Teachers often face two dilemmas when it comes to professional development (PD): lecture-based learning that takes up a large amount of their time and one-size-fits-all training that doesn't take into account their unique skills and abilities. These approaches to learning have one thing in common: they emphasize passive learning over hands-on instruction. It's no wonder that many educators are less than enthusiastic about their school district's PD programs.
The good news is that things are starting to look up, with many districts seeking to modernize their PD by making it more engaging and relevant. Switching to activity-based learning has become integral to the modernization process. Activity-based learning emphasizes practical experience, creativity, critical thinking, and communication, resulting in PD that's interactive and effective.
Learning hubs like MobileMind are at the forefront of modernization efforts, offering districts a suite of tools to help them better integrate hands-on learning into their PD programs. Keep reading to learn more about activity-based learning and how it can enhance PD.
The Need for Modernized Professional Development
When it's effective, PD has the power to improve teacher's skills in the classroom and student outcomes. However, when it's done wrong, school districts lose educator buy-in and end up wasting valuable time and resources.
In the past, infrequent and impractical training sessions that didn't consider the daily realities of educators were the order of the day. This cookie-cutter approach ignored the diverse needs, experiences, and learning styles of individual educators, often leading to disengagement and a feeling of disconnect between PD content and practical application in the classroom.
Fortunately, school districts are increasingly recognizing that change is necessary, driven by the acknowledgment that effective learning requires engagement, practical application, and personal relevance, something that today's generation of teachers expect. In keeping with these expectations, districts have begun introducing PD that stresses active participation and hands-on experience. Part of this new strategy involves integrating a learning hub like MobileMind. It enables districts to create PD that's accessible anytime, anywhere, and embodies adult learning principles like being self-directed and building on real-world experience.
It leverages the principles of competency-based learning to ensure that PD is aligned with specific skills and goals, empowering educators to apply what they've learned to their teaching practice. MobileMind's integration of technology and interactive content facilitates a more engaging and practical approach to PD, enhancing the learning experience.
Advantages of Activity-Based Learning for Educators
Activity-based learning refers to an approach that uses hands-on, practical experiences as a core learning method. It's an alternative to the traditional lecture-based PD that often doesn't consider the real challenges that educators face in the classroom. This type of learning's focus on activities and real-world applications results in deeper engagement and a more meaningful understanding of educational concepts.
Interactivity and engagement in PD are exceedingly important, as these enable educators to take charge of their learning journey, improving retention of new skills and making it easy for them to immediately apply what they've learned in the classroom. For example, with micro-courses, teachers can fit PD into their busy schedules because these focused learning modules can be completed at their own pace and convenience, ensuring that PD is accessible and manageable.
Motivation is an essential part of PD, and learning hubs like MobileMind incorporate microcredentials and digital badges to keep teachers motivated and engaged. These elements gamify the learning process, but moreover, they provide teachers with tangible milestones and recognize their efforts and achievements.
MobileMind's patent-pending guided learning technology also provides step-by-step instructions within the educators' tech environment, making the learning experience highly relevant and immediately applicable, saving time, and ensuring that the lessons align with their teaching tools and strategies.
Implementing Activity-Based Learning in Professional Development
When school districts decide to improve PD, they are increasingly turning to hands-on, practical learning experiences for educators. This approach involves integrating real-world scenarios and interactive activities into PD, enabling educators to apply new skills and knowledge directly in their teaching environments. As a result, PD stops being just a theoretical exercise and becomes a valuable tool that can be immediately applied in the classroom.
Things like offering personalized learning paths and recognizing that each educator has unique needs, experiences, and teaching styles may seem inconsequential, but these make PD meaningful and effective. PD shouldn’t be a generic solution, but rather a tailored journey that respects and addresses the individuality of each educator.
MobileMind's course creation tools are based on this personalized approach, and districts can design PD courses that reflect the needs and challenges that teachers face and that encourage them to continue their professional growth journeys.
There is no other modern professional development solution consolidating all training efforts while providing a learning hub that streamlines and integrates remote and in-person professional learning for schools. Are you ready to level up your district's professional learning with MobileMind? Schedule a professional learning consultation here.
