Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Online Professional Development Cost Saving in the Long Run?

Digital Directions Article: Online Professional Development Weighted as Cost-Saving Tactic

I'll preface by saying that I'm biased, so I definitely think demand for online professional development will increase because schools, districts and states will realize that in addition to providing flexibility for educators who have limited time in their schedules, there are also cost-savings involved.

I particularly liked how this article laid out cost savings by comparing f-2-f and online PD
  • Online course: text heavy = $5,000, interactive w/ graphics & video = $30,000
  • Day long f-2-f PD for 104 district math teachers = $16,000, substitute teachers = $13,000

I think KSDL should work on a cost analysis for KS. How abut the CBECE Emergency Operations Plan training, which now involves 200+ staff? Pretty easy for online estimated cost since we already have our project sheets set up to track hours it would take to develop an an online course. What do you think the analysis it would look like? I'd estimate that the cost savings would be much bigger because we have teachers on various islands and travel cost itself is probably a big chunk, which doesn't even cover the PD day.

I liked how Michelle Davis ended the article, "Just like online learning isn't for all students, it's not for all teachers either." Doesn't that sound familiar? :)

What do you think about trends for online PD? What about for KS? Looking forward to your thoughts.

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