| | SEPTEMBER - 20228IN MY OPINION FACILITATING ENGAGING VIRTUAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR EDUCATORSBy Brandie Berry, Director of K-12 ELA, Duval County Public SchoolsThe global shutdown in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus in March of 2020 dramatically shifted teachers and students to online instruction. Amid this rapid transition to virtual teaching platforms, professional learning for educators was also reimagined to adapt to the virtual options available. No longer able to move around the room, read body language, or have materials ready on each table, facilitators of professional learning quickly realized that maintaining the engagement of participants on the other side of a computer screen required careful planning and skillful facilitation. Over the last two years, facilitators of virtual professional learning have honed their skills to deliver meaningful and engaging learning for educators. Along this journey, we identified several key factors to consider when planning virtual professional development:Organize the digital materials for easy access.One of the biggest challenges in facilitating virtual professional learning is the wide range of participants' comfort with technology. A session can quickly be derailed if one or more participants are unable to access the resources. There are several ways to successfully organize the digital materials for your professional learning session, but they all have two things in common: 1) participants navigate to one place to access everything, and 2) items are clearly labeled. Whether you share a Google folder with documents in it, a Word document with links, or create a virtual bulletin board in Padlet, you must collect all your resources in one place. Name each resource clearly and consider numbering them for easy identification. Share the collection of resources with participants at the beginning of the session and ensure everyone has accessed it. For the rest of the learning session, you can simply direct participants back to the same place to locate the next resource.Decide if cameras and microphones will be used. Distractions for participants of virtual professional learning sessions are infinite. Whether the participant is at home or logging in from work, other people and technology are vying for their attention. If your group has less than 30 people, consider asking participants to keep their cameras on and use their microphones to speak. This increases the connection between the facilitator(s) and participants by allowing them to see facial expressions and hear the tone of voice of others in the group. It also lowers the likelihood that participants will divert their attention elsewhere. However, the larger the group, the more distracting cameras and microphones will be. In larger sessions, using the chat will be the main form of communication with participants. Manage chat for information and engagement.Whether cameras and microphones are used or not, chat is a vital feature in virtual professional learning. Participants can post questions in chat at any time, allowing the facilitator or a co-facilitator to answer questions as they arise. This helps participants continue moving through the learning without lagging confusion or concerns. Chat can also be used to seek input from Brandie Berry
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