FOR-PD Update

January 2003

Happy New Year!
 
The FOR-PD course goes live on January 21! Special thanks to all of you for your part in making this dream a reality.

Final touches are currently being added to the course. Self-grading quizzes, new hyperlinks, a Literacy Log, graphic organizers and lesson outlines will enhance the content and delivery. A wide variety of online and downloadable resources and online searchable annotated references make this course a rich resource for teachers PreK-12.

A new FOR-PD Help Desk staff member is currently in training to support participants during evening and weekend hours and to supplement the FOR-PD staff support available during the weekday hours. Our guess is that most teachers will want to work at home during evening and weekend hours, so help will always be a phone call (or email) away. We appreciate the feedback provided from your course preview. As always, your input matters.

FOR-PD Website
 
Our website continues to expand with new information about the project. The number of certified facilitators increases daily and you can now search for a certified FOR-PD facilitator by name or district. Try it!
 
You can also view the fast growing list of participating districts and universities that offer FOR-PD college course credit. Currently forty-five districts and four state universities have sent collaboration agreements to partner with our project. FOR-PD is a means for strengthening the connections between districts, schools and universities. We request your ideas and assistance in this area.
 
Statewide Promotion
 
We hope that you have had an opportunity to view the FOR-PD promotional videotape on the Florida Educational Channel. The tape is being closed captioned by our friends at Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, and when finished, all districts will receive a copy. Meanwhile check the FEC schedule or see it on the web. A special thank you to Rick Everett and PAEC for making this possible.
 
Does your website offer a link to FOR-PD? If not, please consider adding us to your site. This is an effective way to promote FOR-PD and show your support for the project.
 
Remember that several PowerPoint presentations (with speaker notes) are available for your use and a new promotional FOR-PD brochure has been sent to Florida schools. Your personal copy of this new brochure will arrive soon! Flyers and brochures can be ordered from the ITRC e-store.
 
Great News!
 
The Area Centers for Educational Enhancement will provide essential follow-up for the FOR-PD Course. We appreciate ACEE Statewide director VieVie Baird and the Regional directors' willingness to collaborate with us to enhance and extend the scope of the project. Watch for more information about this dynamic collaboration!
 
FOR-PD is also collaborating with TeachinFlorida.com. Watch for a link from that site!
 
FOR-PD Facilitators Needed
 
One hundred forty plus educators have applied to become facilitators, and many have already completed the training. Comments from our new facilitators (from the course evaluations):

"I feel much more empowered now. Not only do I feel I know more about a particular resource being given to our faculty/staff in the state, but I also feel much more prepared for the subject matter in which I find so near and dear to my heart. I appreciate this opportunity for professional growth."

"Thank you for respecting my time by offering an online course and for allowing me to train as a facilitator. I am very excited about this newest experience."

"Please offer some more courses similar to this. I found this very informative. Online courses are here to stay."

"Thank you. I look forward to becoming a facilitator. Also, your content on the reading process was very professional and will be helpful to those who are new to the area of reading."

"I especially enjoyed the links on specific topics dealing with information in the content areas. I found EVERY single one of them appropriate and extremely useful. It was set up easily so that even if you don't have a lot of on-line experience, it was okay. The information embedded in the course was up-to-date and correlates to the NRP Report and No Child Left Behind Legislation. I'm not getting mixed messages about what best practices look like."

"I liked that the course was self paced, user friendly, informative, and it also had some fun activities. I really liked the direct links for additional information, immediate response to quiz submission, current research and data, and the ability to easily communicate with other participants."

Because we anticipate a large number of course registrants, we continue to seek qualified facilitators. Facilitator qualifications and an online application are available on the website.
 
New Format for the Advisory Board Update
 
We hope you like this new format for delivering the news to you. We plan to archive these updates for our records and for your reference. You can expect to receive an email with a link to the latest update on or about the 10th of each month.