Support and Collaboration

Creating a Professional Learning Playlist

Resources

Support and Collaboration

Edtech Teacher:
Description of PLN Tools with rating system. /
Delicious:
Social bookmarks about PLN /
Tech Thoughts:
8 Ideas, 10 Guides, And 17 Tools For A Better Professional Learning Network /
Edsurge:
Professional Learning is how teachers develop new skills or refine old ones /

Learn

Getting started with online audio, video, lecture, virtual courses:
Podcasts:
Podcasts are a great way to get information when you’re driving in your car, making dinner at home, or waiting at the DMV to renew your license. Podcasts don’t force you to find more time in your day; they give you the opportunity to capitalize on all the dead time that already exists in your day by simply downloading the .mp3 or syncing a podcast to your iTunes account on your smartphone. /


MOOC: (Massive Open Online Course)
A course of study made available over the Internet without charge to a very large number of people. /


Webinars:
A webinar is a live meeting that takes place over the web. The meeting can be a presentation, discussion, demonstration, or instructional session. Participants can view documents and applications via their computers, while shared audio allows for presentation and discussion. /


iTunes U
iTunes U is a dedicated section of Apple's iTunes Music Store that features educational audio and video files from universities, museums and public media organizations for free download to PCs and mobile devices. /

Non-Traditional

Edcamps:
What makes Edcamp an unconference? Unlike traditional conferences which have schedules set months in advance by the people running the conference, Edcamp has an agenda that’s created by the participants at the start of the event. Instead of one person standing in front of the room talking for an hour, people are encouraged to have discussions and hands-on sessions. /
bit.ly/MD-Edcamps
Edsurge:
Most districts don’t have funding to send teachers to national conferences, or to host keynote speakers, but instead have found ways to revamp the look of Professional Learning to meet the needs of their staff in non-traditional ways. Here are few of the unique ways educators are given opportunities to expand their learning environment through creative measures. /
FedEx Day:
Give educators 24 hours to work on anything they want. The only rule is that it must be shared with the school at the end of 24 hours. /


P.L.A.Y.D.A.T.E.
A space for educators to come together and collaboratively explore the edtech tools we've always wanted to learn more about. The concept is to invite educators from around the area to join together on one day, sit in a room for a few hours and dig more deeply into these tools. We will collaborate with one another to explore functionality, application in our learning environments and experiment. There are no presenters in the room, no experts and no agenda. Simply time to play, tinker, and explore. /

Tools for Reflection

ASCD:
An article on fostering self-reflection. /
New Teacher Center:
Article on supporting teacher reflection. /
Reflection for Teaching:
Tools that can be used to support reflection, with a discussion of the process, the advantages and disadvantages of each tool. /

Maryland State Department of Education

Learning Forward Conference 2015

Creating a Playlist for Professional Learning