Social Media for Professional Development Teacher Learning Communities

When it comes to professional development, research shows that push methods and lectures are no successful.

Professional Development: Activities that development teachers skill, knowledge and expertise.

Traditional Professional Development:
Conference
Workshops
Inservice days

Common Roadblocks to Professional Development:
Cost
Time
Accessibility
Lack of support
Apathy
Value

We need to find methods that will get the teachers excited and involved.

What do teachers want:
Many are moving to social media
Teachers want support
The greatest resources for professional development is blocked

What does social media mean:
Sharing
Creating
Connection
Communication
User driven
Must be online

Traditional Model:
Structure
Expensive
Drawn out
Boring

Social Media:
Fun
Not structured
No plan
Engaging
Fast paced

The best thing is to have these two models work together.

Getting Started:
Survey teachers on what they want
with Google Forms

Use tools like:
#Edchat on twitter
google+
Facebook
Assign a blog
technologyjunkygroup.blogspot.com
YouTube
Screencastomatic
Edcamp


-Brad