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Professional Development Collaboratory Wiki

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Modified: 26 August 2008, 5:13 PM   User: Nancy Randall  → Nancy Randall

Definition of Professional Development

... an artifact or activity, a process or product?

... different to, or comprehensive of:

  • community development?
  • curriculum development?
  • curriculum vitae development?
  • economic development?
  • educational innovation?
  • faculty development?
  • materials development?
  • personal development?
  • scholarship of teaching and learning?
  • technological development?

Professional Development Definition

: Professional development is a continuous learning process across all levels of the institution for the entire learning community. Quality professional development expands the capacity of the learning community to realize its vision and reach its goals.   http://dpi.wi.gov/cssch/cssprofdev1.html 

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, ¶2; 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
Our findings in these places and ways provide opportunities for what?

How do we make the time?

How do we manage the information?


Exemplary Pro-D Websites

  • SCoPE: a Moodle site with scheduled discussions
    • Examples though links (and possibly feeds) in other §§:
      • ... opportunities for what?
      • How do we make the time?
      • How do we manage the information?
  • WIMBA: a 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
Websites
The WGBH Forum Network is an audio and video streaming Website dedicated to curating and serving live and on-demand lectures given by some of the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policy makers and community leaders.

WGBH and Education