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In the midst of a growing storm of new technology-induced learning concepts such as flipped learning, blended learning, personalized learning (to mention but a few) , teachers are left with no other alternatives but to enhance and accommodate their professional development efforts to suit the changing educational paradigms. Edsurge called this "personalized professional development". This is the kind of life-long learning that involves the integration and leverage of digital media and technology (and offsite resources) for expanding one's field of expertise. Image source: EdSurge The web now abounds with all kinds of resources, tools, materials, and know-how to help teachers grow professionally. EdSurge has this wonderful guide featuring a set of different tools that teachers can draw on to expand their professional development. These tools are selected in such a way that they address different areas : They support how teachers engage with colleagues They help teachers learn or find support for implementing fresh strategies and approaches They measure how that learning impacts practice in the classroom. To better evaluate how these tools help teachers grow professionally, EdSurge created a "framework of a continuous cycle of learning." This framework is composed of 4 stages: engage, learn, support, and measure. Under each of these stages is featured a collection of web tools to help teachers get more out of that stage.

"More importantly, it happens in K-12 classrooms all the time.  I know because when teachers relate stories of engaged students using technology, their students all ask the same question: "Can I have more time to work on it?" The ingredients for cooking up engaging activities vary, but certain elements are constant. For one, the activities are challenging and expectations high. There's no "click-along-with-me-and-do-what-I-do-kids" passiveness in these classrooms. Instead, it's more like: "This is hard. And I'm not going to show you how to do it. But I expect what you create will be excellent." There's also an authentic audience. Tell students you're going to present their work at a conference, or submit it to a state publication, and then watch the heightened focus in their eyes. Yet, the audience doesn't necessarily need to be outside the school walls. Just tell them you're going to show their work to other classes and teachers. As one teacher noted: "I didn't realize how little I mattered, until I told my students that I was going to publish all their work to an audience." And great teachers figure out other ways to make kids care. They personalize the content - drawing connections to kids' lives - and help students understand why what they're doing is important."

Tablets and mobile phones are personal, powerful, and open.  Microsoft? What's that?

A focus on the pedagogy required to fully embrace mobile technologies.

Things to consider when selecting tech tools