. The webinars are archived and you can access them after the fact. They run several series for educators that offer a lot of great services. Their speakers are often some that do simplek12 webinars as well.  I can honestly tell you, I have had nothing bad come from one of their webinars.  I have learned something in every one.

ASCD I can't lie, I have never taken one of their webinars but they have such an extensive collection that there has to be something for everyone. Most of them are geared toward administrators, but, as a teacher, it can't hurt to know policy and what's coming down the pipeline. They also have a massive archive of past webinars.

PBS Yes, the television station has webinars.  They offer an archive of classroom 2.0 techniques.  There are some good ideas here.

Eschoolnews I get a lot of email from eschoolnews but, sometimes a webinar pops up in the email.  I haven't tried one, but they exist and they are often free. Most of them are technology related.

Google Google has a training to be a google certified trainer.  You take the webinars at your own pace.  This is a great place to start if your district is adopting google for education as the platform.  There are hundreds of tools via google to use.  I am doing just the docs webinar.  It's six hours long but divided. Some are shorter.

Edmodo Last but not least, Edmodocon.  In August of each year, Edmodo has an online conference that teaches about edmodo.  If you can't make it, the conference is supposed to be archived.  It's a lot like a webinar.

This article just names a few places to attend free webinars.  There are a lot of other sites out there that offer similar opportunities. (Free online conferences, tutorials, web training, etc.)  A few suggestions: some send a lot of email.  You might set up a free account just for these sites.  Also, don't be afraid to ask questions.  Some places have archives and will send you links to see if you are interested in their site.  You might get a free webinar or two on a trial basis.