Vital CPD 4 ICT - adding value to teaching
This is a shameless plug for Vital, professional development ICT development aimed at teachers. Vital is delivered by the Open University and funded by the DfE (at least for now!). Vital offers flexible courses and case studies, with guides to new technologies and ideas on how to use them.
In my opinion, School leaders should insist their teachers register to gain access to the course materials, discussion forums and interactive learning tools. A good feature is The Market Place which includes firms and organisations who offer professional CPD.One of the proposals from the last government was to replace LA advisory services with a register of advisors. It would be interesting to know if this is how this will be developed for ICT, by virtue of the fact that its actually in place. One of the issues for LA's is ensuring specialist school improvement advice continues to be available against a backdrop of austerity in public sector funding. Vital is supported by a regional infrastructure, with each responsible for planning and arranging courses and developing networks in their area.
I do have a concern. Vital is funded by DfE, so the obvious question is ... for how long will this continue? Is its survival dependent on support? What are the key performance indicators or criteria for success? I plan to contact Vital and find out!
As a postscript, could the excellent Teacher's TV (TTV) content be moved to Vital rather than lost with TTV's demise? ... it would be a shame if it were to disappear or end up on YouTube. I'm all for putting all of the ICT eggs for teachers in the same basket.