Training
Teachers and program administrators need new skills to serve their distance students
Tips & Resources for Administrators
Identify good candidates for distance teaching. The Distance Teaching Self-Assessment is a free online assessment that introduces classroom teachers to the skills they need to be successful distance teachers and helps them evaluate their existing skills in terms of distance. Sign up as an administrator and invite your teachers to complete this assessment. Results can be shared and will help you and your teachers decide who is best suited to try distance teaching.
Train distance teachers. Successful training of distance teachers involves a combination of face-to-face and distance activities. Begin with an in-person orientation and training session to prepare new distance teachers to use the curricula and technology and to encourage community building. Ongoing professional development activities can be handled at a distance. Virtual forms of professional development provide a chance for flexible, in-depth training and can give teachers a chance to experience distance education from the learner's perspective.
Tips & Resources for Teachers
Use distance education to develop your skills. A variety of free and fee-based professional development courses and activities are available online. In addition, many states and professional organizations now offer online courses as well.
Join a list serv. Another good way to engage in professional development is to join a list serv. For example, The National Institute for Literacy's Literacy Online Discussion list covers a variety of adult education topics and issues.
Read about it. The Handbook of Distance Education is a free guide that covers recruitment, orientation, teaching, and assessment.