Just-In-Time Support for Instructional Technology
For a number of years I would hear the words “professional development,” and my eyes would glaze over. I figured that if I was going to learn anything to advance my profession, I would have to look outside what my place of work scheduled for me.
Then one fine day, I realized that I was the one doing the professional development planning and training. I definitely did not want other teachers dreading coming to my training sessions, so I researched building capacity in a professional setting. I found some interesting results.
Regular Educator Coaching
Regular coaching on new systems has been seen to be the most effective. Also, long term support that supplies continuous capacity building is seen as producing better results than disconnected sessions.
If a school is aiming to increase the integration of technology across disciplines, there may be a myriad of levels of skills and comfort that a campus technologist will have to manage. The best idea that I have come across in managing this challenge came from an online course that I took from the Texas Computer Education Association : Create teams and a culture of “just-in-time support.”
