Why online PD must be better.

1. Right now, we are asking teachers to learn in an unfamiliar and, many times, unintuitive way.
2. Right now, we are asking teachers to teacher themselves without any connection to a network.
3. Right now, we are asking teachers to be experts in course creation without seeing any real examples of good online teaching.
4. Right now, we are dealing with “good enough” tools when we should be pushing for the right tools for the right learning.
5. Right now, we believe that everyone will need online learning in the future without really defining what we want our future to be. We are reacting to every new fad technology and not putting together our own vision for how things can and should work.
6. Right now, our teams are not collaborating.
7. Right now, we are not asking questions when we create learning environments. We are simply accepting the environments that exist and building within them.
8. Right now, we are focused on the tools and not the concepts we are trying to teach.
9. Right now, we are unable to isolate the skills from the technology.
10. Right now, we are telling one another that we are doing something great and that each of us is a pioneer, when all we have really done is translated an old style of teaching into 21st century formats.

If we can’t give context, meaning, and perspective to our teachers, how do we expect our teachers to be able to impart them to our children?

I learn with others…

c21L 121008 [ 1:32:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (588)

I am now going to be in the habit of posting the most relevent conversations that I have with those who are around the Denver area. Although you may not be able to hear and see everything that we are doing, I think it is well worth the time to look at and parse through.

I think that the most interesting parts of this video podcast are the ones where we explore Personal Learning Networks and how to set them up in a rapid fire fashion. I truly enjoyed this conversation, and if you are interested in knowing about the other voices, I would check out ColoradoLearns or the Council on 21st Century Learning.