The Five Models of ProfessionalDevelopment

Author

Simon ClarkeICT Action Research 2008

PART APLANNING

Identifying a Research Project

Project Title –

Exploring what models of professional development create the mosteffective change.

Name of School / Class Year Group =

7/8Balmacewen Intermediate

Teacher

Simon Clarke

Context

Class / School Description

The school is currently engaged in a programme of professional developmentinvolving ICT and Action Research.

Research Focus / Questions

What models of professional development create the most effective change.

Rationale

Balmacewen Intermediate has invested a huge amount of money into hardware andteacher release to improve teaching and learning. In 2007, all classes were equippedwith projectors and surround sound systems and in 2008 all but three classrooms had been installed with $3000 interactive white boards. Human resources have also beeninvested in; Iain Bonney was available for support in Action Research but also for thetechnical issues people were facing, Simon Briscoe from Activ Boards was contractedto provide 16 hours of technical support and I had also been released at considerableexpense to the school to provide support for best use of the whiteboards and other ICT tools in teaching and learning.

Project Outline

Over the course of the year I wanted to explore different professional developmentmodels and find what model has the biggest effect on teacher professionaldevelopment. Sparks and Loucks-Horsley (1989) catagorised 5 different models of professional development; Individually Guided Development,

Observation andAssessment, Involvement in a Development or Improvement Process,

Training andInquiry. I planned to use three of these models and base them upon my professionaldevelopment support in each of the first three terms.

Preparation

Aims

•

To read a variety of material on professional development

•

Have a thorough knowledge of the Promethean/Activ Board software

Expected Outcomes



Teachers will have a greater confidence in using and creating flipcharts, usingtheir interactive whiteboard and any other ICT equipment that interests themand improve teaching and learning

Outline Plan

Preparation



Complete a questionnaire on teachers needs for ICT development.

Lessons and Activities

Term One -

Mount Roskill Intermediate employs a full time ICT teacher whose job isnot only to teach ICT skills to students but also provide professional development tothe teachers as they are expected to be active participants in the students’ lessons. Theteacher would tell the ICT specialist what learning outcomes they were covering inclass and he would devise a lesson which incorporated this learning outcome but alsoa relevant ICT skill, the teacher then took part in the lesson.It was on this basis that I wanted to explore the first model of professionaldevelopment, “Training”. Training could be viewed as the most traditional approachto professional development and is probably the most common. The expert presentsnew ideas or skills to the learner for them to try at a later date. All but one teacher, who declined the support offered, were asked for a morning andafternoon time slot and at a point closer to the time the learning outcomes that theywere hoping to achieve in that time slot.Showing what could be done with the interactive whiteboards and its associatedsoftware was a high priority, but I also endeavoured to show how ICT can support co-operative learning and any other suitable hardware and/or software. The morningmath sessions generally used the flipcharts to support the numeracy project but alsoan introduction to the learning objects was a common lesson. The afternoon sessionswere much more varied including; Flickr (Art), Blogger (Writing and classroom portal), Clickview (Outdoor Ed), Stop Motion Animation (Outdoor Ed), Marvin(Picture Books), Cosmic Blobs (Picture Books), Interwrite Tablet (For 10, 11 and 23),Video Editing (Inquiry) and Photography (Foods).