P2PU today announces a pilot program for a School of Ed to bring the model of open, community-based peer learning to professional development for K-12 teachers.
This pilot program will include seven free, online, open-licensed courses for teachers. The content focus of these courses is on using innovative methods to encourage deeper learning for students. This will be modeled through innovative professional development courses focused on peer learning and hands-on, learner-driven tasks.
Course titles include: Differentiating Instruction, Student Engagement, OER in the K-12 Classroom, Using Web 2.0 and Social Media to Encourage Deeper Learning, Teaching in Blended and Online Classrooms, Multimedia and Graphics to Facilitate Deeper Learning, and Writing & Common Core: Deeper Learning for All. The courses are being designed and administered by educational experts and practitioners and include partnerships with the Education Development Center (EDC) and the National Writing Project (NWP). Funding for this pilot is being provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
“The pilot represents a new way of looking at professional development,” says P2PU Executive Director Philipp Schmidt. “It models the kind of hands-on, learner-driven environment that we hope teachers will carry back to their
own classrooms.”
“With new Common Core standards coming out, this is an important time to take a serious look at curriculum and student learning,” says Bud Hunt, Instructional Technology Coordinator for the St. Vrain Valley School District. “I’m excited to be developing and facilitating a course on writing and deeper learning in collaboration with the National Writing Project as a part of the P2PU School of Ed.”
These courses will be available for sign-up in late August at http://goo.gl/Sd2XY and will be run between September and November, 2011.
Image: Wesley Fryer on Flickr, CC BY SA 2.0