Online Conferences!

Janetta just emailed me another online conference going on in New Zealand. As I see that online conferencing (I have been watching last year’s K12 Online Conference) is going to grow, I think it would be great for teachers to collect professional development hours for ‘attending’ online conferences.

Our district gives credit to teachers who physically go to workshops, write a reflection, and turn it in for approval. The only difference for this is that the teachers are not going to have to go anywhere! I will require that they include the web address and the people included in the discussion, workshop, or podcast. But I have listened to lots of podcasts and webcasts lately that I have benefited from and I think my teachers could really benefit from these tools.

Next year we have committed all our PD funds to the Missouri Reading Initiative anyway, so that makes even less money for the teachers to get professional development. ‘Virtual PD’ is going to be the way to go!

I will need to direct my teachers to EdTechTalk, WOW2.0, and the above mentioned conferences so they can get some PD hours. A lot of what I have come across is technology related and my teachers would be really interested in reading and writing ideas and podcasts. I may even have to interview my own teachers so they can get the ball rolling for other teachers.

Any suggestions on how to get started? I am so excited about this that I think my excitement alone can be contagious with my teachers. The Women of the Web even said they would Skype in on my Tech Tuesdays! The possibilities are limitless!!!

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