5 Reasons to Take Online PD

Why should I take an online PD course?

Quality - The online professional development courses developed by our instructional technology staff are high-quality, interactive courses that are immediately relevant to your classroom. Our Technology Facilitators are certified online course developers that design the courses to match your learning goals. The courses introduce and reinforce concepts that you can put into practice in your class right away.

Interaction - These are not your typical sit-and-get professional development sessions. Our courses are interactive and filled with multimedia resources. You’ll read and/or watch a video to learn a new concept, teaching strategy or procedure. Then you’ll have discussion forums where you can ask questions, share ideas and see how other classroom teachers are implementing what you’ve learned.

Support - When you take an online PD course you’re not on your own afterwards. Our online courses last four weeks and provide you with ongoing support throughout. In week one of a course you may learn a new teaching strategy or how to use a new website with your students. The ongoing support provided through the course gives you not only the expertise of the facilitator leading the course but you also have the other teachers in your course that are going through the same process with you. You can share ideas about what worked, what didn’t work and discuss ways to make your classroom activities even better.

Convenience - We know teachers are busy. One of the most frequent statements heard from teachers is: There’s just not enough time! Our online delivery of professional development courses is the fastest and most convenient way to get your PD hours so you can make the most of your time . With 24/7 access to your courses you can complete your education WHEN you want and WHERE you want. Since our courses are web-based you can even login to your course from different computers. Start at the office and finish at home! You don’t have to drive to Loxley and sit in a computer lab for specific amount of time.

Savings - Online professional development saves the district $1000’s of dollars. Consider the costs associated with a typical face-to-face professional development: substitutes, travel costs, handouts, etc. all cost money. There’s also the educational “cost” of students not having their regular teacher in the classroom. With online professional development the district does not have to pay for substitutes, travel costs, etc. And more importantly, students don’t miss any instruction from their highly qualified teacher.

How Does a Course Work?

Our courses are 100% online. There is never any face-to-face meeting, drive to Loxley or staying after school for a specific amount of time.

Our courses last 4 weeks. Each week there will be a new lesson that opens for you. You can complete the activities for that lesson any time during that week. And if you need additional time, we can be flexible with deadlines to deal with those extra things that always seem to pop up on your busy schedule.

A lesson in a typical course will use an online video and supplemental readings to introduce a new teaching strategy, classroom activity or technology skill. Once you’ve learned the new content, you’re asked to implement it in your classroom. The videos and resources can be accessed as many times as you need to in order to master the content. If it’s a new technology skill that you’re learning you can even show the video to your own students to help them learn it.

After implementing it in your classroom, you can return to the online course to share your experience with others. What went right? What didn’t work so well? Ask for advice and offer your assistance to others. You’re not just learning from the course, you’re learning from the experiences of the other teachers taking the course with you.

Once you’ve started a lesson you can stop and start as many times as you’d like and pick back up where you left off. Most teachers report spending about one hour per week on the lessons. Some spend more and some spend less…it’s deisgned to be flexible to meet your needs and schedule.

Upon completing your course, four hours of PD credit will be awarded through STI PD.

How do I get started?

To get started review the list of courses currently being offered: www.bcbe.org/onlinePD You’ll also find course descriptions and STI PD Title numbers on that page.

Once you’ve selected your courses, go to STI PD and register for them by searching for the PD Title Number. On the first day of the course you’ll receive an email from the instructor with details for how to get started.

Before the course starts, you’ll need to make sure you can log in to our online learning site (Moodle) at http://learn.bcbe.org. You probably already have an account. There is a lost password link under the log in form on the left to get your password reset if you’ve forgotten it. There’s also a new account link that will let you automatically create a new account if you’ve never used the site before.

How do I get help?

Contact Mike Johnson for more information about the online PD courses and for assistance with problems or questions you may have. Email: mdjohnson@bcbe.org Phone: 972-6850