Reimagining Personalized Professional Learning

Personalized learning best practices apply to professional learning.

Effects of Personalized Learning

The teacher's role changes in profound ways in a strong blended learning program. Both students and teachers report that they can't imagine returning to a traditional model once engaged in a blended learning environment. Students are hungry to show up and learn. And, because schools are able to deliver content through online platforms, teachers have more time and energy to devote to creating the most positive, interactive learning experiences possible for their students. This is an exciting time where educators are thinking beyond a role that has time and lecture-based elements, to one in which teachers are answering questions, facilitating discussions and mentoring students.

So how are educators personalizing their own learning to hone their craft?

There is less emphasis these days on "sit and get" professional development and more of a shift to expand access to high-quality, ongoing, job-embedded opportunities for professional learning for teachers, administrators, and other education professionals. Digital Professional learning communities, peer-to-peer lesson sharing, and better use of data and formative assessment allow learning to happen anywhere and at anytime. The ever-increasing online resources offer teachers and administrators new opportunities to collaborate, learn, share, and produce best practices with colleagues in school buildings across the country.

Learning that change occurs when people work together

Empowering Educators Through Professional Learning Toolkit

This Future Ready toolkit from the U.S. Department of Education provides leaders with a multi-step decision-making process, practical tools, and numerous examples for setting a trajectory of positive change, moving assertively toward achievement of student learning and improvement goals.

Rhode Island Specific Professional Learning Opportunities

Innovation Powered by Technology Conferences

Innovation Powered by Technology Conferences

For several years, the RIDE Innovation Powered by Technology conference has brought together hundreds of educators, school leaders, students, and community members to connect on systemic planning around the effective use of technology and digital learning!

This one of a kind FREE conference provides the opportunity to network and connect with fellow educators and school leaders; to collaborate with and be inspired by educators and students across the state; to be immersed in ideas, strategies, and resources; as well as to meet face-to-face with well respected professionals in the field.

2016 INNOVATION POWERED BY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE

September 17, 2016 - Building the Pathway to Student Success
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2015 INNOVATION POWERED BY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE

October 17, 2015 - Accelerating Personalization
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2014 INNOVATION POWERED BY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE

October 25, 2014 - Personalized and Proficiency-Based Learning
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2013 INNOVATION POWERED BY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE

October 5, 2013 - Cultivating Quality
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Digital Learning Consortium Professional Learning Opportunities

Rhode Island Digital Learning Consortium

Working and Learning Together to Lead Our Digital Transformation

RIDE is partnering with LEAS, local universities, and organizations to provide professional learning opportunities to support educators and school leaders in the digital transition.

Rhode Island Digital Learning Consortium Members:

RIDE * Coventry * Cumberland * Smithfield * West Warwick * Highlander * TechAccess * RISTE * URI

Upcoming Events:

SIGN UP FOR EDC 534: SEMINAR IN DIGITAL AUTHORSHIP

This course introduces major theories of digital authorship as a pedagogical approach to digital literacy. The course includes a range of hands-on dynamic learning experiences that integrate digital media, technologies, and best practice strategies for teaching composition and authorship in a Web 2.0 world.

Renee Hobbs is teaching this graduate course beginning January 22, 2016. The course is open to both non-matriculating students and current URI graduate students in any major. This course is required for the Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy.

Click here to learn more about the course and to learn how to register

4TH ANNUAL SUMMER INSTITUTE IN DIGITAL LITERACY

For K-12 and college faculty, librarians and media professionals, it's a hands-on, minds-on learning experience like no other!

July 24 - 29, 2016, Providence RI

We're proud that the U.S. National Education Technology Plan 2016 mentioned the Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy as an exemplary model of professional development in technology education!

Recent Events:

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE OF NEW ENGLAND

Special Education Educators *Teaching Assistants *
November 19 and 20, 2015
Crown Plaza Hotel, Warwick RI
Conference Information and Registration

INNOVATION POWERED BY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE:ACCELERATING PERSONALIZATION

Educators *Leaders*Students*Families* Community Members*Business Leaders
October 17, 2015
Rhode Island Convention Center
Conference Information and Registration

GOOGLE SUMMER INSTITUTE

Educators*Leaders*Coaches
Session 1: July 27, 2015 - July 31, 2015

Session 2: August 3, 2015- August 7, 2015
Institute Information and Registration

URI - SUMMER INSTITUTE IN DIGITAL LITERACY

Rhode Island Digital Learning Consortium

RIDE * Coventry * Cumberland * Smithfield * West Warwick * Highlander * RISTE * TechAccess * URI

Fuse RI

Fuse RI

The Highlander Institute's Fuse RI project provides just in time support for educators implement blended learning in their schools and classrooms. The Highlander Institute has assembled a "dream team" of Fuse RI Fellows - educators and administrators from schools around Rhode Island - each of whom partners with another district (separate from the one they work in) and collaborate with that district to assess readiness, analyze data, and help disseminate best blended learning practices based on each district’s specific needs.

Fuse RI Fellows hail from all corners of the state and are eager to collaborate, connect and learn with district partners during their two-year fellowship.

Learn more about Fuse RI

EdChat RI

#EdChatRI - Online Professional Learning

Join educators, administrators, parents, and students as they debate, share resources, ask difficult questions, and collaborate with others on how to improve the condition of education. #EdChatRI is the hashtag for joining this live conversation, which can be viewed by anyone.

#Edchatri takes place every Sunday night @ 8PM on Twitter. There is a specific focus each week, which is determined in the days leading up to the actual chat. Join through a browser using Tweetdeck or other similar tool. Engage in conversations with a few by replying to their tweets. Use the @username to reply to one or many in the same tweet. If a person doesn’t respond then reply to another person or your moderator.

#Edchatri was created by Don Miller and Alan Tenreiro who were thinking outside the box about professional learning. They recognized that there is little opportunity for educators to get away from their own school and view the great things that are going on in other parts of the state/country. Although relatively new, EdChatRI has become an incredible collaborative tool for educators to discuss and create solutions to various problems through Twitter. It is a chance for educators and school leaders in the Ocean State to share best practices both in classrooms and in districts across the state.

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6 MOST COMMONLY USED TWITTER TERMS

Twitter is a social networking platform with unique ways to engage with your network. As such, terms used to describe actions you can take on Twitter may not be in your usual vocabulary. This brief overview of these digital terms may help.

TASK	COMMAND
@mention	By placing the @ symbol in front of a username, you can tag another user in your Tweet.
@reply	By starting your Tweet with @username, you can reply publicly to a single user.
Direct Message (DM)	A private message can be sent directly to a user on Twitter who is already following you.
Follower	A follower is someone who follows you on Twitter and sees your updates on his home feed. (Your home timeline displays a stream of Tweets from accounts you have chosen to follow on Twitter.)
Retweet (RT)	This is a way for someone to share a Tweet from another user's account<
Hashtag #	Using the # symbol in front of any word or phrase tags your Tweets. When someone clicks that hashtag, she sees your Tweet along with everyone else's Tweets using that same term.