Collaborative Staff Development
Staff development is especially important in education, where staff is expected to continuously develop skills for engaged learning and technology integration, as well as meet the needs of all learners. Maximize staff development by creating an opportunity for teachers to collaborate and reflect within their own network on what works best for student learning. Collaboration encourages everyone to participate and agree on the goals, standards and objectives for their school or district. Collaborative staff development is also an effective way to identify training needs and deliver the appropriate resources necessary for long-term planning.
To establish successful collaborative staff development:
- Create a document with a few key questions for staff to collaborate on.
- Establish a timeframe during which the collaboration will take place.
- Make sure the purpose of the document is clear to all of the collaborators.
To conduct collaborative staff development in Webspiration™
1. Open a new Webspiration™ document or click the Templates/Examples button on the Starter screen to open the Collaborative Staff Development example.
2. In Outline View, type 3-5 questions you have, adding each as a separate topic.
3. Use Webspiration’s collaborative power in conjunction with face-to-face professional development. Collect questions to record in your document.
4. Establish a time period during which the document will be “live” for discussion. Let your collaborators know how long you will keep the conversation running.
5. Invite your colleagues to join the conversation by sending them a message that contains a built-in link to your document (Sharing > Invite).
6. Check back often to see what your colleagues have to say. Send status emails through the Email Document Users option on the Sharing menu.
7. Use the URL or embedded code to publish the document to the web, perhaps in a blog or wiki, to share the collective wisdom of your colleagues.