The semester is drawing to a close and so too my blogging for SI643 Professional Practices. We closed out our readings for the semester with three readings about fostering a professional development community within one's organization. I thought this was a really nice way to end the semester because we had discussed education and professional development all semester long, that is after all what the class is about. But these final readings capped off the semester nicely, but turning the lens inward to what individual organizations can do to build positive incentivised learning environments for their staff.
The first article we read was about how one school district in Wyoming implemented an incentivised, voluntary, peer led professional development program. Although this particular program was built for K-12 educators I can easily see how their approach could be applied to libraries of all kinds. The main keys to their program's success seem to be first allowing teachers to choose whether or not they want to participate, and providing support for teachers who choose to get their professional development in other ways. This is really important because it eliminates any resistance you might get from people who feel resentful of being forced to participate in a program. It also ensures that those who choose not to participate have the support that they need to continue their professional development and aren't singled out or made to feel bad for choosing to go another way.
Another important element that the school district implemented was that this program would take place during school hours and on the clock. This meant that teachers didn't have to sacrifice more of their scarce free time to participate in professional development. The program is also peer led and there are incentives for leading learning sessions and participating.
Overall I think is a really great approach to ensuring that one's staff can stay up to day on their professional development without asking them to output tons of time and money that they don't have to continue learning elsewhere. I also liked the way in which it clearly fostered a strong learning community among the teachers at the school.
Our other two readings looked at a similar kind of program being implemented in public libraries. These programs involved more independent learning options, but still resulted in staff members teaming up to help each other out. Again a big component of this program I liked was the flexibility it gave participants, particularly for how and when to work on their assignments.
I think that finding ways to provide professional development in libraries, that provide flexibility, choice, and freedom to library staff members is so important. We all need to keep our current skills sharp and continue to add to our toolkit as we move forward professionally, but this can be difficult to do when working a full time job and trying to juggle a personal life at the same time. Providing time for professional development during the normal work day is a great solution to this, and it would likely make staff feel more appreciated and supported as the strive to develop new skills, which will ultimately benefit their institution.
I don't know a lot of the details about the program, but I know that MLibrary does have some professional development type programs in place for their staff. I know they have professional development days where staff attend talks and workshops during normal working hours, and they also have a shadowing program where staff members can spend a week shadowing other staff members to learn about the kind of work they do. After doing the readings for this week I think I need to find out more information about this program so I can be better educated about how professional development can work in academic library settings.
I agree-- it really seems that the key to successful professional development programs is to give the participants some freedom of choice and say as to what the program will look like for them individually. As we've been learning all semester, people come into programs with all different backgrounds, experiences, and expectations. I hope that the programs that we read about for this week are the norm, not the exception!
ReplyDeleteI second the idea that allowing people to choose what they want to learn makes a huge difference. Supervisors usually need to have some input, too, but professionals themselves usually know where they struggle, so it only makes sense to let them decide for themselves what to work on. This shows respect for them as colleagues and helps every party to see themselves as partners in strengthening the whole organization.
ReplyDelete