Frontline Blog

The widespread perception — that because workers don’t leap at every chance to engage in professional learning, they must be disengaged — is damaging. It leads to tension between supervisors and employees, it undermines employee trust. And the worst thing about it? It’s simply untrue. This perception persists because we operate with faulty expectations.

Since the release of TNTP’s “Mirage” study a few weeks ago, it’s been interesting to observe the myriad of reactions from the K-12 world and mainstream press. From well-known EdWeek blogger, David B. Cohen, to Learning Forward, the international thought leader in educator professional learning, to U.S. News & World Report, almost everyone who touches educator learning, and many who don’t, seems to have a strong reaction to the findings:  

In December 2012, I graduated from the Learning Forward Academy (LFA), a compelling two and a half year blended learning experience where participants collaboratively solve significant “problems of practice” related to educator and student learning. When I was a new graduate, I experienced a full range of emotions. I felt relief and delight about completing all assignments and graduating, a sense of clarity around my personal beliefs about professional learning, and a little melancholy about the end of such a rich journey. And, more than a little overwhelmed with all of the unattended action items jotted in the margins of my journal and, more formally, in my personal learning plan. Nearly three years later, some of those items are complete. 

Questions about our professional learning management system formerly known as MyLearningPlan PDMS? You’ve come to the right place.