‘Can Web 2.0 save teacher professional development?’ UF’s Sessums will offer insights on ‘Education Week’ Webinar Nov. 18
Christopher Sessums, postdoctoral associate in education technology at UF’s School of Teaching and Learning, is one of two invited experts who will offer insights Nov. 18 on a nationwide Webinar, hosted by Education Week’s online publication edweek.org, titled “Can Web 2.0 Save Teacher Professional Development?”
The free, one-hour Webinar starts at 4 p.m. and also will be available “on demand” any time 24 hours after the event. Online registration is now open on www.edweek.org.
Sessums’ co-presenter is Barbara Treacy, director of EdTech Leaders Online at the Education Development Center. Anthony Rebora, managing editor of teachermagazine.org and the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook, will moderate the discussion.
The two experts will discuss the rise of interactive technology and the exciting new possibilities it is generating in teacher professional development. Many observers believe digital technologies could spur the growth of teacher-learning opportunities that are truly collaborative and job-embedded. Sessums and Treacy will bring participants up to date on the latest ideas and trends in online teacher learning and how they can take advantage of them.
Sessums writes about the intersection of education and technology on a personal blog, Eduspaces (http://eduspaces/cessums/weblog), an online community for educators. His blog has become a favorite online haunt for education technology experts from around the world and was recognized as “Best Individual Blog” in the 2006 EduBlog Awards competition.
Sessums has a bachelor’s in English, a master’s in secondary English education and a doctorate in teacher professional development and educational technology, all from UF. Before joining the College of Education, he taught 12th-grade English and 7th-grad language arts at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, UF’s lab school. He also worked as coordinator of the Office of Correspondence Studies in the Division of Continuing Education and as director of distance learning in the College of Education
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