Professional Development
Objectives:
In this section, teachers will learn about...
the professional development renewal requirement
approved professional development activities
choosing professional development to meet goals
converting credit to contact hours
the professional development record
Professional Development Requirement
What is professional development? According to The Glossary of Education Reform, professional development is "specialized training, formal education, or advanced professional learning intended to help administrators, teachers, and other educators improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness." These activities can be formal (such as university coursework) or informal (grade-level curriculum meetings). However, professional development activities typically involve interaction between educators and are rarely achieved by an individual educator in isolation. Even online training such as this course requires interaction with others such as in the Welcome module's discussion board activity, or a teaching presence in the case of webinars. Professional development can (and should) be job-embedded. However, typical educator activities such as creating worksheets, grading papers, and writing daily lesson plans are not considered to be professional development as they are not advancing or enhancing educator practice with new learning. Professional development activities must meet the Ohio Standards for Professional Development. If you aren't sure if an activity actually qualifies as professional development, compare it with requirements in the standards document.
According to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), teachers renewing a 5-year professional license must complete
6 semester hours of coursework related to classroom teaching and/or the area of licensure
OR
180 contact hours
OR
18 continuing education units
Teachers may submit any combination of semester hours or CEUs or contact hours.
Semester hours are awarded by accredited colleges and universities, and must be reported by submitting a transcript.
Contact hours are also awarded by participating in professional development activities inside or outside the school district. Teachers will report contact hours either by a submitting a certificate (when issued) and/or by keeping a list of LPDC-approved district professional development activities.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are awarded only by LPDCs. The MF LPDC prefers to keep CEUs in contact hour format.
Note from ODE: Professional license holders who have earned national board certification may renew with verification of the currently valid national board license.
Approved Professional Development Activities
The following list of professional development activities have been approved by the LPDC. Teachers who participate in these activities may count the number of hours that they were engaged in the activity unless a specific number of contact hours is indicated. To seek approval for activities not appearing on the list, please contact the LPDC Chairperson, Stacey Woods.
Please note that the following activities are not on the list and will not be approved for professional development credit: time spent searching sites such as Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers; parent-teacher conferences; events such as Meet-the-Teacher Night; or time spent creating worksheets or handouts, or grading student work.
Professional Development Recommendations--A Collaborative Activity (required for credit)
Some professional development is required; other professional development is chosen by each individual teacher. In this activity, you will recommend at least two professional development activities and post information to an online bulletin board, Padlet.
The Professional Development Recommendations/Opportunities Padlet is similar to a bulletin board. You can access it below. However, you may prefer to click on the link to access the full website instead. Either way, double click on the Padlet screen or click the + in the lower right corner to post. Directions and an example have been posted for you.
For each recommendation, please include (1) the title of the activity, (2) the organization who sponsored the activity, (3) a short description of the activity, (4) something that you learned and are using in your classroom, and (5) the number of contact hours (or semester hours or CEUs) that you earned. Use the ellipses points next to the camera icon on Padlet, to add a link, a photo, or a voice message.
Once you've added your activities, remember to revisit this Padlet when you are looking for effective professional development activities. You are encouraged to comment or "like" the activities that others have posted. The best opportunities are often spread from peer-to-peer, so let's work together to create a valuable resource.
Calculating Professional Development Hours Activity
Calculating professional development hours can be confusing, especially if credit has been earned in a combination of semester hours, contact hours, and CEUs. The Professional Development Calculator is a tool that converts semester hours and CEUs to contact hours. The example scenarios below give you an opportunity to practice computing professional development hours earned in contact hours. Check your answers against the answer key.
The following examples illustrate typical situations.
Scenario 1:
A teacher takes a 3-semester-hour technology integration course at a local university. She also completes the Educational Service Center's gifted professional development course and is awarded 20 contact hours on a certificate. She attended 5 of the district's inservice days (6 contact hours each) for each of the first 4 years of her license. This year, she has attended the 3 district inservice days (6 contact hours each) that have been held to date. How many total contact hours does she have? Does she meet the professional development requirement for license renewal?
Scenario 2:
A teacher has recorded 16-1/2 hour meetings with the district leadership team over the past 5 years. He has attended 5 of the district's inservice days (6 contact hours each) for each of his first 4 years of his license. In year 3 of his license cycle, he earned the district's Master Teacher distinction when his portfolio was approved. How many total contact hours does he have? Does he meet the professional development requirement for license renewal?
Scenario 3:
A teacher participated in a summer educator workshop and earned 30 contact hours. The teacher attended 10 of the district's inservice days (6 contact hours each) since his last license was issued. He took one 3-semester hour course at the local university branch. How many total contact hours does he have? Does he meet the professional development requirement for license renewal?
The Professional Development Record
This tool is simply a table within Google document designed to assist you in tracking professional development activities. On the Google Classroom, each teacher is provided with an individual copy of the record. It is recommended that teachers add professional development activity information on the record throughout the five years of an active license. All changes to the record automatically save in Google docs. This practice will prevent teachers from scrambling for professional development information long after participating in the activity. Because the document is saved in the Google Drive, teachers don't have to worry about losing it.
Professional development activities should fulfill the goals that the educator indicated on the IPDP for the license cycle that corresponds to the professional development record. Educators should complete at least ONE professional development activity for each goal that is written on the IPDP. For a license cycle, professional development activities that occur AFTER the issue date of an expiring license but before the expiration date are eligible for consideration.
If a teacher who has submitted the Professional Development Record for a previous renewal cycle may
add the professional development activities for the current cycle before or after the existing entries. Please highlight the activities to be considered for approval for the current cycle. OR
delete the previously submitted activities. Enter the activities for the current license cycle in the table. The revision history feature in Google Docs will allow a teacher to view the deleted activities at a later time if desired.
TIPS
ALWAYS list the topic of the professional development activity if it is not obvious. For example, on inservice days, list the topic of the professional development activities on that YOU participated in that day. These may not be the same for everyone and may differ from the agenda as some agenda activities do not apply to everyone. You might participate in a professional development activity that isn't listed on the agenda. Instead, list the professional development activities that YOU did. **WRITING "INSERVICE DAY" IS NOT ENOUGH. **
To add additional lines to the table, right click on the mouse and insert a row.
Please round to the nearest half hour.
If you attend a conference, please write out the full name of the conference. DO NOT USE ACRONYMS. For example, if I attend the OELMA conference, I will report it as the Ohio Education Library Media Association Conference.
TOTAL the number of hours at the bottom of the form.
The following video explains how to access and complete the Professional Development Record on Google Classroom.
Teachers who are using university coursework as professional development must upload a transcript--unofficial is acceptable--as documentation. Documentation for contact hours such as certificates granting contact hours, meeting agendas, or minutes should also be uploaded onto the Professional Development Record.
The following video explains how to upload transcripts, certificates, and other documentation to the Google Classroom.