Professional+Development

OCLC’s WebJunction offers webinars and self-paced online courses to sponsored library staff, with the funding to pay for the classes coming through state libraries. Only some states participate in WebJunction. The majority of classes are about computer technologies, with some classes about customer service and interpersonal communication thrown in. There are a small number of classes about library services offered as well. WebJunction’s training opportunities are potentially very useful where librarians need to pick up some specific skills quickly, as the courses are self-paced and available at any time. WebJunction is at [].
 * ** OCLC’s WebJunction **

Simmons College’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science has a continuing education program that offers numerous online workshops. Massachusetts librarians have to earn continuing education units that are accredited by the Massachusetts Department of Education. (These are called “Professional Development Points” instead of “Continuing Education Units.”) Simmons’s continuing education program lets Massachusetts librarians earn these PDPs, but librarians elsewhere can take them to earn CEUs or simply to advance their professional knowledge and build their resumes and CVs. Examples of course are “Instruction Librarian Boot Camp,” “Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies” and “Integrating iPads, iPod Touches and Tablets into your Library.” The cost of these four-week courses is $250, or $200 for Simmons alumni. Simmons GSLIS CE site is at [].
 * ** Simmons College’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science **

ALA offers many online courses for professional development through its divisions, including three that are geared toward ALA-APA’s Certified Public Library Administrator program. Of ALA’s divisions, ACRL offers the most online classes, including “Classroom Assessment For Information Literacy Instruction: Are they Learning What You Are Teaching?” and “Deciding with Data.” Prices for these four-week classes range from $60 for students to $195 for non-members, with the price for ALA members coming in at $175 and ACRL members at $135. Classes from LITA, like “Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs,” are a little more expensive, while offerings from PLA, like “Alternative Reads: Discovering and Sharing Great Indie Fiction Books with Your Patrons,” tend to be inexpensive one-shot Webinars. Some of ALA’s online courses earn participants CEUs and some do not. ALA’s online learning options can be found at []. The newly christened Library Juice Academy, a spin-off of LIS publisher Library Juice Press, has 26 courses slated to be taught over the next several months, with the list growing as new instructors are hired. Courses range from two to four weeks in length and are on practical topics such as “Cataloging for the Non-Cataloger,” “Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing,” “Introduction to FRBR” and “Game-Based Learning in Library Instruction.” Course offerings include a balance of technology skills training and innovative conceptual models, such as Margaret Heller’s course on community-driven collecting, cataloging and curating. Participants in the workshops earn Continuing Education Units. The pricing is in the same range as other providers: $175 for the four-week workshops and $90 for the two-week ones. Library Juice Academy’s offerings can be found at []. Although online classes lack some of the richness of face-to-face learning, in many cases they can provide networking opportunities for librarians to interact with other librarians interested in the same topics. In many online settings, such as Simmons and Library Juice Academy, participants interact with the instructors and with each other in an online forum where class discussions take place. In these budget tight times, online professional development options present an alternative to conferences that lets librarians “be green” while letting their institutions “save green.” It is likely that they will continue to be a growing share of our professional development activities.
 * ** ALA Divisions **
 * ** Library Juice Academy **

Ok2Ask's "Snack Sessions" are online professional development which are available live or archived, and are aimed at self-directed teacher professional development and exploration.

an online database of professional development conferences and workshops for educators where you can search by course, seminar, subject, date, state or browse.

a social network community for educators using web 2.0, social media, and collaborative technologies.

an online library of more than 1,000 free media resources from public television: //**Frontline, American Experience, Nova**//, and more.


 * Social Networks for Educators **

//From the site:// TIGed allows educators to harness the power of the **[|TakingITGlobal community]** in a way that fits the needs of their learning environment. More than just a stand alone course management system, TIGed combines an easy-to-use online toolset, or virtual classroom, with collaborative Web 2.0 technologies, global education resources, and hundreds of thousands of global youth leaders in more than 200 countries. Using TIGed, you can connect your students to global perspectives, opportunities for creative expression, and interactive resources to help better engage them in their learning. //**From the site:**// This site was created to serve as a collaborative, objective resource for educators and administrators who are committed to enhancing student achievement. We invite you to share your knowledge, ask questions, and get expert insight into the issues teachers face each day in the classroom. [|Studeous] | is the free and easy way to manage your courses online. Studeous is the first Learning Management System (LMS) that allows teachers to sign up for free on their own, allows administrators control over their school, and is hosted and maintained online.
 * [|All Things PLC, All in One Place]**

** Online Magazines for Teachers: ** [|TeachersFirst] is a rich collection of lessons, [|units], and [|web resources] designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format. We offer our own professional and classroom-ready content along with thousands of reviewed web resources, including practical ideas for classroom use and [|safe classroom use of Web 2.0]. Busy teachers, parents, and students can find resources using our [|subject/grade level search], [|keyword search], or extensive menus. [|TeacherMagazine-] is an online Learning Place for teachers. It contains links to many valuable teacher's blog, current research on education and many other areas that stimulate thinking and learning for educators.
 * [|The Education Podcast Network]** - brings together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century.


 * //[|Teachnology]//** is a web-portal for teachers- it contains a **wealth** of ideas, resources, lesson plans etc.


 * [|Videojug]** is a site students, parents and teachers. Using professionally made films, and renowned experts, they guide you through all stages of school life, right up to University. They also tackle subjects like students with special needs, preparation for exams and the psychology of learning itself.

Inspiration and Inspiration for [|Innovative teaching in K-12 school]s. Find detailed articles, in-depth case studies, research summaries, short documentary segments, expert interviews, and links to hundreds of relevant resources
 * [|wwwtools for teachers.]** a free online magazine for teachers and educators.

[|Intel Online Resources:] this is a wealth of ideas, articles, unit plans and stories of how teachers are using online resources to create units that focus on Higher Order Thinking, powerful questioning and learning and 21st Century skills.

[|TeacherXPress]- **The education web for Busy teachers** is an amazing site which has links to a huge amount of educational resources.


 * [|Change in Teaching Practice with Learning Technologies]**: This is a site created for teachers in South Australia around the introduction and development of eLearning skills and integration in the classroom. There are links to educational readings and links to [|online resources.]


 * [|21st Century Skills]**- a discussion about the 21st Century skills that students need to function effectively in the knowledge economy


 * [|Education Channel]** is a site created by the Victorian Department of Education for teachers, students and principals. It is a resource that provides links that have been recommended and reviewed by educators. There are pages for [|teachers], [|secondary students], [|primary students] and [|principals].

** Research about changing education: **
[|The World is Flat:] a video with Thomas Freidman, a very interesting presentation about his book The World is Flat. [|Job Basics for the 21stC]-David Thornburg [|Archive] of David Thornburg articles [|PBS Online site] for educating teachers: a place where you can search for information for teachers [|21st C skills]- article on why we need to teach 21stC skills and how we teach it.

Videos for Promoting Professional Discussion:
[|The Machine is Us/ing Us-] YouTube version [|Pay Attention] - Teacher tube version [|Digital Students @ Analogue schools]- discussion by students about what they want in class and use to learn and express themselves.

Mailing Lists for teachers:
[|ozteachers] is one of the oldest and most prolific mailing lists for teachers. Established in Queensland, it has become one of the most valuable resources that teachers can use to access support and provide support to others. This link will provide you with the signup as well as access to archived postings.



**Useful  Websites ** [|Bettscomputers] is a site created by Graeme Betts, [|PBS is a website] that you can use with students to explore many topical issues. There are many short videos and articles that you can access. [|Go Science] - Mohave High School has a fantastic site with lots of great ideas and resources. Kept up to date as well. [|Streamwood High School]- a site for teachers beginning the school year. Tips on discipline, lessons plans and links to other sites

Sites and links to educational bodies:
 is the  world's largest non-profit global network that enables teachers and youth to use the Internet and other technologies to collaborate on projects that enhance learning and make a difference in the world.

 This is a very interesting link to [|articles about Wikipedia.] It gives the pros and cons of using Wikipedia as a research tool. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif';">