T.H.E. Journal: Web-Based Professional Development

The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting this article about web-based professional development from T.H.E. JOURNAL.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS HOT, HOT, HOT!
By Eliot Levinson, T.H.E. Journal

"Steven Paine, superintendent of education for West Virginia, recently mentioned at a conference that West Virginia requires 18 hours of professional development time for teachers every year. Singapore, he noted, requires 100 hours every year. Left hanging in the air was the question of how to close that gap.

"I think we can close that gap by taking advantage of technology-especially the Web-and the tools it is bringing to schools even today. Consider:

* New technologies allow 24/7 professional development
* New Web-based systems link educational content and management of professional development

"While integrated Web-based professional development systems are in the early stages, it is the technology that all educators should be paying careful attention to. The merger of a variety of PD, assessment, and content companies to provide the new high-quality PD has just begun, and the demand for PD services from school systems is heating up. The result will be that PD will be less about lectures on Wednesday afternoon or graduate courses, and increasingly a mix of Web- and human-delivered content linked to teachers' needs to address standards."

Read more here.