Professional Learning Opportunities to Improve Teaching Techniques

The skills and knowledge necessary to be an effective teacher are not static. The profession is continually evolving as teaching methods and techniques change in response to society’s shifting priorities and new insights into how children best learn.

We’re a quarter of the way into the twenty-first century and entering a new era of transformation. Technology advances that make hybrid and asynchronous learning possible, the availability of AI tools, the nation’s changing demographics that require increased focus on inclusive classrooms, and the continuing need to diversify instruction are making the American classroom a dynamic and exciting place for learning. However, this also means educators must continually engage in professional development (PD) to keep pace.

The best teacher education programs cannot teach technologies that have yet to be developed to pre-service educators. School leaders must offer professional learning opportunities that will enable their faculty to master new skills. The challenge for school leaders is providing PD to teachers with diverse skill levels and different roles in the district. Traditional PD programs that hold infrequent in-service days with one-size-fits-all training cannot offer the continuous, personalized learning opportunities that educators need. The modern teacher needs a modern PD program.

The Skills That Educators Need in a Twenty-First-Century Classroom

We’ve come a long way from the days of lecture-style lessons and mimeographed worksheets. Innovative pedagogical approaches harness the power of artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and interactive lessons using one-to-one and one-to-many screens.

Teachers must know how to integrate technology into lessons and use devices like interactive panels and tablets, coding robots, and VR headsets. They need to know how to interact on collaborative platforms, especially since social media plays such a significant role in the lives of their students. Educators at the middle and high school levels must be familiar with TikTok and other such platforms. Modern teaching methods incorporate strategies that include flipped classrooms, project-based learning, and peer teaching. Teachers should understand these methods and know how to effectively use them in their classrooms.

This is a tall ask, and obviously, educators need more than occasional in-service days to learn these skills and keep current with the newest technology.

Why Traditional PD Is Not Effective in an Era of Rapidly Changing Technology

Teachers bring a wide variety of experience and knowledge to their districts. Some fully embrace new technology and have strong digital skills. Others may be more hesitant to leave the comfort of their established methods. All need learning opportunities that fit with their needs, level of knowledge, career stage, and role in the district.

Traditional PD programs that dedicate a day to lecture-style presentations will bore many with unnecessary information, and others will be unable to integrate all the information presented in just a few hours. In the weeks or months between sessions, much of the learning will be lost and handouts shoved into desk drawers to be forgotten.

Adults learn best when learning is relevant, considers prior knowledge and experience, is self-directed, and is focused on problem-solving. It is impossible to meet these criteria for everyone in a district with whole-group learning. Traditional PD sessions also pull educators away from their classrooms and students, breaking the momentum of carefully planned units of learning. School leaders who still rely on this style of PD may wish to reevaluate the effectiveness of their district’s programs in this era of rapidly advancing technology.

A More Effective Way to Offer Professional Learning Opportunities to Educators

When the advances in mobile technology ushered in the era of hyper-connectivity, hundreds of massive open online course providers like Khan Academy and Udacity, along with many brick-and-mortar universities, went online to offer individual classes and entire degree programs.

Online micro-courses target a single concept or skill in bite-sized learning modules that can be completed in a few minutes, are easily digested, and move learners along a learning path to deeper knowledge. Unlike whole-group learning, the asynchronous learning style enables learners to move at their own pace, so they can quickly progress through materials that they are comfortable with and slow down to grasp more complex concepts. Learning is personalized to meet the needs and career goals of the learners, ensuring that coursework is relevant.

However, utilizing these platforms for a district’s PD needs isn’t practical, as school leaders would need to vet courses and somehow organize and track the progress of individuals across multiple platforms. There is a more efficient way.

MobileMind Simplifies Development of Modern PD Programs

MobileMind is a cloud-based learning hub that brings a district’s PD into one space. School leaders can design courses and learning paths to meet district-specific needs and access pre-built lessons and learning pathways from the ReadyMade Marketplace. MobileMind’s AI Content Genie facilitates course development, using artificial intelligence to create professional learning opportunities by drawing from video content.

Teachers may access the learning hub from a mobile device or browser extension and engage in PD when and where it is convenient. As they progress through a course of learning, they earn motivational badges and micro-credentials. A leaderboard promotes friendly competition among colleagues, creating a community of learners.

Traditional PD often fails to deliver because for many educators, the learning is not relevant to their needs, participation does not fit well into their schedules, and the learning is fragmented. MobileMind remedies these failure points by offering personalized PD and enabling teachers to direct their own sustainable learning.

Conclusion

In a dynamic classroom environment, educators need access to professional learning opportunities to improve their methods and techniques. With continually changing technology, standards, and priorities, PD needs to be continuous and convenient to support and encourage teacher engagement. MobileMind gives school leaders the tools that they need to create a modern PD program that meets these requirements.

MobileMind offers personalized professional development with activity-based learning. All PD activities are brought together in one space to simplify reporting and tracking. The ReadyMade Marketplace makes it easy for school leaders to develop relevant, effective PD programs. With one click, you can get pre-built learning paths, micro-courses, and badges for EdTech training. Schedule a call to learn more.