Professional+Development

Professional Development

Plan:
Professional development must be given high priority as it relates to integrated computer literacy skills in the curricula. To provide ongoing, sustained professional development for teachers, in recognition of the significant time and learning needed to acquire and refine new skills, staff development programs I purpose professional development should be guided by the following four characteristics.

1. **Development is encouraged by doing:** The learning of new technologies will involve participants in experience-based opportunities, with learning resulting from doing and exploring. Training will be task-based rather than skill-based wherever possible. Substantial shifts in working behavior depend upon active involvement, real- world experience and problem solving. Active involvement in exploration, which results from wrestling with experiences and attempting to integrate them into one's understanding, will lead training participants to feel more committed to the discoveries made and more comfortable with the process of changing their work style.

2. **Learning is relevant to job experience:** Training sessions and workshops will focus on actual job tasks, rather than generic skills whenever possible. Ideally, participants will have at least minimal experience with an application prior to a formal training session so that they can identify specific job-related tasks to learn. In effect, training participants should leave a workshop with an experience that they can immediately use in their job function. Importantly, staff members will also be encouraged to take reasonable risks in the creative use of technology for teaching and administrative purposes. This will help sustain motivation and encourage improvements in productivity and efficiency. Staff development opportunities will be presented at several levels to meet the varied needs and technological strengths of a diversified professional community.

3. **Time is provided for reflection and collaboration:** Teachers, administrators and support staff will be allottedtime to work with new technology to realize its full potential. The district will implement new technologies in an incremental fashion with generous on-site support to create an effective learning environment for our users. Sufficient learning time and quality support will help users learn to exploit the benefits of a new system.

4. **There is a strategy for ongoing communication:** Efforts will continue to be made to provide users with opportunities to stay current with skills necessary to function in a world that is continually changing. Intensive training workshops will be supported with scheduled follow- up sessions that will provide users with opportunities to celebrate successes, share frustrations and learn new skills.


 * = **Instructional** ||= **Technical** ||= **Leadership** ||
 * < * Good Practice
 * Supports Standards
 * Active and Collaborative
 * Instructional Software ||< * File Management
 * Security
 * Safety
 * Account Management
 * Software
 * Hardware ||< * Vision Building
 * Supervise
 * Evaluate
 * Collaborate ||

Staff Technology Assessment: ﻿ **Outcome:** The staff will be computer literate and serve as facilitators and mentors rather than as lecturers and purveyors of information. **Indicators:** Teachers will be able to utilize technology based skills and software applications. Teachers will develop a variety of interdisciplinary tasks and projects designed to give all students:
 * 1) Opportunities to develop technical competencies.
 * 2) Opportunities to work in groups and solve problems.
 * 3) Opportunities to investigate real situations.
 * 4) Opportunities to utilize a global wide variety of information via networks and telecommunications.

Apple Professional Development (To make the most out of the Apple equipment we already own and/or for IPad OR IPod Lab)
Technology alone won't transform education. To inspire students, educators have to integrate technology into teaching and learning. That's why Apple offers a full range of custom onsite professional development courses to get you up to speed quickly, so you can start using Apple hardware and software — both inside and outside the classroom. Apple also offers certification courses and exams on the iLife and iWork application suites to help you master skills and build credibility. For more information: @http://images.apple.com/education/docs/Apple-Professional-Development-Catalog-July2010.pdf