Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods

Educators looking to add effective and efficient professional development opportunities for staff need to look no further than online, according to a new book edited by Wirth Professor Chris Dede.

Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods--featuring authors from across a range of organizations, including HGSE--examines how educators can utilize online technology to make the most of professional development. In particular, the book presents 10 case studies of models that helped teachers improve their content knowledge, instruction, and technology fluency. The closing chapter provides insights about patterns that emerge in comparing these cases.

"Chris Dede is one of the most forward-looking educators in the field, with a keen awareness of the rapid evolution of information and communication technology," said Bonnie J. Smith-Skripps, dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University. "This book examines the potential of online and blended professional development to build teachers' ability to innovate and effect transformational change in schooling in order to provide all students with 21st-century knowledge and skills."

The book stems from a series of conferences held at HGSE that examined ways to link research in practice and create usable knowledge. Cosponsored by the National Science Foundation, the third conference, which focused specifically on online professional development, was held this past year.

Chris Dede is interested in expanded human capabilities for knowledge creation, sharing, and mastery that emerging technologies enable. His teaching models the use of information technology to distribute and orchestrate learning across space, time, and multiple interactive media. His research spans emerging technologies for learning, infusing technology into large-scale educational improvement initiatives, policy formulation and analysis, and leadership in educational innovation. His co-edited book from the HGSE's first usable knowledge conference, Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-Based Educational Improvement, was published by Jossey-Bass in 2005.