We need the time to think!

In Staff Professional Development, Less Is More (Opinion) (edweek.org)

Recent research notes that high quality professional development should take about 50 hours per year. In this opinion recently released from EdWeek, it notes:

Time is the element that is missing from most meetings or educator professional development spaces. Time to process and digest information. Time to discuss what you heard and how it might apply to your work. Time to think about how to apply this new information and learning to your own practice.

It is interesting to think that in many ways, we evolved student learning over the last few years. We have considered ways to engage learners differently and tried to respond to needs. Can we say the same for the adult learners we are serving (i.e., educators)? How does our professional development look compared to a decade ago—is it worse—is it better?

I know my own way of engagement has changed in the last decade. I have a harder time engaging in sessions where it is a “sit and get” methodology. Our brains have adapted to snapshots of information a few seconds in length until we scroll or swipe. However, the most important part remains regardless of how we share the information. If participants are not given time to think and apply the new information, it is fleeting. This is important to remember. If you present and then they leave—was it even worth presenting—they may not have made it to the application stage. Just like we need to know our students, we need to know our adult learners too.