by Michael Morrison, GoSignMeUp

1. Needs Assessment. There are several ways that you can gather an organization’s needs.

• Survey the stakeholders
• Make a list of required initiatives
• Revisit your vision to create classes and tracks related to where you want to go

2. Design effective Courses According to nea Today, “In schools where professional learning is centered around job-embedded collaboration with a focus on student results, teachers feel less isolated and experience a greater sense of confidence and job satisfaction—basically, the antithesis of the type of professional development that occurs outside the school, away from actual instruction, and away from students.”

So the question is how do we design courses that are not “sit and get” but extend beyond the one shot staff development.  The answer is to design courses that live on through a Learning Management System.   The technique is simple.  When you have a staff development day or session, create an online class for the session.  This not only allows you to post the materials but lets you start discussions that can last beyond a “Spray and Prey” session.

There are several good LMS systems that allow you to do this well like Blackboard, Haiku LMS, and Canvas.  A tool that connects the sign-up process, print name tags but also register people in the classes is called GoSignMeUp and can connected to all three of the above mentioned systems.

3. Make It Fun.   A lot of people miss this fun playful side of staff development.  Many Learning Management Systems offer badges for courses and GoSignMeUp can track if the courses were completed in a certain strand and send out a certificate.   Creating a multi tier approach encourages growth. “Gamify” the process.   People can be motivated to gather the next level by a sense of accomplishment and the want to build a resume or move up in the organization.

4.  Create Learning Communities – Scrumify it. By pairing up staff with each other, you can create small learning communities that focus on continual improvement of the organization.   These smaller groups can push forward short increments if they are given authority to do so.  This process of a Scrum is similar to a rugby match in which you join in a Scrum to move the ball forward.  Learn more about the Scrum process here.

5. Measure Results. If it is worth teaching it is worth measuring.   Find reliable metrics that can assess your staff development goals.  Is it a specific goal that you want students in a school to achieve or knowledge need to launch a new product for a company.