Hi Gina,

Last fall I created a Blackboard course in which I uploaded much of the 
NCSALL Study Circle Guide: Adult Student Persistence by John Comings et 
al.. Both full and part-time instructors read the articles and commented 
in the discussion group asynchronously. We did offer to pay part time 
teachers a minimal 2 hours for each of the three study circle lessons in 
which they participated, but that was not necessary. Our staff gained 
valuable insight into new ways to address student needs and to make our 
orientations more student friendly. 

Tina

Tina Luffman
Coordinator, Developmental Education
Verde Valley Campus
928-634-6544
tina_luffman at yc.edu



"Lobaccaro Gina (DOC)" <Gina.Lobaccaro at state.de.us> 
Sent by: technology-bounces at nifl.gov
04/14/2008 11:49 AM
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Subject
[Technology 1611]  Using Listservs, Online Meetings,    Online Learning 
Circles,        Communities of Practics to encourage technological uses of 
PD






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
 
 
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] 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/
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 which you might also find useful.
I hope to meet you there too.
Best, 
Cris 
 
Cristina Costa
http://www.knowmansland.com 
………………………………………………….
Learning Technologies Development Officer 
Research and Graduate College
University of Salford 
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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