Professional Development Planning
(reimagined)
Call to Action
In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, traditional professional development often falls short—offering one-size-fits-all training that lacks relevance, engagement, and lasting impact. To truly support teacher growth and improve student outcomes, professional development must be reimagined and redesigned. This "Call to Action" lays out a new approach that prioritizes time for clear explanation, meaningful exploration of benefits, and collaborative planning. By dedicating more time to content-specific engagement and practical application, professional learning becomes more effective, empowering educators to implement new strategies with confidence and purpose.
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Professional Learning Plan
Fostering Collaboration: My professional learning plan includes a week for ePortfolio introduction, creation, team collaboration, and implementation planning. Weeks 2 through 6 discussion times help foster consistent and ongoing collaboration during the teacher conference time. Additionally, there will be the option for both in-person and online meetings to allow for continuous communication and coaching.
Leaders: I will be the primary instructor of the course and will lead group discussions. Other Technology Specialists on campus will assist with mentoring and boot camps. Administration and Department Heads will be the support team during the implementation phase.
Audience and their needs: The audience will be classroom teachers who will incorporate ePortfolios into their instruction. Teachers will need materials such as access to laptops and any previously created content to create their ePortfolios. Teachers will also need time to collaborate weekly with the administrator and department during their conference period for coaching and Q&A sessions to implement ePortfolios into their instruction effectively.
Connecting Ideas
Just as we expect our learners to continue growing and improving, we should model the same behavior ourselves. Through effective professional learning that includes collaboration, and problem-solving where all instructors creating their own ePortfolio they will model and gain technical confidence to implement ePortfolio for all students in their classes. Connecting Ideas is where all the elements of the professional learning training come together to better prepare and equip teachers to incorporate ePortfolios in their instruction.

References
Bates, A.W. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning.
https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Donaldson, J. (2012, October 31). Digital Portfolios in the Age of the Read/Write Web. Educause.
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2012/11/digital-portfolios-in-the-age-of-the-readwrite-web
Duarte, N. (2010). Resonate: Present visual stories that transform audiences. John Wiley & Sons.
https://www.duarte.com/resources/books/resonate/
Duarte, N. (2010, December 10). Nancy Duarte uncovers the common structure of the greatest
communicators [Video]. TEDxEast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nYFpuc2Umk
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the Teachers: Effective Professional Development in an Era of
High Stakes Accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved
from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013
176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
Instruction Partners. (2022, October 4). Seven conditions for effective professional
learning. https://instructionpartners.org/2022/10/04/seven-conditions-for-effective
professional-learning/
Texas Education Agency. (2025). Continuing professional education (CPE).
https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/preparation-and-continuing-education/continuing
professional-education cpe#:~:text=Continuing%20Professional%20Education
%20(CPE)%20is, must%20complete%20150%20CPE%20hours