Are you looking for some free professional development guides to read in the coming Christmas break? Edutopia has generously put up these three guides to help teachers and educators better improve their practice and enrich their instructional knowledge. I have just finished reading the second guide in this list and I must say they are really wonderful. Let me share with you a brief synopsis of each of them together with the links where you can access them.
1- Project-based Learning Professional Development guide
This guide is divided into three parts: the first part is an introduction to project based learning in which the authors argue for the importance of PBL in learning together with some explanation on how it works. In the second part, readers are introduced to a wide variety of activities and tasks involving the use of PBL with the help of technology. The activities are designed in such a way to promote and foster collaborative and team work. The third and last part is a resource section that outlines some interesting resources on PBL including PowerPoint presentations, recommended websites, books, and videos.
2- Technology Integration professional Development Guide
This guide walks you through the process of technology integration in education. It starts with the whys behind technology integration and then provides a general definition of what this concept is all about then proceeds to demonstrate how to integrate technology in teaching. In the last two sections, you will be provided with activities and more resources on integrating technology in education.
3- Assessment Professional Development Guide
The content of this guide is structured in the same way as the previous guides. It starts with introducing comprehensive assessment and features some of the reasons why assessment is important before moving on to the “workshop activities” part where you are provided with different tasks to be accomplished through collaborative group work and with the use of technology. The last part outlines extra resources and recommended materials to help you learn more on assessment.
