A Typology for Professional Development

Abstract

In an attempt to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the professional development activities offered to help teachers improve their use of technology, the leaders of a rural school district participated in a design process modeled after the Delphi technique. Leaders from the schools summarized past efforts and created plans for future professional learning. Those summaries and plans were critiqued by a panel of experts through multiple iterations. The documents created through that process along with transcripts of the discussions of the panel of experts were analyzed to identify the factors that affected the group's decisions. Three dimensions were identified, and variation in those were used to define three types of professional development activities.