Reflection on Professional Development Planning

 

Cindy Patterson, CETPA CTO Mentor Candidate

 

Learning Objectives:

PD-08.  Demonstrate a working knowledge of how to determine need for professional development as well as how to plan, design, and customize professional development for specific audiences

 

Artifacts:

 

                           Artifact 1 - Professional Development plan for customers and staff of Applications Support

The artifact presented for the Professional Development Plan is the completed template provided in class with a focus on the customers of the group that I manage at Santa Clara County Office of Education.  Through this exercise I became aware of more attributes to consider when planning Professional Development.  These include what leadership will be required and what learning designs should be used.

 

                          Artifact 2 - Professional Development flyer for Absence Tracking Boot Camp

 

The flyer for the Absence Tracking Boot Camp is a one page flyer advertising an upcoming training provided by the group I manage.  In this flyer the intended audience is clearly identified.  It also includes a statement of what will be learned and the demographics of the classes; date, start time, end time, location.  There is also section explaining why someone would choose to attend this training.  The flyer also includes a description of how the training will be delivered so participants know what to expect.

 

Context

My current position is Manager of Application Support at the Santa Clara County Office of Education.  The group I manage supports the business systems at approximately 40 districts with Santa Clara and San Benito counties.  We estimate that there is approximately a 25% turnover rate each year for the customers who use the systems we support.  This creates a constant need for training.  In additional to functional training we provide implementation training for districts who are adding new processes and system modules. 

 

Reflection

The group I manage at Santa Clara County Office of Education is on a constant improvement cycle.  We just began our planning for the school year 15-16.  Pre-planning professional development is relatively new to us.  We started creating full year plans last year.  Each Analyst was assigned one group of customers to plan training.  The goal was to improve customer service and reduce service requests.  In the past we created and advertised classes as we perceived a need.  This did not allow our customers much time to plan for the class.  Our training model has usually been sit-and-get with a lab after class.  My Director has been encouraging us to find new methods to make the classes more interactive and less lecture style. 

 

Participating in the training offered within the CTO Mentor program provided a living model of how interactive training for adults could be accomplished.  The in class exercises were very interactive and fun and I felt I retrained more information than in a lecture style class.

 

This new awareness of methods for interactive training is a huge opportunity for me in my current position.  Interactive training helps the students retain information and periodic formative assessments during class help the trainer determine how well the students understand the topic and shape the lesson going forward.  I have been struggling to motivate my staff to use new, more interactive methods, in the training they provide.  Now I am challenged to find opportunities for them to experience this type of training as a student.  Without experiencing this kind of training as a student, it is hard to provide this kind of training to others.

The Professional Development plan artifact provided experience in a formulated approach to planning professional development.  By identifying and addressing each customer segment we assure an outcome that will address all the customer segments. Identifying the learning design in the plan we can ensure we have a variety of offerings.  Goals are very important in our culture at SCCOE.  Identifying the learning outcomes helps us align our training efforts with SCCOE goals.

 

Creating a flyer was fun and in the end I was surprised at how professional it looked.  While the Educational Technology at group at SCCOE has always made flyers, my group has just posted a list of classes with an enrollment link.  With the high personnel turnover rate it is important to let people know about the trainings.  We could and perhaps should do more advertising.  I also see the advantage of providing more information so the customers are informed about who should attend the classes and how the training will be delivered.  I hope to integrate training flyers into my group’s efforts to provide training.

 

This portion of the CTO mentor program has helped broaden my horizons and organize my thoughts about Professional Development and Professional Development planning.  It has also made me some things in a different light and given me new ideas.  After completing these exercises I believe I am better motivated to model the training methods for my staff and seek ways for them to experience a more dynamic training. 

 

We will continue to improve our proactive planning for training and in the future I will adopt some of the aspects of the Professional Development Plan template.  This will increase the quality of training we provide the business officer personnel and improve the efficiency of the districts business offices.

 

Better trained customers create fewer service requests and allow us more time to be proactive and in the end provide more value.