Professional Development Tracking

[Gail Braddock]

friends,

We are trying to determine an easier way for our teachers to keep up with
their professional development hours for conferences, workshops, etc. I
was considering devising a FMPro database, but I was curious if there was
a better way or if there might already be someone "out there" with a
template that would be willing to share?

My administrator is envisioning a place where she can record various
meetings, workshops, conferences . . . and then the teachers could click
the ones they've attended, and the hours would be automatically calculated
and put in a form.

Thanks!
Excuse the cross posting!
Gail Braddock
[e-mail]
St. George's Independent School
www.sgis.org

[Demetri Orlando]

Hi Gail,
In an earlier discussion on this same topic, I came across PD Tracker which seems like a good product. The developer of that product put his contact info on that earlier discussion if you want to contact him.
regards,
Demetri

[Demetri Orlando]

I believe it's all web-based, so it's accessible anywhere.

[Alex Ragone]

Gail -- A database definitely sounds like the way to go, but you might also want to consider on online option so folks can have access to it anywhere they want. You could use a Google Spreadsheet with forms to have a data entry form and a spreadsheet to collect it, but you lose the structure of a database that way.

Either way, sounds like an excellent resource.

[DeAnne Hainlen]

Our school district uses an online course registration system/pd tracking system called Eduphoria: Workshop. Through this system, all professional development offered by the district is listed here, teachers register for the sessions online, and once attendance for the session has been completed, then credit is granted and the session credit shows up in the teacher's online portfolio. Another option we are using with this product is the "Add a Portfolio Entry" option. With this option, teachers enter the details for out-of-district staff development that they have attended, then the session goes into a queue for approval. Once I receive a copy of the workshop certificate for verification purposes, then I go in and approve the entry. In the teacher's portfolio, the icon for an outside workshop looks different than the icon for in-district sessions.
With this system you can also add instructor notes, upload files, or attach a discussion thread or session survey to a listed session
As you can tell...I love it!
DeAnne

DeAnne Hainlen
Director of Staff Development
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD

[Gail Braddock]

Thanks DeAnne. I'll do a search for this now!
~~GB