Every learner is different. Nowhere is this as true as it is for teachers. Every teacher comes to the classroom with a different background, different set of skills and differences in how they learn best. Add to this complexity the fact that every teacher has a different set of students each year, all with their distinct needs.
Teachers need individualized learning opportunities to an extreme degree.
They know this. Many pursue a variety of methods to individualize their own learning: They tweet out questions, share videos of their practice, join community conversations via sites like edWeb or tools such as Voxer. By contrast, many districts who support teacher professional development are stuck in the past, using traditional models to providing teachers with one-size-fits-all PD.
Time for change. Teachers are demanding more choices. A few brave school and district leaders are trying to deliver, breaking the “pre-fab” style of PD for a more personal approach:
- By pulling data from across the district to better recommend courses and resources for PD;
- By offering teachers menus of choices for PD that is both in person and virtual;
- By shifting from a PD that only counts time, to one that counts proficiency.
Over the past year, EdSurge has explored the work going on in districts, the tools they’re using and what it takes to get personalized PD started. Here are the stories they’ve heard–and the tools that they’ve found:
https://www.edsurge.com/guide/from-pre-fab-to-personalized-how-districts-are-retooling-professional-development?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRols6%2FJdu%2FhmjTEU5z16e4tX6ayh5x41El3fuXBP2XqjvpVQcdiNr3LRw8FHZNpywVWM8TILtQYt8FtKAzgAG0%3D
