Trainers and Professional Development

Thanks to Tony Karrer for this posting on his blog:

eLearning Technology: Pew Survey on Blogging - Training Professionals Far Behind

Given my post on July 20 (Women Rock the Blogs), it's unfortunate that more female training professionals are not active in the blog world. It makes me wonder if this is due to training professionals not having enough time to increase their personal learning, or just overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information out there? Are they spending more time developing materials for others, or developing themselves?

Christopher Sessums recently commented on this topic in his blog. He also quotes Courtney Shannon, a teacher using a blog for her World History class. In reference to the use of blogs for professional development of teachers, Ms. Shannon says, "Blogs can offer an open forum with teachers near and far to discuss lesson plans, share classroom management ideas, ideas for summer reading lists, strategies to deal with the stresses of the world of teaching, rubric ideas, and to discuss "hot topics" in education, leadership, and policy."

If teachers have the time available to reach out and grab the technology that is readily (and freely) available, I believe the teaching world will continue to grow smaller as the ideas get bigger.

A new survey of teachers and their use of technology suggests there is a clear correlation between hours spent in professional development, classroom integration of technology, and improved student performance.

Technology use by teachers continues to rise, the survey indicates; three out of five teachers said their tech skills were at least "somewhat advanced," four of five think it engages students, and two in three believe it can improve performance.

Professional development in the use of technology also is on the rise, according to the survey--though one in five teachers still receives no such training.

According to Tim Sanders, in his book, "Love is the Killer App," the average manager reads 0.7 (business related) books every 5 years, and the average Fortune 500 CEO reads 12 books a year. What and how much are the training professionals reading? I'd like to find out what you are reading - post your comments and let me know!