I’ve been planning my professional development for the year in the last few weeks. Today I finished up by putting all the details online for my districts.
- My online classes are scheduled and registration is open if you want to join an international (usually) learning community for a few weeks. Read more details here: Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections starts September 10 and runs four weeks. Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections starts October 8 and runs for six weeks.
- I have a new series of sessions meeting the requirement for a “long” course that I required of my distance learning coordinators in the RUS grant. We’re calling it Supporting Videoconferences and we’ll focus on using the new document cameras, etc., scheduling on their own (new procedures here), and troubleshooting.
- My “short” courses that also meet our RUS grant requirements have expanded greatly due to collaborations based on the Jazz workshop.
I noticed an interesting trend or pattern as I put these online today. The beginning of the year is heavy with PD sessions, and then it fades out towards the end of the year as we get busy with lots of VCs (ASK, MysteryQuest, Read Around the Planet, Michigan Week, etc.). Hopefully by starting with more PD we can help everyone prepare for their videoconferences throughout the year.
Are you making your calendar for 2007-2008? What trends or patterns do you notice?