Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i25GSgI17193; Fri, 5 Mar 2004 11:28:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 11:28:42 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <F0A2E20726E77445BB749EA67AA8D4FBE61508@aib-ex1.aiweb.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Heide Wrigley" <hwrigley@aiweb.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1159] PD institutes and academies X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 8378 Lines: 253 Hi, I wanted to through an idea into the ring to see if it might stick (to mix that metaphor) I'd love to participate in a discussion on how to structure ongoing staff development in the form of institutes or "academies" that are relatively low cost for participants. What has the experience of staff developers and audiences been who have participated either in on-going training spread out over the course of six months or a year or through intensive work over a week or so? What makes or breaks such an institute for teachers? Something like "it must primarily focus on classroom issues with research and philosophy woven in throughout, rather than as a separate piece" "there must be opportunities for lots of discussion and information sharing" OR - "many experienced teachers love to hear about new research and it doesn't bother them to hear it as part of a lecture format as long as the information is solid and not warmed over ideas that have been around forever. But this should be no more than 1/3 of the total conference time" Or "if you don't have decent coffee often and good signs and sufficient parking, even the best content and decent processes won't save you" And, yes, we are discussing an institute for next summer in Vancouver (organized by Literacy, B.C.) and I will be more than happy to share ideas and offer my own opinions, as usual Cheers Heide Spruck Wrigley San Mateo, CA -----Original Message----- From: nifl-aalpd@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-aalpd@nifl.gov] On Behalf Of jataylor Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 6:27 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1156] Summary of Ideas Hello Everyone! Thank you so much for sharing all of your ideas for discussion activities for the list. Your energy and commitment to professional development is clear. I think we have plenty to get started, and enough to even move straight on in to summer. I've provided a summary of what we have shared, below. Please take the time to scroll down, and let me know what you think. If I have missed anything, please email me off list at <jataylor@utk.edu> and I will certainly add it to the mix! >From the list, I am generating a schedule of activities. Some are readings and content development; and some involve panels of guest speakers. Of course, feel free to explore topics as they arise. Thank you for your time and consideration on this effort. I am pleased to build a schedule of activities around list subscribers' needs. Best, Jackie Taylor List Moderator NIFL-AALPD jataylor@utk.edu ***************************************************************** **Ideas and Other Resources For Discussion** (Not in any particular order) 1) Document Sharing of Resources Effectively Used in PD "I'd like to see some document sharing of resources that have been used effectively in PD. These communications would include longer reads than is appropriate for e-mail. (The following are two suggestions for putting documents up on the web, so that NIFL-AALPD subscribers can access them for discussion): a) The National Adult Literacy database (NALD) in Canada (George's suggestion): http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/search/ b) LiteracyTent server http://dav.literacytent.org (Thanks to Steve Linberg, for his generous offer!) "As a follow up to this, I am also willing to provide such space "stateside" on LiteracyTent - there is already an area dedicated to this purpose. For short-term usage I'm fine with doing it as a free service; for longer-term usage, a small fee to offset bandwidth costs would be helpful, but it would be small. The part of the LiteracyTent server that handles this functionality is at: http://dav.literacytent.org The basic process is: a "web folder" (please see the site for documentation if you're unfamiliar with the term, I wrote quite a bit about it there) is created for a project, and certain people are given the privilege and password for uploading into it via a "drag-and-drop" method that is very simple. People can then download from that folder through their web browsers. So, for instance, if we had a document to share for this group, I would create a folder called "nifl-naalpd" (say), and whoever had access and needed to share it would put it there. If the document's name was "something.doc", that person would then mail around the URL: http://dav.literacytent.org/nifl-aalpd/something.doc **************************************************************** 2) Online Course Content and Delivery - This topic has generated the most off-list responses! "Have you ever used Blackboard, The Learning Manager, or other online course platforms for delivering online courses? Is there interest in your state in developing online professional development courses, but you would like more information on how to get started? Would you like to discuss online course development and collaboration, sharing of online courses among states, and other related questions? **************************************************************** 3) A People's History of the United States, By Howard Zinn - This topic generated the most on-list responses! This activity will be hosted on both the NIFL-POVRACELIT and NIFL-AALPD lists. Specific details coming soon! **************************************************************** 4) Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction and 5) How Teachers Change: A study of Professional Development in Adult Education "I would like to suggest a guest facilitator who can share with us and discuss the major findings and implications of the latest NCSALL report called How Teachers Change: A study of Professional Development in Adult Education. Or, how about a guest facilitator who can share with us and discuss the major findings and implications of the NIFL report, Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction. Would this be possible? **************************************************************** 6) Mentoring "But what happens when the old guard finally hangs it up? Most of our "secrets to success" go with us. That's not to suggest that there aren't great PD specialists waiting to take our places, but why not explore ways to capture some of this expertise? "Barbara, I just read your email and I want to respond to your question in quotes below. "But what happens when the old guard finally hangs it up? Most of our "secrets to success" go with us." I am coordinating an event at EPCC on April 5 that is designed to provide veteran faculty an opportunity to share their wealth of expertise with less experienced faculty. I agree, with the great number of retiring faculty, we need to find ways to draw from that expertise. I have limited teaching experience and I am anxious to learn from those who are much wiser. Peace...Linda **************************************************************** Additional Resources for Discussion: 7) Learning From Practice http://www.learningfrompractice.org/default.htm "That link gets you to Learning From Practice Check out the first two links in particular for a variety of practitioner-based articles. I'm using one on small group instruction for an in-service we'll be holding in March. 8) An Institute on Research in Practice in Adult Literacy held in Canada in 2003 can be accessed at: http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/extpract/extendpr.pdf A quick skim through indicates that the information/insights gleaned at this conference are very rich. Perhaps a few folks might find a study of this 82 page document worthwhile. 9) Learner Persistence (A resource suggested from the Learner Persistence discussion) "For those of you interested in both professional development and in NCSALL's research on learner persistence, we have recently developed a study circle guide for conducting a 9 hour study circle (three 3-hour sessions) for adult education and literacy teachers, focused on the learner persistence research. You can download it and use the step-by-step guide to conduct professional development on this topic for teachers in your state or program. It's available at http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu/teach/lp.pdf. Or go to NCSALL's website (http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu), choose "Teaching and Training Materials" from our home page, then scroll down until you see the Learner Persistence Study Circle under 'Training Materials'.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Dec 23 2004 - 09:45:43 EST