Changing minds and transforming professional development...virtually

Abstract

Imagine a professional learning and development (PLD) approach designed to dovetail with what educators are doing in their classrooms and online - PLD that is accessible 24/7. Rather than asking educators to add another focus to their busy lives, this approach would support their teaching in a way that could rapidly enhance their students' engagement and achievement. The Virtual PLD (VPLD) programme was trialled and evaluated in 2010 with 10 teachers from the tertiary, secondary and primary sectors, and is being piloted in 2011 with 20 teachers and principals. The findings from the 2010 in-depth evaluation have fed forward into the pilot, which in turn is providing opportunities to test the robustness of the existing model with a larger number and variety of participants. This paper will provide a description of the VPLD model, as well as an overview of some of the findings from the 2010 trial.