Professional Development Collaboratory Wiki: Extended Summary
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Professional Development Collaboratory Wiki
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Modified: 25 August 2008, 5:56 PM User: Paul Beaufait →
Definition of Professional Development
... an artifact or activity, a process or product?
... different to, or comprehensive of:
- community development?
- curriculum development?
- economic development?
- educational innovation?
- faculty development?
- materials development?
- personal development?
- scholarship of teaching and learning?
- technological development?
Definition of a Professional Development Collaboratory
A professional development collaboratory may share fundamental characteristics of other collaboratories including, but not necessarily limited to: organized, rule-governed processes for socialization, instrument (tools) and data sharing, contextualization, and collaboration--either consequent or subsequent to a collaboratory's (collective) organization, but certainly consequent to its governance if indeed governance is taken for granted. Such a collaboratory stretches the concept of laboratory to embrace endeavours other than "geographically distributed scientific research" (Wikpedia, Collaboratory, Summary, ΒΆ2; 2008.08.25) in order to promote activities and interactions, conceivably experimental, yet conducive to evolutionary and sustainable professional behaviours.
How do we find out about Pro-D opportunities?
- Listings in trusted online communities (ETUG, SCoPE, WikiEducator, CIDER)
- Direct recommendations from colleagues
- Identify a gap in own learning, then seek out pro-d
- Google searches for specific topics, activities, resources
- Follow leads from individuals in our networks (using a variety of tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Tags, Ning, shared calendars)
- Lurking close by those who are passionate about teaching and learning
- Advertising on home institution websites
- Mailing lists
- Websites
- Compilations created by others
- Event services/tools, such as The Conference Calendar, Facebook Events, Upcoming, Google shared calendar
- Online libraries
- ...
- ...
- ...
How do we manage the information?
- Netvibes to bring in RSS feeds, calenar events, social networking channels, bookmark tags, etc. -- one stop shopping overview of PD developments in a given area
Exemplary Pro-D Websites
- SCoPE
- WIMBA (commercial site with Distinguished Lecturer sessions)
Guiding Principles
- Keep it clean and simple so that it's easy to find information.
- We need indicators of quality/ reputation
- Origin of pro-d events not important
- Fees are appropriate if it looks like the gains are there
- Consider that not everybody has time for F2F events at home institutions
- Taking pro-d at other institutions has advantages
- Best recommendations are from people who have experienced PD themselves
- Build on what already exists - don't duplicate
Essential Elements
- quick, easy access to information
- personalize/customize
WGBH and Education