PROFESSIONAL
TTP Spotlight
Professional development: An educational technology director's view
"This district has committed to preparing our teachers and, therefore, our students, for the 21st century."
- Julie Judd, Director of Educational Technology,
Moorpark Unified School District
While the need for ongoing professional development in the technical education arena is a simple fact, building a framework that ensures targeted and effective training is anything but simple. From training methods, to topic emphasis, to the inevitable issue of funding, professional development programs need to be flexible enough to accommodate a variety of educators, yet structured enough to get the job done. To get an insider's view, TTP checked in with Julie Judd, Director of Educational Technology at Moorpark Unified School District in Moorpark, California. We asked Julie for a rundown on how her district addresses this essential aspect of providing timely and relevant technology education to students.
Moorpark Unified School District
Professional Development Program Profile
Required Hours "The state of California requires 150 hours in every five-year period. This professional development happens on pupil-free days. The district has no hourly requirement other than in-service days."
Determining Goals "Our district makes its decisions through curriculum councils, with input from student and teacher surveys. California's EdTechProfile is an online teacher self-assessment that provides administrators with tools to evaluate technology training programs. Teachers can also ask for training through requests to the tech department."
Topic Emphasis "Currently we are emphasizing training on computer software to track data for student assessment and CMS (content management systems) for Web site design. Our goal is that teachers will do frequent formative assessments for data-driven instruction and communicate that information to parents with an updated Web page."
Training Approach "We have noticed a difference between administrators and teachers in the kinds of professional development they prefer, simply because of the nature of their jobs. Administrators put more focus on relevance, and teachers, not surprisingly, tend to prefer free and timely opportunities. To accommodate the convenience issue, teachers can take online seminars, attend off-campus conferences, or do individual projects to fulfill professional development requirements. Oftentimes this is funded through the School Site Council or grants. In general, time is such an issue that we have been training our administrators on district applications at our leadership meetings twice a month."
Funding Sources "We are a fortunate district in that we have an amazing grant writer. The funding sources we have used for training include EETT (Enhancing Education Through Technology) grants and a TAH (Teaching American History) grant."
Use of 21st Century Technology "The district has committed to preparing our teachers and, consequently, our students, for the 21st century. It has built a conference center at the district office with an interactive white board, student response systems, and wireless notebook computers. We began training teachers this fall."
Glencoe offers many tools to help you meet your own professional development goals. Glencoe's Technology Turning Points e-Newsletter can keep you connected with the latest professional development trends and strategies to help you meet today's challenges. Click here to see additional Glencoe professional development resources and tools.
