Educators, already burdened with jobs that demand attention well beyond the school day, are finding it more and more difficult to allocate time to updating their education. Considering the rapidly advancing knowledge base needed for all grade levels and subject areas and the increasing number of promising new technology-related teaching tools, continued learning for teachers and school administrators is essential. The good news is that those same technology tools that demand time for mastery can in turn be put to work to provide outstanding educational opportunities. They can provide that "just-right" learning that fits into educators' schedules.

There are, to be sure, resources available through technologies and the Internet that could help meet the many educational needs of teachers and administrators. The problem is that these resources are often difficult to locate and even more difficult to evaluate. The pressing questions are:

• How do educators know where to go to get online staff development they need?
• How do educators know what online staff development resources and courses are worth trying?

In order for educators to make the best use of new technologies and the Internet as tools for their continuing education, there must be some method for identifying what's available,what's good and what's not and making this information known to educators.

Since its inception in 1987, the Foundation has stepped in to fill needs that were not, to any significant extent, being tackled by government, higher education, or corporations. In the beginning, the Foundation published resource guides for parents and teachers to help them identify good software programs and to use technology in their classrooms while also encouraging publishers to develop resources. As more publishers began creating materials to fill this need, the Foundation switched from publishing to reviewing the many resource materials that were published and helped educators identify which ones were good and fit their needs. With each new technology area, the Foundation has repeated this cycle.

Currently, no organization or company is serving the review function on developing online courses, classes and materials. The Foundation will be working with educators around the world to identify the best online teacher training materials available. This is not a small undertaking. No one organization could properly review any and all online learning opportunities. However, the Foundation can collect and communicate the efforts of many individuals who are used or have already used these online materials. We invite you to participate by sharing your experiences with what you've found to provide you with online training, what's been good, what's failed to meet your needs and why. Just complete our easy online form at the Foundation. If your school or district has developed professional development courses online, share those, too, If our reviewers believe they will have value to others, we'll add them to our review site where others can visit them and provide us with feedback on them. Register them at the Foundation.

Our vision is that educators will be able to visit the Foundation's Web site and find the best online training for your needs. Our goal is to provide practical learning -- knowledge you can immediately put to use in your classrooms, districts or schools. This is not the place for theoretical, best practice theory and theoretical structures for effective staff development. Much if that is already online. Our goal is not to reproduce what is already available online, but to offer educators something missing.

For years we in education have talked about students and their learning styles. But how about educators and their learning styles? Although we've worked to adjust methods for our students and the way they acquire knowledge, we haven't done the same for educators&emdash;the very people who are responsible for teaching our students. It's time we provide the best in education for our teachers and school administrators. We invite you to join us in our efforts.

A Sampling of Selected Online Opportunities for Educators

Although our first information on professional development resources won't be available at the Foundation's site for a few months, we've found a number of resources we think you will appreciate. These courses, ideas and materials can provide you with starting points from which to explore. Our hope is that from these sites and their links, you will find staff development that is appropriate to your specific needs and convenient to your schedule. As you find places to visit and experience what they have to offer, make sure to provide the Foundation with feedback, so the information available to everyone will grow. Again, after you take an online class or course, just complete the Foundation's easy online form. With your help and the help of your professional colleagues, we can make the Computer Learning Foundation's Professional Development Web site the resource that educators need.

The following sites are merely a beginning and by no means not an exhaustive listing. We've surveyed some sites that you may want to check more closely. There are, of course, many others that we have not included here, many that we've never found and many that are springing up every week. This is a sampler for you.

Introductory Material and Listings of Sites

School-Developed Professional Development - These sites are ones registered with the Computer Learning Foundation that were developed by individual educators, schools or school districts. To add your school's professional development site, just complete the easy online registration form. The Foundation will review your site and if it is believed to be of value to others, a link will be added.

America's Learning Exchange - A general site, not specific to K12 education, America's Learning Exchange lets you search by state for courses and conferences. Topics of interest to educators might be Computer Basics and Applications, Fine and Creative Arts, and education, math and science areas.

AT&T Virtual Academy - The Virtual Academy, although it sounds like a place to take courses and attend workshops, is actually a collection of information about online professional development. To help educators learn about online learning, there's an interesting journal written by an author who is an online student. The Academy's goal is to provide free information that will help educators integrate technology into the curriculum. On this site, you'll find links to resources and courses. Most of the courses are for-credit, fee-based courses offered by colleges and universities.

Ed/X Distancing Learning Channel - A portal for learning information online, Ed/X is a place for finding information about online courses. The site includes education of all types and is not specific to K-12 schools.

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) - Always an excellent place to go for information, ISTE offers a starting point for those interested in online education. Included is a nice section on learning styles, information about what to check when trying to decide which online educational opportunity to pursue, and links to online courses. These ISTE Suggestions for Success in Online Professional Development should prove valuable to any educator.

Teaching and Leaning on the WWW - As of July 2001, this site included over 700 links to learning on the Internet. Connections are to specific courses, not to lists of courses or commercial products. Developed by Maricopa Community Colleges in Phoenix, this site will search by category or keyword for learning opportunities cataloged in its database.

College and Continuing Education Credit Courses & Other Fee-Based Courses

Adobe Online Training - Self-paced and instructor-led courses featuring Adobe software are available for PhotoShop, PageMaker, Acrobat, streaming media, web programming, etc. If you're interested in participating in Adobe's staff development, why not try the sample course that features learning to do typing and layers in PhotoShop?

Apple Learning Professional Development - Apple Computer, Inc. offers instruction in AppleWorks, HyperStudio, web creation, multimedia, Internet, QuickTime, Microsoft Office, and other topics. Courses, written by educators, feature QuickTime video, resources in Apple's Learning Interchange, images, how-tos, forums, and course mentors. All of Apple's courses are based upon ACOT (Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow) research in professional development.

ASCD Professional Development Online - The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development offers a nice selection of inexpensive online courses. Interested students can try sample lessons although these do not include a number of the features of the actual courses. The courses are interactive and use teaching tools such as online multimedia, course logs, journals, and discussions.

Connected University - Classroom Connect provides online courses for those registered through the Connected University. If you'd like to try two free weeks of professional development options at CU, fill out the profile and check the free trial. Courses specialize in technologies and teaching with technologies.

Learn2 - Online courses in Learn2 are mostly hardware and software specific. There is a free demo that users may try before paying for courses.

Leslie College - Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Leslie College has long been a leader in online courses for educators. Masters degree programs in Science in Education and Technology in Education feature interactive courses using conferencing systems and email. There's an off-campus online site for Leslie's Ludcke Library that you'll want to visit. &emdash;And be sure to take Leslie's College's Online Readiness Survey to see if you're ready for online learning.

Macromedia University - As you would guess, Macromedia provides exciting, interactive courses for those interested in technologies. If you're thinking about tackling one of Macromedia's offerings, you can try out parts of a course before purchasing the entire course program. Courses are available in French and German, as well as English. The course catalog includes selections such as Director, Freehand, Macromedia Basics, Web Professionals, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc. Many other online courses are developed using Macromedia products.

Pepperdine University: Doctorate in Educational Technology and Masters Degree in Educational Technology - Putting technologies to use in its masters and doctorate programs in educational technology, Pepperdine gives educators hands-on skills and knowledge in areas such as technologies, leadership, and organizational change. Students in the programs connect with other professionals and work on projects that feature innovative learning environments. In addition to online sessions, students in the programs meet face-to-face with each other and Pepperdine leaders at national technology conferences and at the West Los Angeles campus. For additional information about this program, visit Pepperdine's online learning community at: http://gsep.pepperdine.edu/gsep/programs/MAET/omet/.

T.H.E. Institute - The T.H.E. Journal online provides its own staff development area. Part of site features online courses from basic to advanced levels. There are courses targeting web design, multimedia, the Internet, integrating technology in to teaching and learning, and using the web to teach middle school math. Keeping up with the latest in technologies, the Institute is offering courses in using handhelds. Look to the Institute for additional offerings related to PDAs.

Teaching Suggestions

The following sites include a variety of options for educators. Although they are not complete courses and do not involve college or continuing credits, we think they are excellent professional development resources.

Apple Feature Pages - Apple's ALI has for a number of years provided educators a large database of lessons, units, and resources. Currently, the ALI is creating web pages filled with what the staff considers the best in its library. The result is a growing number of Feature Pages complete with best practices, research, practical solutions, technology tools, etc. on topics such as professional development, early literacy, middle school math, and working with parents. The pages provide an easy way for educators to access learning they need on specific topics.

ASCD Online Tutorials - Besides its online courses, ASCD provides a series of short multimedia lessons on topics such as curriculum integration, performance assessment, cooperative learning, and multiple intelligences. There is, for example, an excellent tutorial on constructivism complete with text and media. These tutorials provide good overviews of topics that should be on the professional development list for all educators.

Buddy Project - A nice selection of resources and tutorials for teachers is provided on the Buddy site. These include guidelines about copyright, Internet use, taking part in online projects, using graphics, designing web sites, etc.

Building Bridges - This is an example of teaching that can be done with video on the Internet. Short segments like this one that teaches physics concepts can be used as stand-alone video or can be included in a series of teaching videos.

California Learning Exchange - A top resource for educators, the California Learning Interchange has collected and created growing library of resources that are perfect for staff development. They can be used as models of innovative and exciting teaching. At the Exchange, you'll find practical ideas for teaching math, science, social studies and language arts. There are, in addition resources featuring effective teaching practices and design of instruction. The information is provided in the form of lessons, units, audio clips, and video. The math area seems the most complete at this time and features a number of short teaching videos such as "Engaging Students" (http://www.gse.uci.edu/cli/mathhtmls/math1video03big.html), part of the Collecting Algebra to Elementary Schools staff development section of the site. You'll also appreciate the Teacher Education Mini-Case Studies videos.

Free Tech Tutorials

You'll find an abundance of free tech tutorials online. Our listing here includes just a few we think you might find valuable. If you have other favorite places to go to get tech assistance, let us know so that we can recommend those places on our Staff Development site.

Adobe's Tech Tutorials #1 and #2 - Although Adobe offers a number of fee-based courses, it also provides sample courses and short, online tutorials on topics such as digital images, digital video, printing, PhotoShop, etc.

Digital Photography - The Kodak site is a great place for learning about taking pictures, printing, enhancing pictures, cameras, pixels, colors, media and photography, and creativity. Check on the site for unique ideas for home and school use.

Finding Information on the Internet - Internet workshops held throughout the year at the University of California, Berkeley serve as the foundation of and content for these tutorials. Packed with information that you'll be able to put to use, the tutorials cover just about every topic you'll want to explore.

Harnessing the Power of the Web - Network projects are featured on this Lightspan site. This is project-based learning that is excellent for technology integration into the curriculum. Learn about the projects, find projects that will fit your course of studies, and discover how to start your own projects. A very nice archive of learning resources on a variety of topics is available from this link.

Hewlett-Packard Tech Tips - HP's technology how-tos come to your computer via downloading Adobe Acrobat files. Topics feature creating crafts projects using printers and using printers for newsletters, presentations, collecting images, etc. The files should come in handy for all classrooms.

Microsoft's Online Tutorials #1 and #2 - Learning the basics of programs such a PowerPoint, Office, FrontPage, Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express is a must for most educators. Although a number of other sites provide guidelines for these software programs, why not go directly to the creator for training in this software?

QuickTime VR - Want to create and display 360-degree views on your computer? QTVR, or QuickTime Virtual Reality, is a way students' work in 3D can be published on the Internet and in programs such as HyperStudio.

WebTeacher - Learning in English and Spanish is provided through these self-paced tutorials. Created by teachers, WebTeacher has been called a private tutor&emdash;a tutor for educators and others to learn how to use the Internet efficiently on their own. It's a great source of easy-to-learn information for those who want to be web wise.