Sharing Good Practice
PERSONALIZED PROFESSIONAL
LEARNING
BY: KEVIN SIMPSON
PERSONALIZED PROFESSIONAL
LEARNING
“
P
rofessional
learning
will
become more personalized
with
educators
creating
opportunities that they need
through networking, collaboration,
and relying more on colleagues rather
than external experts.” – Deb Delisle,
President and CEO of Alliance for
Excellent Education
By: Rashenah Walker, Ashley Green
and Kevin Simpson
What is the future of professional
learning? In a blog post published last
year, we posed this question to three
leaders. What emerged was the need
to be personal, flexible, and open to
new ways of delivery. What are some
ways we can personalize professional
learning for educators and leaders in
the MENA region? In this article we
42
Term 1 Sep - Dec 2019
will share some models and resources
to consider and explore as you launch
into the new academic year.
Every August the school year for
teachers starts out the same way,
with an intensive “welcome week”
of professional learning that consists
of a speaker, PowerPoint, and a full
staff listening idly for several hours.
With the increase in demand on
schools to push student performance
to meet international expectations,
this may rarely leave time for follow-
up throughout the school year.
So how do schools keep up with
teaching, curriculum pacing, as well
as meeting the development needs of
a diverse staff? Ever consider Flipped
Professional Learning (PL)? Similar to
Flipped Class, this method will allow
schools to differentiate, customize and
Class Time
innovate professional
with easy follow-up.
development
Flipped PL can be designed very
simply using pre-developed tools
from Teaching Channel, TeacherTube,
Khan Academy or other resources.
These websites offer videos on several
topics that cover teaching strategies,
subject specific content, and other
material, with most offering video
transcripts, discussion topics, and/
or comprehension questions. Using
a school-wide platform such as
Edmodo or Google Classroom, videos
can be posted with comprehension
questions or an online quiz to check
understanding.
Discussion
can
take place online or in department
meetings with skill specific observation
to follow. If transcripts are available,
they can be translated to ensure all