Going the Distance: Online and Blended Models of Sustained Professional Development
Guest Biographies
Marie Cora | Barbara (Bee) Dieu | Kristine Góngora | Dafne González | Crystal Hack
Elizabeth Hanson-Smith | Debra Hargrove | Noreen Lopez | Susan Ohlsen | Leslie Petty
Tim Ponder | Sharon Reynolds | Lynda Terrill | Marian Thacher | Aiden Yeh
Marie Cora, Adult Education Consultant
Barbara (Bee) Dieu, Educator and life long learner. Member Tesol EVO and Braz-Tesol EduTech SIG Coordinator
She presently leads the Blogstreams Salon, a monthly gathering at Tappedin for educators interested in web-publishing and and co-runs Dekita.org, a project which advocates open approaches and participatory uses of Web applications in EFL/ESL teaching.
She blogs at Wide Open Spaces.
Kristine Marane Góngora, Instructional Designer, ProLiteracy Worldwide.
Dr. Dafne González, Full Professor, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela
Crystal Hack, GED-i Coordinator, Center for the Application of Information Technologies (CAIT), Western Illinois University
Slightly over five years ago, I was given the opportunity to coordinate GED Illinois Online. This was the first, and only, state-wide distance learning adult education initiative. Over the course of five years, the project has developed a national presence, literally going from coast to coast.
As GED-i grew, the need for professional development training also expanded. Instructors in the field needed to learn how to navigate the features and functions in GED-I, as well as how to facilitate teaching and learning online. In order to meet the needs of administrators, instructors, and adult learners, I coordinated the development and facilitation of several professional development modules that has served literally hundreds of participants. These professional development experiences have received the highest ratings from participants and administrators.
In addition to GED-i professional development modules, I have coordinated the development of a variety of online learning modules for the Central Illinois Adult Education Service Center, the Illinois Secretary of State Literacy Office, and the Ohio Literacy Resource Center. I have also facilitated teaching and learning experiences in the online environment, which range from independent study, direct email trainings, and fully facilitated courses. Throughout each experience, I worked closely with administrators and participants in order to ensure that the original objectives and professional development integrity was maintained.
Dr. Elizabeth Hanson-Smith, professor emeritus at CSU, Sacramento
banquet of 6-week workshops and discussion groups oriented very
specifically to the pedagogy of English teaching and to issues in technology.
The sessions are run totally by volunteers, and having no budget, we have
found numerous free online tools to make our work easier. At the same time,
the gradually changing coordination team has developed quite a data bank of
resources, online "handouts," and illustrative materials that are used to train
new session moderators and help them make their sessions more engaging.
Some of these materials are written by us and some appropriated from sites
online.
One of the most exciting elements of our work is the collaboration and
genuine comeraderie that has developed over the years. Many of us on the
team have been together for over 5 years, and we also form part of the
online community, Webheads in Action. Many of us are the only "techies" at
our respective schools, so taking part in theis community has been essential for our continued growth as online teachers. And our willingness to share our
expertise and to develop new techniques makes us an attractive group for
others to join. We are all aware of how much we are indebted to each other.
Debra L. Hargrove, Ed.D. ~ Coordinator Florida TechNet
While these online courses have been widely used, even nationally, they are all non-facilitated. Debra feels that it's time to move online PD forward and begin to migrate the courses into a platform that allows for online facilitation. She currently facilitates online courses for AE Pro (http://www.aeprofessional.org) using The Learning Manager system, and is in the process of migrating some of the Florida courses into Moodle, an open source Learning Management System that was recently installed on the Florida TechNet server.
Noreen S. Lopez, Adult Education Consultant
Recently I prepared a report for the National Institute for Literacy on adult education online PD. As part of that report, I reviewed the activities of AEPro, had some participants in online PD respond to several questions, and compiled information from nine states about what they were doing in online PD. Also, in cooperation with staff from AEPro, we compiled a chart of what states, various associations and other organizations are offering in online PD for teachers. This chart includes activities specifically for adult education teachers, as well as more generic online PD that is not directed towards adult education but could still be valuable to adult education teachers.
Susan Ohlsen, Project Manager - ProLiteracy America, Verizon Literacy Network
Dr. Leslie Petty, Associate Director, Project IDEAL, University of Michigan
Tim Ponder, Ohio Literacy Resource Center (OLRC)
The OLRC has partnered with the Center for Literacy Studies (CLS) to develop AEPRO (www.aeprofessional.org), a project providing facilitated online professional development opportunities as well as support and infrastructure for states and organizations wishing to explore online Professional Development. AEPRO will also provide a database of online PD opportunities and links across the country and supports a community forum for discussion of distance learning for the adult education field. Tim works closely with CLS staff and several outside consultants on this project.
Sharon Reynolds, Coordinator, Central/Southeast ABLE Resource Center, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
As one of five ABLE Resource Centers in Ohio, the Central/Southeast ABLE Resource Center is responsible for providing professional development and resources to ABLE programs regionally and statewide in the area of special needs and GED. We are continually revising our professional development offerings in an effort to meet the needs of our ABLE practitioners. Many individuals in Ohio have expressed a desire for "alternative" opportunities for professional development.
Within the past three years, the state of Ohio, with guidance from the state Special Needs Task Force, has developed a set of policies related to serving adults with learning disabilities. To support implementation of these policies, the state requires that all instructors and staff attend Learning Disabilities training. We are currently offering the first part of the LD Series online and the follow-up session in-person.
As a network of Resource Centers, we have been offering a blended approach to New Teacher Orientation, similar to the LD model above. The instructors work through an online course (via Blackboard) and then attend the second session in-person. Our Resource Center has also developed several video trainings in the area of the procedures for obtaining GED Accommodations.
Overall, the evaluations for our online learning opportunities have been positive. We do see a need to raise the level of technological competence in our ABLE practitioners. We also need to ensure that the infrastructure is present to support online learning.
Lynda Terrill, Technical Assistance and Web Coordinator, Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC
At the Center for Applied Linguistics since 2000, Lynda worked on the NCLE (National Center for ESL Literacy Education) Web site—from coding to developing online resource collections for adult ESL practitioners. She also helped redesign and continues to develop the CAELA Web site. CAELA’s goals include producing and disseminating easily accessible materials that synthesize research and make applications to practice for teachers, administrators, researchers, and others related to adults learning English as a second language. A second goal of CAELA is to provide technical assistance to teachers, programs, and states. CAELA is exploring and expanding the ways it can combine the CAELA Web site with in-person, email, video- and telephone-conferencing to provide appropriate, practical professional development for practitioners in adult ESL.
Marian Thacher, Director, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN)
Aiden Yeh, MSc, Lecturer, Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages
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