Engage in Professional Development
- Demonstrate the disposition for life-long learning and continuous professional development
Being in any profession requires life-long learning in order to stay
current in your field. It’s important to me to be a professional and so I need to learn new skills, processes, and
practices so I can apply them to new situations. The LDT program with
Purdue has helped me get more involved in learning opportunities. For example,
in my initial and final reflective essays for EDCI 56400 regarding my personal
vision of educational technology, I read some current research papers that
discussed upcoming trends in technology for education. These trends included
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Google Applications. This resulted in
my own personal research on how to take Google Applications and utilize them
for learning. Before this program, I didn’t utilize Google Docs or the Google
Drive. However, working with a partner for EDCI 57200, we utilized the Google
Drive by posting a Google Doc on our design for (American Psychological
Association) APA formatting. This allowed us to make current changes on the
document in real time. I learned more about MOOCs and how many organizations
offer free courses to help further your professional development. MOOCs are
available opportunities to participate in to learn new concepts for your
profession. For example, the following website, Open Culture, provides links to
many free online courses: http://www.openculture.com/free_certificate_courses.
After completing my Master’s degree in Instructional Design and Technology, I plan to take advantage of MOOC’s to gain a deeper knowledge in a concept. One concept that I would be interested in checking out is “Concepts in Game Development” as this could help me incorporate games into eLearning in the future.
Other avenues that I have taken to stay involved in professional development in my profession attending workshops on Problem-Based Learning at a school district in Gary, IN. It directed me to more research on Problem-Based Learning such as utilizing the Buck’s Institute for Education (www.bie.org) and others websites to learn as much as possible about Problem-Based Learning. From this information, I have learned to design and develop a 2-day workshop on Problem-Based Learning for school districts within my area using the methods in instructional design.
Within my EDCI 56900 for developing eLearning, I had to teach myself how to either use Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate. Previously, I had no knowledge of using software tools to develop eLearning. However, I utilized the website of Articulate and reading blogs on how to use Articulate Storyline, I learned how to create a synchronous eLearning module on “Teacher Evaluations.” I continue to participate in Articulate’s community to learn new concepts to apply in eLearning. Furthermore, I have also tested Adobe’s Captivate and tutorials to compare Articulate to Captivate as a learning tool.
Educause, www.educause.edu, helps me to stay current on technology topics for higher education that can also utilized for K-12 education. This website was introduced to me during EDCI 56400, Integration and Management of Computers in Education. Before starting this course, I was new to the concept of “flipped learning” so researched the topic in Educause and created “7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Learning.” I will utilize this website frequently for the instructional design profession and for my current job as a program coordinator arranging professional development for educations.
Professionally, I arrange professional development for educators, and I am fortunate to attend many professional development workshops. I use the information for these workshops to educate other K-12 educators. For example, I received training on how to start Guided Math for grades K-5 in a classroom. Guided Math is similar to Guided Reading where the teacher works in a small group while the other small groups work on math stations. So, last month I trained 20 educators on how to use Guided Math within their classroom. Even though I have led a workshop on Guided Math, I am still learning new concepts on the topic that leads me to constantly improve the workshop.
I plan to take advantage of all of the learning opportunities in order to better myself in my profession and keep me current in this ever changing environment.
After completing my Master’s degree in Instructional Design and Technology, I plan to take advantage of MOOC’s to gain a deeper knowledge in a concept. One concept that I would be interested in checking out is “Concepts in Game Development” as this could help me incorporate games into eLearning in the future.
Other avenues that I have taken to stay involved in professional development in my profession attending workshops on Problem-Based Learning at a school district in Gary, IN. It directed me to more research on Problem-Based Learning such as utilizing the Buck’s Institute for Education (www.bie.org) and others websites to learn as much as possible about Problem-Based Learning. From this information, I have learned to design and develop a 2-day workshop on Problem-Based Learning for school districts within my area using the methods in instructional design.
Within my EDCI 56900 for developing eLearning, I had to teach myself how to either use Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate. Previously, I had no knowledge of using software tools to develop eLearning. However, I utilized the website of Articulate and reading blogs on how to use Articulate Storyline, I learned how to create a synchronous eLearning module on “Teacher Evaluations.” I continue to participate in Articulate’s community to learn new concepts to apply in eLearning. Furthermore, I have also tested Adobe’s Captivate and tutorials to compare Articulate to Captivate as a learning tool.
Educause, www.educause.edu, helps me to stay current on technology topics for higher education that can also utilized for K-12 education. This website was introduced to me during EDCI 56400, Integration and Management of Computers in Education. Before starting this course, I was new to the concept of “flipped learning” so researched the topic in Educause and created “7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Learning.” I will utilize this website frequently for the instructional design profession and for my current job as a program coordinator arranging professional development for educations.
Professionally, I arrange professional development for educators, and I am fortunate to attend many professional development workshops. I use the information for these workshops to educate other K-12 educators. For example, I received training on how to start Guided Math for grades K-5 in a classroom. Guided Math is similar to Guided Reading where the teacher works in a small group while the other small groups work on math stations. So, last month I trained 20 educators on how to use Guided Math within their classroom. Even though I have led a workshop on Guided Math, I am still learning new concepts on the topic that leads me to constantly improve the workshop.
I plan to take advantage of all of the learning opportunities in order to better myself in my profession and keep me current in this ever changing environment.