For the first time, the K-12 Online Conference is pleased to offer free professional development credit for participants. In many cases, the professional learning which takes place online during this conference and at other times as educators share ideas via blog posts can be more helpful and practical than many “formal” professional development sessions offered at school.
This weekend, conference organizers are pleased to announce availability of the K12Online Professional Development Tracker database, which permits anyone to submit a reflection on any presentation of the 2007 conference for credit. Before creating an account on the Professional Development tracker and submitting reflections (either as copied text paragraphs or as a HYPERLINK to a blog post or other webpage on a different site) please review the K12Online07 “Expectations for Professional Development and Graduate Credit” wikipage, the Professional Development wikipage, and the PD Rubrics wikipage. Several school leaders have already added their school information to the “Schools Granting Credit for K-12 Online Conference Participation” wikipage, and we expect many more in the weeks to come.
A variety of different examples of professional development examples following the rubric created by the K12Online07 PD committee have already been entered into the Professional Development Tracker database. Feel free to browse those submissions and get ideas for your own reflections. Participants are encouraged to use a variety of digital tools and media communication modalities to post and share reflections. The key is using this online learning opportunity (the K-12 Online Conference) as a catalyst for your own continuing improvement as a professional educator.
Many thanks to Texas educator Jamey Osborne, who has developed (and is continuing to improve) this robust online database portal, as well as San Antonio ISD for providing free hosting for the Professional Development Tracker database. Many thanks also go out to the K12Online07 Professional Development Committee, including:
Chair- Terry Freedman (http://www.ictineducation.org/)
Member- Jim Lerman (http://tinyurl.com/l5xst and http://tinyurl.com/zp4ee)
Member- Miguel Guhlin (http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/)
Member- Cindy Lane (http://www.login2lane.blogspot.com/)
Willing to Help: Scott Mcleod (http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/), Derek Baird (http://www.debaird.net/), Brian Grenier (http://bumpontheblog.etowns.net/)
These volunteers are listed along with other 2007 committee members on the “about page” of the 2007 K-12 Online Conference website.
After reviewing the conference credit wiki, please create a new account for yourself on the K12Online Professional Development Tracker database and start submitting reflections.
It is important to realize all submissions to the database are publicly viewable. Some features of the database are still under development, including the ability to print a participation certificate for each session for which a participant submits a reflection. These revisions to the database will continue during upcoming weeks. If you have feedback or comments on the K12Online Professional Development Tracker database, please leave them here as comments.
Conference organizers and PD committee members are enthused to offer this new framework for professional development credit recognizing the work and learning which results from K12Online participation. We hope to model “best practices” for professional development, and value both your participation and input in this process.
Please note that as in 2006, graduate credit for participation in the K-12 Online Conference is again available via Plymouth State University. Check out the grad credit page on our credit wiki for more details!
