Welcome to the unit Apply Adult Learning Theory and Best Practices into Professional Development Planning. The learning objectives in this unit will include evaluate the current professional development plan in your district or school using Knowles's six principles of adult learning theory, implement and deliver a survey on professional development wants and needs to your colleagues, propose a revision to the current professional development plan based on analysis of survey data and review of principles, and reflect on the potential changes and impact on teacher growth and development based on the analysis and proposal.
We'll begin the unit by evaluating your district or school's current professional development plan. To start this process we'll review the adult learning theories of andragogy, self-directed learning theory, and transformational learning theory. Then I'll introduce to you the alignment process. This is a three-step process that is very straightforward and easy to use. And I will walk you through that process of aligning your professional development to these adult learning theories.
The first area that we're going to align to is Knowles's six assumptions of adult learners. And we actually will align to each of the six assumptions separately. Educators often play the double role of not only providing those professional development or other educational opportunities to adult learners, but we are also adult learners ourselves in many situations. And so an understanding of these six assumptions really can help us in both of those areas-- in presenting effective professional development and in being a professional development participant, as well. So as we go through this alignment process you can truly see how aligning to these six principles of adult learning is going to benefit us both as the presenters of the professional development and as participants in that PD.
After aligning professional development to Knowles's six assumptions of adult learners, we are actually going to take a short break from that alignment process while we approach the second learning objective in the unit, which is implementing and delivering a survey on professional development wants and needs. We'll begin this process by just introducing the concept of a professional development survey. You can reflect on whether you've ever taken a professional development survey before or perhaps whether you've administered this type of survey.
We'll explore together some online survey tools. I will demonstrate some of the more common tools so that you can see what their interfaces look like, and you can get a good idea of whether they might be a good fit for your classroom and your particular needs. And then we'll also talk about analyzing survey questions for issues like validity and reliability and bias to make sure that you are developing a survey that really is going to give you the most meaningful and valid results possible.
After you've gone through the process, then, of designing and actually implementing your survey, we'll be able to consider proposing a revision to your current professional development plan that is based upon a careful analysis of your actual, real survey data. So at the most basic level in this learning objective, we are just going to start by analyzing that survey data in order to identify any clear needs for revision that sort of jump out at us from that data.
I'll share with you some tips for effectively communicating your survey results and any proposed revisions to the stakeholders who are going to be the audience for your proposal. Here, we are also going to begin the process of reflecting on what your next steps might be, because, as I stated, while there might be some very clear needs for revision that really seem to just jump out at you from your survey data, we're also going to talk about doing some more digging into those survey results, especially in terms of the adult learning theories, in order to identify some potential needs for revisions that might not immediately be as clear.
So that leads us right into the fourth and final learning objective in the unit-- reflecting on those potential changes and the potential impact on teacher growth and development based upon your analysis and your proposal. It's here that we really want to see the big picture of how adult learning theories and our survey data can work together to help us to identify how we can create the most effective professional development opportunities for the teachers in our schools and districts. We want to analyze our professional development, not just for alignment to andragogy and Knowles's six assumptions of adult learners but actually to all of the adult learning theories. So I will also walk you through the process of aligning to transformational learning theory and self-directed learning theory.
And finally, we'll focus here on the idea that this really is a continuous cycle of improvement. After you have implemented your survey and interpreted those results and maybe proposed a change and perhaps even your proposed change has been implemented, well, what happens next? We may very well again begin that cycle of identifying the needs and wants of the teachers in the school or district through the use of careful alignment of the professional development plan to the adult learning theories and through the use of surveys to be in constant contact with the teachers who are participating in the PD to make sure that their needs are consistently being met.
So to recap, in this unit, the learning objectives include evaluating the current professional development plan in your district or school using Knowles's six principles of adult learning theory, implementing and delivering a survey on professional development wants and needs to your colleagues, proposing a revision to the current professional development plan based on analysis of survey data and review of principles, and, finally, reflect on the potential changes and impact on teacher growth and development based upon the analysis and proposal.
So before we jump into the unit, here is a chance for you to stop and reflect. Which of these learning objectives speaks to you the most? Which seems most relevant to your current classroom or professional development situation?
To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material. Welcome to the unit. I hope you'll join me in my upcoming tutorials throughout the unit Thanks for watching. Have a great day.
(00:00 - 00:45) Introduction
(00:46 - 02:21) Learning Objective #1
(02:22 - 03:32) Learning Objective #2
(03:33 - 04:49) Learning Objective #3
(04:50 - 06:33) Learning Objective #4
(06:34 - 07:05) Review
(07:06 - 07:50) Stop and Reflect