Professional development is increasingly being described in terms of "personalized learning" with individuals having control over how they spend their learning time not just for work but also for personal growth. This practice connects educators to a larger network of co-learners and resources. Just as we work to individualize and personalize learning for students, we do the same for teachers who are empowered to design their own "PD" with the "P" representing personal and professional. Learning has no boundaries as we pull in and share information in our network feeding our curiosity whether it be for Thai cooking, core strength training, differentiated instruction or using multimedia in assessments.
A couple places to get a feel for this shift in professional learning are the EdSurge blog for field reports on how various schools and districts are "remixing" their PD and a white paper entitled "Solving the Professional Learning Crisis".
The familiar approach to professional development is to attend workshops in-school and travel to conferences. A shift has occurred which now puts the individual educator at the center of the professional learning process. Instead of relying on in-person, infrequent sources for development, educators now create Personal Learning Networks (PLN) made up of digital learning resources and people. PLNs not only provide learning opportunities, but build community by offering a forum for sharing ideas and collaborating with others. Speak with an ICL team member to learn more about using educator blogs, Twitter,podcasts, Nings and other digital resources to construct a PLN to meet your personal learning needs.
For resources to support your personalized learning, look to check out the PD & ICL section of the Web Resources for Learning Web site.
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