|
posted by: Melissa
| May 23, 2014, 01:57 PM
|
|
A growing number of schools districts are seeking new models of professional development that include online and blended learning. These models can transform PD into a more personalized, anytime, anywhere opportunity that fosters continuous learning.
PowerUp WHAT WORKS (www.PowerUpWhatWorks.org) offers this type of PD opportunity for school leaders, teachers and professional development coordinators with its research-based resources and materials who are interested in leveraging technology to enhance teaching and learning. A recent report from the Gates Foundation, “Teachers Know Best: What Educators Want from Digital Instructional Tools,” underscores the value of PowerUp. Based on a study of teachers, students, and school districts, it underscores the critical need for educators to understand how best to integrate digital content and tools into the classroom. It notes that teachers identified six instructional purposes for digital tools, all of which are addressed in PowerUp.
Here’s how:
- Delivering instruction directly to students
PowerUp has 19 Instructional Strategy Guides—11 for English Language Arts and 8 for Math—that contain materials to strengthen teaching and learning, powered by technology.
- Diagnosing student learning needs
The Math formative assessment resources guide teachers in their efforts to gather feedback on student learning to identify strengthens and weakness to target instruction.
- Varying the delivery method of instruction
The resource library in PowerUp hosts a wide range of curated resources to support personalize and differentiate instruction.
- Tailoring the learning experience to meet individual student needs
PowerUp incorporates principles of universal design for learning (UDL) throughout the site to ensure that students have multiple access-points to learning opportunities.
- Supporting student collaboration and providing interactive experiences
PowerUp has an Instructional Strategy Guide, Interacting with Peers, which is dedicated to student collaboration and interaction to support students’ understanding of mathematical concepts.
- Fostering independent practice of specific skills
PowerUp’s TechMatrix contains more than 400 assistive and educational technology resources, tools, and apps that help foster the independent practice of specific skills.
PowerUp contains all of these free resources that you can share with your colleagues. Explore PowerUp WHAT WORKS today and start personalizing your own professional development at www.PowerUpWhatWorks.org. Feel free to tell us about your experiences using PowerUp by writing to us at PowerUp@air.org.
This gust post is by Dr. Judith Zorfass, from PowerUp WHAT WORKS Co-PI
 |
Print
Permalink
