Learning Resources - Management & Administration 7.04 7.04 Professional Development Plan. Develop a professional development plan for a school district. Introduction A good staff development plan is the key to a school's progress with technology. If you understand the needs of the professionals in your school and design a series of learning experiences to meet those needs then progress will follow. A comprehensive professional development plan will guide technology learning over a multi-year period. Teachers and administrators must have access to learning opportunities to improve their understanding and use of technology. A professional development plan will legitimize studies that support professional and personnel growth. Your Job Use the details provided below to create a product that addresses and demonstrates mastery of this competency. Use the stepwise process listed under Your Portfolio to display the completed product in your ITSC portfolio. Product Details: Create a product in INSYS 462 that demonstrates your understanding of developing a professional development plan for a school district. Your discussion should include a needs assessment. Within the needs assessment you are to provide good information about what people know and don't know. This then helps to identify the gap between what is and what should be and then the basis upon which to develop a plan. Be sure to detail the gaps that you have found. Discuss the evidence that you presented within your paper regarding the gaps and how this evidence would serve to impress and encourage the Board to spend money and time on professional development. The Goals / Rationale section of the plan is important because it helps the decision makers understand what you are working to accomplish and because it will help to understand the need and justify the program. Therefore your plan must include a list of comprehensive, but "doable" set of important goals that convincingly explains the need to meet these goals. Because the section on "Prescribed Learning Experiences" is the heart of the staff development plan and lists the activities that you propose to put in place to close the gap between the desired levels of knowledge and skill, and the levels your staff currently possess, you must include and describe all of the learning experiences that will be required to meet the stated goals. Make sure that all the learning experiences are directly linked and relevent to the stated goals. Detail this alignment or linking process. Furthermore, a good Staff Development Plan will discuss how the learning experiences will be evaluated. Your discussion must provide good information on how you will assess perceptions of the quality of the training and the skills and knowledge that resulted from the each session. Finally, a good budget is important, because it will result in the approval of the funds that you need to get the job done and because it may cause certain people to take professional development more seriously. Therefore, you will need to create an honest representation of the costs associated with the provision of the staff development that you propose in your plan. You are to include all important costs and be sure not to include any unnecessary costs. Your Portfolio:  FTP your completed product for this competency to the "7manadm" folder within the web-based portfolio template provided. Click here to view the "Evalu" page in the portfolio template. Download the "Evalu" page from your ftp folder. Locate 7.04 Professional Development Plan on the "Evalu" page. Under "7.04 Professional Development Plan" locate this sentence..."To view the evidence that I offer for this competency, please click here." Link the word "here" to your product. Delete the old "Evalu" page in your ftp folder. Upload your revised "Evalu" page. Click here to view the "Utiliz" page in the portfolio template. Download the "Utiliz" page from your ftp folder. Locate 7.04 Professional Development Plan on the "Utiliz" page. Under "7.04 Professional Development Plan" locate this sentence..."To view the evidence that I offer for this competency, please click here." Link the word "here" to your product. Delete the old "Utiliz" page in your ftp folder. Upload your revised "Utiliz" page. Click here to view the "Design" page in the portfolio template. Download the "Design" page from your ftp folder. Locate 7.04 Professional Development Plan on the "Design" page. Under "7.04 Professional Development Plan" locate this sentence..."To view the evidence that I offer for this competency, please click here." Link the word "here" to your product. Delete the old "Design" page in your ftp folder. Upload your revised "Design" page. Submit the URL for your completed product in the student database. Related Resources:  Professional Development Type of resource: Web site Source: http://www.acsu.k12.vt.us/ACSUPlan/PrfDev.html Description: To develop a vision of effective professional development, this Web site provides strategies for effective staff development, along with stages of information technology integration. "The purpose of high-quality professional development is to enhance student learning by promoting increased knowledge, skill, and renewal of educators and other members of the educational community. High-quality professional development provides a wide variety of opportunities for ongoing growth that enhances an individual's ability to perform as an educator and continuously promotes coherent, systemic approaches to improved teaching and learning." Critical Issues in Professional Development Type of resource: Web site Source: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/pd0cont.htm Description: A product of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, this web site introduces the following professional development issues: evaluating professional growth and development, finding time for professional development, realizing new learning for all students through professional development, and providing professional development activities for school-to-work initiatives. Education Leadership Toolkit - Change and Technology in America's Schools Type of resource: Web site Source: http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/ Description: A free on-line technology resource for school board members. This toolkit is a collection of tips and pointers, articles, case studies and other resources for education leaders addressing issues around technology and education. While this toolkit is written for school board members, anyone involved in technology and education will benefit from this excellent resource. It is especially useful for understanding how school board members interpret educational technology issues. The toolkit is organized into the following sections: Why Change?, Why Technology?, Planning, Policy, Curriculum and Assessment, Community Involvement, Facility Planning, Funding, and Professional and Leadership Development. Each section includes an overview and links to many resources. Helping Teachers Teach Well: Transforming Professional Development Type of resource: Web site Source: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/CPRE/t61/ Description: This issue of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) Policy Briefs reviews what is known about professional development--where it is now, and where it needs to be. The brief discusses its organization, costs, and effects on practice. It also suggests some principles to guide professional development in the future and offers a framework for designing and assessing policies and programs. The section on "Improving Professional Development" offers many good professional strategies. Many High School Professional Development and Technology Plan Type of resource: Web site Source: http://www.sabine.k12.la.us/mhs1/techplan.htm Description: This high school has combined their teacher's technology professional development plan with the school's technology plan. Included are strategies and a time frame for completing both plans as well as funding sources. [Competencies Home Page] [ITSC Home Page]