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the type of support and on-the-job training most teachers receive is episodic, often fragmented, and disconnected from real problems of practice.

Teachers lack time and opportunities to view each other’s classrooms, learn from mentors, and work collaboratively,”

“The research tells us that teachers need to learn the way other professionals do—continually, collaboratively, and on the job. The good news is that we can learn from what some states and most high-performing nations are doing.”

U.S. teachers report little professional collaboration in designing curriculum and sharing practices, and the collaboration that occurs tends to be weak and not focused on strengthening teaching and learning.

Research shows that professional development should not be approached in isolation as the traditional “flavor of the month” or one-shot workshop but go hand-in-hand with school improvement efforts

Professional Learning in the Learning Profession: A Status Report on Teacher Development in the U.S. and Abroad

Teachers are not getting adequate training in teaching special education or limited English proficient students

United States is far behind in providing public school teachers with opportunities to participate in extended learning opportunities and productive collaborative communities. Those opportunities allow teachers to work together on instructional planning, learn from one another through mentoring or peer coaching, conduct research on the outcomes of classroom practices, and collectively guide curriculum, assessment, and professional learning decisions

other nations provide: • Extensive opportunities for formal and informal in-service development. • Time for professional learning and collaboration built into teachers’ work hours. • Professional development activities that are ongoing and embedded in teachers’ contexts. • School governance structures that support the involvement of teachers in decisions regarding curriculum and instructional practice. • Teacher induction programs for new teachers that include release time for new teachers and mentors, and formal training of mentors.

U.S. teachers average far more net teaching time in direct contact with students (1,080 hours per year) than any other OECD nation

It doesn’t matter if the ideas I had - or the way I was trying to express them were any good or not.. what I’m talking about is the need we all have for encouragement and motivation to improve on and further our own learning. I could have enrolled in a course and paid a teacher to give me that … attention, but even then it would have felt disingenuous and limited by what that one teacher could muster after 20 years of putting up with it.

This amazing project that Konrad has taken me on boils down to is this: I have drawn a concept for a building I want to one day build, using Second Life and its communities to draw and develop the model. I have used numerous online networks to research and inform the model, and this drawing is only one step in many for this long term plan I have. That network has given me the motivation to take it all further. In the process I have learned a lot about sustainable building, drawing in SL, communicating with online networks beyond my normal peers, and in that I have gained new confidence. Now I am coming to an end with the VirtualClassroomProject, having reached the limitations of the model in SL Jokaydia, and want to take it further. I have made numerous attempts to connect with a local group who are developing sustainable building designs, but what was that I said about powering down? I think it will turn out that I will install the model somewhere more permanently in SL and continue to tweak the model, make variations and details, do a costing analysis for a real build, develop a website for it, and continue to try and find useful contacts who I can work with and possibly take something like this further - no doubt I will find them online… I already have one lead in Melbourne!

this project has helped me to render my private and two dimensional ideas into a public and socially supportive domain.

The research reinforces the belief of big online brands that social networking sites are the way to get advertisers in front of the lucrative youth market

"My mum will ask sometimes 'Is it safe?' but she doesn't really know," a 16-year-old girl told the IPPR. A 14-year-old boy added that even the sort of child-locks that are put on internet access at school can be circumvented by youngsters, who often know more about IT systems than their teachers. "We have restrictions at school but we can just get an administrator's account and take them off."

Children are also aware of the restrictions that the sites implement, with one 15-year-old girl telling researchers: "Everyone lies about their age 'cos I think it's like if you're under 18, your profile gets set to private."

The report suggests there is a lot of work to be done in educating parents about what their children are doing online. Ofcom already looks at the level of what it terms media literacy among consumers, but the IPPR wants the Department for Children, Schools and Families to have overall control of media literacy, with better information and support for parents