‘Great teachers create great students!’
As the teachers are the most inspiring and the motivating key factor in students’ learning and achievement, ongoing professional development for teachers is sure to lead to improved and better outcomes in the classrooms for the students.
Over past 10 years of my profession, I have evolved and grown by simply taking online courses, participating online workshops/webinars and using social media websites for learning.
Here are some of the best resources that I have been using for professional development:
Electronic Village Online Courses take place in January and February every year. The courses are totally free and open to anyone around the globe. The courses let you meet with TESOL experts and participants from around the world to engage in collaborative online discussions or hands-on virtual workshops of professional and scholarly benefit. This year, there are thirteen courses available and I am happy that I am co-moderating the creating e-textbooks session with other great educators from different countries. These workshops have made the most important contribution to my professional development. They have totally inspired me! You can still join one!
Shelly Terrell is conducting 30 minute online webinars every Friday on American TESOL Institute. You can also watch the archived sessions of her. Don’t miss the chance to meet this edtech guru and the authors of The 30 Goals Challenge for Teachers and Learning to Go Books.
Coursera is the best education platform that partners with TOP universities and organizations worldwide, to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. It includes amazing courses such as Powerful Tools for Teaching and Learning: Web 2.0 Tools, Foundations of Teaching for Learning 6: Introduction to Student Assessment, Shaping the Way We Teach English, 2: Paths to Success in ELT. Don’t miss your chance to enroll one of these courses.
FutureLearn also offers a diverse selection of courses from leading universities and cultural institutions from around the world. These are delivered one step at a time, and are accessible on mobile, tablet and desktop, so you can fit learning around your life. Some course titles are: A Beginner’s Guide To Writing In English For University Study / Assessment For Learning In Stem Teaching / Introduction To Cyber Security.
SEETA (South Eastern Europe Teachers Association) is also offering online courses for teachers of English. You can also watch webinars, videos or join the forum with other teachers from different countries.
K12 Online Conference is an online conference open to anyone that are organized by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice. You can also have a look at the archive of the previous years’ videos.
British Council’s Teaching English website offers online webinars that you can attend by many important names in ELT. You can watch the archive as well.
The Open University is also offering free and online courses on many different topics including education!
Google is giving online training on Google tools and how to apply them. You can also complete basic exams and become a Google Educator.
Intel’s free, just-in-time professional development courses are here that you can experience now, anytime, anywhere. This series of compelling courses provides deeper exploration of 21st century learning concepts.
As teachers, we can never done learning! Here are your chances to take free and online courses to certainly become better teachers.
Picture Source: Shutterstock
cross-posted at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org
Özge Karaoglu is an English teacher and educational consultant in teaching young learners and teaching with web-based technologies. She is the author of Minigon ELT book series, which aims to teach English to young learners through stories. Read more of her ideas about teaching English through technology and Web-based tools at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org.
