PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: IS IT WORTH THE TIME? Kelli Odhuu, Ph.D.
Regional English Language Officer U.S. Embassy Tallinn
This summer I had the opportunity to take an online professional development course called “English Language Programs Training of Trainers.” I wanted to connect with colleagues, learn more about conducting effective workshops, and understand more about online professional development. Through the 5-week experience, I found out three things: First, I found out that I was more interested in the resources than passing the class. Since I haven’t been conducting workshops recently, I couldn’t put the newly gained knowledge to use immediately. When I start doing workshops again, I will refresh my mind on several important points in the course, such as adult learning theories and teacher expectations for effective professional development. Secondly, I found out that discussions are both fascinating and a waste of time. When I was professionally interested in the topic, I found myself writing longer responses and responding more to my colleagues; when the topic didn’t seem relevant to me, I wrote a short, boring response to the discussion thread and didn’t read others’ responses. Time was also wasted when I felt that I had to take time to respond to others’ comments, even if they weren’t interesting to read. Thirdly, I understood that hybrid courses are most effective for me. Once a week, we would meet together online for an hour. Each synchronous session was scheduled the same way on Zoom: the welcome, three breakout room discussions followed by whole group summaries of those discussions, and a survey question and whole group discussion of the results of the survey. When I write this down, it seems boring and long, but it wasn’t. Each discussion was relevant and interesting to everyone because the discussion questions were worded generally enough to include a wide range of specific topics, and we could have continued to discuss if given the time. These insights are important as they directly relate to adult learning theories (see Garrison 1997; Knowles 1968; Kolb 1984; Mezirow 1978). Specifically, I want to be self-directed, deciding what I want to learn when; I want what I learn in professional development to build on my own past experiences and still have practical relevance for future activities; and I want opportunities for collaboration, especially synchronous collaboration. Are these similar to your needs during professional development? When I think about professional development conferences, our needs as adult learners are often taken into account: we get to choose a workshop from several concurrent sessions; successful workshops make sure the content builds on our previous knowledge and can be implemented or reflected on immediately to develop more effective teaching practices; and we often find ourselves being directed to “share with a partner” and collaborate that way. So, what happens when you decide to take an online professional development course alone? How do you meet your need of collaboration with colleagues? Do asynchronous online discussions satisfy your desire to share your insights with colleagues? Or when you write a discussion thread, do you feel something tangible is lacking? Teachers want to connect with other teachers to grapple with new resources, methodologies, or ideas. How can you connect with others when you are alone? The solution to this is to create a teacher support group in your community (Murray 2010), whether that community be in person or virtual. Murray explains the concept of this type of “study group”: 15
