Anytime Anywhere Professional Development
When teachers are confident in the curriculum they teach, students will become more engaged in lessons and will learn more. But busy teachers, administrators, and other school staff often have a tough time coordinating their schedules for sit-down or face-to-face professional development training.
Technology is helping to rejuvenate professional development in schools across the nation. Many schools are finding that online, on-demand professional development is the answer to crammed schedules and long school days. Teachers can use planning periods or time before or after school to complete professional demand training online, at their own pace.
With the generous support of School Improvement Network, the editors of eSchool News have compiled this collection of stories from our web site to help you and your staff choose on-demand professional development that best meets your needs.
--The Editors
eSchool News articles
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Online communities transform teacher development
Professional development is central to the effective use of technology, but it often conjures up images of inconvenient and time-consuming meetings and workshops. Now, a new crop of online, "anytime, anywhere" resources is changing the way schools approach staff development--and changing how educators view the concept, too.[ Read More ] -
Gates Foundation seeks keys to effective teaching
Ever since Americans sent their children to one-room schoolhouses, parents have known what makes a good school: inspiring, organized, and creative teachers. But researchers haven't been able to quantify what, exactly, makes a teacher effective and how to tie that to student achievement. [ Read More ] -
ED issues rules on ed-tech stimulus funds
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has issued new guidance to help states and school systems use ed-tech stimulus funding to drive lasting education reforms and improve student achievement -- and as with ed-tech funding that is distributed through the traditional appropriations process, recipients must use at least 25 percent of their funding to provide ongoing professional development for their staff. [ Read More ] -
House panel explores ed tech's value
A panel of educational technology experts spoke before the members of the House Education and Labor Committee June 16, stressing the importance that technology plays in the classroom as well as the need for continued professional development. [ Read More ] -
Technology key to award-winning district’s success
A North Carolina school system has won a prestigious national award for excellence, and its superintendent credits the district's use of technology for such initiatives as distance education, teacher professional development, and data-driven decision making as reasons for the award. [ Read More ] -
NSTA offers on-demand training for teachers
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has developed a new resource to improve the quality of science instruction in the nation’s schools: an online hub that provides affordable, on-demand professional development to help educators boost their knowledge about various science topics, as needed. [ Read More ] -
Teachers: Give us better tech training, support
After more than decade of investment in school technology, educators say they still don't feel adequately prepared to integrate instructional software into their classrooms and aren't getting the technical support they need to fully impact student achievement, according to a joint study by the nation's two largest teacher unions. [ Read More ] -
Report: Retool instruction, or U.S. will fail
Creating a 21st-century education system that prepares students, workers, and citizens to triumph in the global skills race is the central economic competitiveness issue currently facing the United States, according to a new report from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). The report provides a sobering wake-up call for the nation's civic and education leaders. [ Read More ] -
Teachers gain tech skills while in their PJs
For teachers in Centerville, La., the morning routine of putting on slippers and making a fresh pot of coffee has a new twist. The slippers and the cup of coffee are still there, but so are a computer and the desire to improve IT skills. It's time to wake up and smell the spreadsheets!. [ Read More ] -
Teacher development key to tech success
A new survey of teachers and their use of technology suggests there is a clear correlation between hours spent in professional development, classroom integration of technology, and improved student performance. [ Read More ] -
Arkansas, PBS focus on teaching skills
An online training program to give public school teachers new tools to help students perform better in school has debuted in Arkansas. [ Read More ] -
Tap into professional development with ‘Teacher Tap’
The Teacher Tap is a free, online professional development resource that helps educators address common technology integration questions by providing practical, web-based resources and activities. [ Read More ] -
Video-based modeling enhances online training for Minn. teachers
Twin Cities Public Television has brought its digital video expertise to a statewide project in Minnesota in an effort to provide teachers and districts with wider, easier, and more cost-effective access to high-quality professional development. [ Read More ] -
ED unveils new educator training site
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has unveiled a new professional development web site for teachers and administrators. Its architects hope the free resource--built by teachers, for teachers--will encourage the use of proven classroom strategies and provide more effective ways of using data to improve instruction in the nation's schools. [ Read More ]