presentations

Delivering Engaging PD Presentations Through Videoconferencing and Supportive Technologies
Delivering or attending PD presentations can save time and costs, as well as increasing new PD opportunities for teachers. Focusing on keeping your participants fully engaged in the experience is critical, especially in a videoconference environment. This involves:
 * Choosing a relevant topic - related to specific teaching strategies or content in specific subject areas which is relevant to participating teachers
 * Use specific presentation strategies to keep your participants engaged during the presentation
 * Use a blend of technologies with videoconferencing to keep your participants attentive and to show content which enhances the learning experience

Choosing a Topic of Relevance
[|Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon (2001)] analyzed data gathered from both the literature on best-practices in professional development and evaluation surveys of 1027 teachers to determine what makes professional development experiences successful. Teachers reported the greatest learning when specific content, teaching strategies, and how students learn were focused on. Content that was general in nature or focused on broad ideas and concepts were found to be less effective at changing teacher practices and knowledge. In addition, “achievement was higher in schools in which teachers had participated in extensive professional development focusing on teaching specific [content]” (p. 924).