LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER PD DAY
Submitted by Denise Gibbons, Faculty, Corner Brook Campus
On February 2, 2018, staff and faculty of the Corner Brook campus were invited to attend an in-house "Learning from Each Other" event. The sessions followed a morning staff meeting and a service recognition ceremony. Everyone was asked to sign up for a one-hour session on each of the following topics: Excel Skills, MS Outlook Skills, Using D2L in the classroom; and, Using the smartboard and Publisher Assessment tools in Learning. Over 70 people attended one of these sessions facilitated by our Corner Brook faculty. This is a great example of sharing in-house expertise and learning from each other.
Staff and faculty provided some great feedback regarding these sessions. An overwhelming number of participants asked for more types of these sessions. Some of the comments we received from participants include:
"My session was on using the smartboard in the classroom. We looked at its use as a screen for MS Office products (along with highlighting and writing features) and its use as a whiteboard (writing class notes on it, saving as a pdf, etc.). There was great interaction with the staff who attended. An added bonus was the sharing of tips and techniques we each use in our classes. Participants all agreed that this was beneficial and we should have more of these; maybe as a series of lunch-and-learns."
"I completed the "smartboard" sessions. I found it extremely helpful as I had very little experience with smart boards up to that point. More PD sessions like that would be beneficial."
"The PD session we did was an excellent experience for those of us who wanted to learn Excel. In fact it was so good some of us did another session the following week during a lunch hour. Much appreciated."
"I thought the PD days in February was a great idea. It was a nice way to get everyone together and the sessions were helpful and informative. I attended the Excel training session and found it very helpful. The instructor was very knowledgeable and relayed the training well. We even extended it over into the second day with the hope of doing some extra training sessions down the road. I hope these PD days continue in the future."
"My session was on Outlook and I had 10 participants. Overall, I thought it went well. My observation was that for the most part everyone had a different interest in taking part. Some wanted to create contact groups. Some were interested in using the meeting and calendar features. I think everyone learned something new."
"The PD day held in February was extremely informative and the Excel session I attended was a great asset to my daily work duties. The knowledge I have obtained just on that day has provided me to perform certain jobs much more efficiently."
