I am cross posting a message that I previously sent to the NIFL Professional Development List.  I will include some of the responses I received at the end my question.  Thanks to those who have responded and I will appreciate any and all future suggestions and responses.
 
 
I am investigating the use of technological tools to build and enhance teacher professional development during these days of financial cutbacks.
It is my understanding that the State of Delaware has left no money in the budget for professional development during this year of such a shortage of funds.
 
As it happens, I have just returned to work on my EdD (Educational Doctorate) at the University of Delaware, so I hope to offer my expertise and work on projects that will give teachers in Delaware opportunities to create their own opportunities for professional development.
I am writing this to this listserv to solicit ideas and suggestions for how other states and professional groups have taken on the development of professional development opportunities without a great deal of funding provided by the states or the federal government.
 
I will be creating a bog, for the project for the class I am taking this semester - Cognition & Technology, to document and provide  sounding board for Delaware adult educator and other adult educators who have used technology to enhance the effectiveness of low cost/high quality professional development opportunities for teachers.
 
I am an adult educator and an correctional educator. I am the media & technology specialist for the Prison Education program that is administrated by the Delaware Department of Education, but I do not expect this conversation to be limited to Adult Education professional development.
But, I will take suggestions that I might use to strengthen the opportunities for adult educators' professional development in Delaware.  The Adult Education Professional Development organization for Delaware is DAACE.
 
I look forward to a lively conversation on this topic.
 
Sincerely
 
Gina Lobaccaro
 
Sussex Correctional Institution
Prison Education Program
PO Box 500
Georgetown, DE 19947
302-856-5282 x 6204
 
gina.lobaccaro at state.de.us <mailto:gina.lobaccaro at state.de.us> 
 
 

>From David Rosen:

Hello Gina and others,

Sometimes crisis offers opportunity. Here's where you could start:

Since you know a lot about technology already, and since two of the 
areas that teachers in Delaware probably need to improve on is 
integrating technology in their classrooms, and using online learning 
for their own professional development, I recommend you look at 
Adulted online 's Technology Integration Self assessment (TISA) 
[http://adultedonline.org <https://owa.state.de.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://adultedonline.org> ] Go to Tech Savvy -- select "Teachers start 
here" link. . This (free because it was developed with funds provided 
by the U.S. Department of Education] online process is a self-
assessment and much more. It is an online professional development 
process.

After taking the self assessment, a teacher (or group of teachers at 
a program, or all the teachers across a state) creates a professional 
development plan with a few objectives for the year. The teacher then 
is guided to (free or inexpensive) online learning resources to meet 
the specific objective(s). It's new, simple, elegant, and many 
teachers, program administrators and states are using it. The 
learning curve for teachers is not steep.

There is another reason to use this. It's a good model for other 
kinds of professional development. The same process could be used for 
other kinds of professional development. The process is not limited 
to only online learning. Teachers can still take advantage of face-to-
face PD (if there is any, and if their schedules allow them to take 
advantage of it) but it opens new opportunities to the majority of 
adult ed teachers , those who work part-time and have other full-time 
and part-time jobs and who can only learn online. Incidentally a 
similar online learning process is used by new State Directors of 
Adult Education and their staff, so some are quite familiar with how 
an online PD model works from their own experience.

Full disclosure: I helped to build the TISA so I am not impartial 
about it, but check it out and talk with others who have used it.  
Maybe some people on this list have used it. If so, what do you 
think?  Do you like it? Is it helpful? What are its strengths? If 
there were more funds available to support it, how could it be improved?

http://adultedonline.org/ <https://owa.state.de.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://adultedonline.org/> 
Go to Tech Savvy -- select "Teachers start here" link.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net

******************************************

>From Martin Senger


Pax et bonum Gina! (peace & goodness)

I am an adult ESL teacher from Erie, Pa. I am also one of the co-chairs for the ESL Division of the Pa. Assoc. for Adult Continuing Education (PAACE).

Several teachers from around the state have created a blog for adult ESL teachers from Pa. to interact and communicate on a state-wide basis. We only created it at the beginning of February, so we are still working out many bugs, including the best way to add to the blog.

We are also looking for ways to share files (lesson plans, handouts, etc) over the web. One suggestion is that our local PDC (Prof. Dev. Ctr.), part of the Pa. Dept of Ed. might act as a clearing house for some of these things. If you have a counterpart to our PDCs, you might want to try them.

I would be interested in what you find out with this query.

Ciao!

Martin E. Senger

Adult ESL Teacher

GECAC / The R. Benjamin Wiley Learning Center

Erie, Pa

*******************


>From Andy Tyskiewicz

 
Proliteracy offerings may help - they are on line; also US Dept. of Education has new on line products for adult educators with OVAE
************************


>From Cristina Costa


Hi Gina,

I know the feeling. In previous institutions where I worked before there was no budget at all for PD. However, it didn't stop me. I paid for my own Masters'. However, the greatest achievements and the more efficient learning was not acquired and developed through the official accomplishment of this degree, but through the active and ongoing engagement with an international CoP - The webheads in Action. I have learned so much from these people, and I think I have also been able to give something back. It is this continuous learning exchange that keeps me motivated and also keeps my learning spark going.

Yesterday I also joined another group in NING on Professional Development 2.0 http://newlearning.ning.com/m <https://owa.state.de.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://newlearning.ning.com/m>  which you might also find useful.

I hope to meet you there too.

Best, 

Cris 

 

Cristina Costa

http://www.knowmansland.com <https://owa.state.de.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.knowmansland.com/>  

..........................................................

Learning Technologies Development Officer 

Research and Graduate College <https://owa.state.de.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.rgc.salford.ac.uk/> 

University of Salford <https://owa.state.de.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.salford.ac.uk/>  

Tel: +44 (0)161 295 6751

Skype ID: navysternchen

 

P Please, consider your environmental responsibility. Before printing this e-mail ask yourself: "Do I need a hard copy?" 

 
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