Nings, blogs, wikis and sharing good practice online: A revolution in cpd perhaps?

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

OK, so Power to the People may not quite be where we are at in cpd (Continuing Professional Development) just yet, but I really do believe that in order for teachers at the chalkface to get the 2010 entitlement for 'all KS2 children to be learning a language during lesson time' to work - we need to share and work together, Primary and Secondary, Specialist and Newbies altogether. And thanks to the wonders of t' Internet - we can!

There are some fantastic forums out there to ask questions and bounce ideas: ELL, Yahoo MFL, TES Primary and TES Modern Languages, to name but a few...

Then there are the great collection of resources sites - ranging from the generosity of Sparklebox and Primary Resources through the TES resources and LA sites such as Sunderland and West Sussex to name but a few!

There's information and links in abundance from CILT through the NACELL website, the Training Zone with videos of classroom practice and even the entire KS2 Framework is available to download from the web.

But by far the best resource in my opinion, is the increased ability to contact each other and collaborate with colleagues like never before.

SImple shared bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us allow teachers to save their favourite 'bookmarked' websites online, so that they can be accessed from both home and classroom - ANY classroom. More importantly they allow people to then share these bookmarks, such as we have with DevonLanguages, with colleagues within the same school or further afield. And once you have an account you can save sites for other people and they can save sites for you and you can even find out what sites are popular in a particular topic, all with a click of a button.

Blogs have allowed teachers to share work with parents and students, or reflect and share with other teachers and professionals online. Blogs are increasingly being used between schools to communicate with partner schools abroad; work can be posted by one class for another to comment on before adding their own, all in privacy and allowing maximum flexibility of teachers/classroom time. Although if you are prepared to make more allowances for time constraints you can go a step further and communicate via flashmeeting, skype and video-conferencing.

Ning gathers mini-blogs together and bungs in a forum in a simple template so groups like this one - Talkabout Primary MFL - can be created, where teachers can share ideas and experiences with each other, contacting each other by leaving messages rather than emails. Set-up in minutes, ning is a social network system for grown-ups, and popular networks include eTwinning Ambassadors (set up after a British Council eTwinning conferences to allow attendess to continue to network & communicate with one another easily once the event was over and plan the next one), Ning in Education ( a huge American/global ning for teachers to encourage use of ICT and ning amongst 'educators') and Voices of The World (Sharon Tonner's award-winning project group for teachers and their classes to share ICT-based tasks with one another around the world).

Then there are documents that can be shared and edited online such as GoogleDocs. But my new discovery is WIKI. I've seen this used as wikipedia - an online encyclopedia that can be edited by the public. I've also seen Wiki's used by organisers of events - such as TeachMeet and Joe Dale's Isle of Wight Friday night meeting, where people who wish to attend add their names to a list. A bit like having a word document online that anyone can edit.

Recently I discovered Helen Myer's ALL wiki and inspired I've finally set one up to accompany this ning. I'm hoping it will help organise the blog posts as this network grows bigger, and although documents can be uploaded directly, just adding a hyperlink saves space. I am also hoping that any members, particularly those who are members of groups, might like to add/edit their own group pages, simply by 'joining' the space. You do NOT have to join the wiki to view it - so to see what I'm trying to describe, click the link below. I've only just started adding things - so the more people who volunteer to 'join' and add things themselves, the jollier! This space is for YOU to use!

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

Oh well - come the revolution, eh, Isabelle?! I agree it is a shame there is no way of recognising this form of peer-to-peer cpd in schools as yet. That's not to say it isn't valued - or at least the results are... I have learnt more about technology in particular from reading blogs over the past year than in 15 years of teaching and attending the usual training. Perhaps PPA time could be alternated weekly with cpd?

[Isabelle Jones]

Hi Jo

What a great idea! I have read a lot lately about what is called "Viral CPD". Sounds nasty, but it is what is happening naturally through all the online tools you mention. CPD is not a one-off thing but something we are slowly integrating into our daily lives. What is CPD, what is not? I view my reading your post, reflecting upon it and responding to it as a form of CPD. I have joined your wiki and the interactions I will have with other members-in my own time and about topics that are of direct interest to ME-certainly will be a very effective form of CPD, tailored to my own needs and received at a time that suits me best. The only problem with it? The CPD on a drip system is not recognised by schools... I would certainly consider a check your mail/ networks daily 15minutes system integrated into everybody's school day-i.e. on the timetable-as the most effective use of CPD time ever... I know, I am a dreamer... or am I??

Isabelle
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com