Professional Development: A Rural School District's Experience with Videoconferencing

Abstract

The Rural Advanced Community of Learners (RACOL) project undertook an initiative to develop broadband synchronous and asynchronous technologies to a rural school district in northern Alberta, Canada. Relying on the recently installed Alberta SuperNet (a high-speed broadband network), the Virtual Presence Learning Environment (VPLE) classrooms were built using various digital and videoconferencing technologies. As of September 2003, four full-time teachers were required to teach varying subjects within these VPLE classrooms. Therefore, a professional development team was formed and nine professional development sessions were conceptualized and delivered. A history and unique qualities of the RACOL project, a review of literature pertaining to professional development for educational technologies, an in-depth analysis of the nine sessions that were delivered, as well as the results of some research conducted during the nine sessions will be described within this paper.