Dive Brief:

• The 2016 Vision K-20 Professional Learning Survey Report from the Education Technology Industry Network of SIIA focuses on online professional learning preferences and practices among teachers.
• eSchool News reports the top trainings teachers seek out relate to online software and digital resources, classroom management strategies, and digital device training, and 60% of respondents reported enrolling in online professional learning courses in the past year.
• Teachers who have worked in schools for less than 20 years more often enroll in online professional learning than their veteran peers, and the vast majority say they enroll when they are personally interested (75%), though 46% of respondents said it was to receive continuing education credits.

Dive Insight:

The rise in online education and its increasing quality has presented an alternative professional development opportunity for teachers that many are clearly taking advantage of. Finding high quality professional learning is a perennial struggle in schools. Teachers often report in surveys that the professional development offered by their districts is boring or unhelpful.

Helping teachers learn how to use new digital tools and incorporate them effectively into classrooms with good pedagogy will be key to closing the digital use gap in the coming years. Schools have generally been able to acquire technology, but students in wealthy districts are more likely to use those tools in more inventive ways, taking advantage of the technology as more than just a well-lit worksheet.