Blended Professional Development – Some Lessons Learned

Abstract: In 2015-2016, the LINCS ESL Pro project provided training for teachers and programs serving English language learners in 10 states. Each state configured their professional learning a bit differently, but all used a blended model including one or more face-to-face sessions with online communities of practice, webinars, email, and conference calls. These models allowed subject matter experts, who were mostly many states away, to provide a professional learning experience over an extended period of time. Attend this session to learn how an online community of practice can actually build community, how to deal with many levels of technology skills, and how to build deep foundational knowledge at the outset. Solutions can be applied to student learning as well.