Networked PD opportunities

Networked PD opportunities

by Sylvia Currie -
Number of replies: 0
I'm late to this discussion :-) and I didn't want it to wind down completely without some mention of the need for more sharing across teaching and learning centres.

Last week I attended a gathering of British Columbia's University/College/Institute Professional Development group. UCIPD is a loosely knit community of professionals who are involved in educational development. I was absolutely blown away by the number of rich PD opportunities at post secondary institutions across the province. I left with ideas to take back to my own institution. But what was more exciting was to learn that many activities are open for visitors from other institutions to attend. There is a real need to share information about these opportunities, and a project that is now underway in BC to make that happen.

I was also introduced to a new group that has formed in BC called Northern Educational Developers Network (NEDNet). The main purpose for this group is to work together to maximize resources and provide faculty development and
support across the region. Geographically these institutions cover half of the province of BC -- the distances are huge. I was impressed by their mandate to share and avoid duplication. Definitely we need to be doing more of this!

Earlier this week I was following a twitter exchange initiated by Alec Couros from University of Regina. He was preparing a presentation on the potential for networked learning in teacher education, K-12 and higher education.
and asked educators to share their experiences with networked/social learning using Voice Thread. It's a really neat reflexive illustration of the power of the network. Within a few hours many people had left voice (and some video) recordings on the Voice Thread he created:
http://voicethread.com/#q.b67978.i350123

This got me thinking...in many ways our networks are becoming our teaching and learning centres. This of course is the idea Emilio introduced us to at the beginning of this discussion, then expanded on it here.

Interesting ideas and my timing is a little off for bringing them to the surface! Thanks Alec, for hitting me over the head. dead I wonder how far we can take it? Do others find themselves straying away from their local T&L centres to seek advice/PD?