Certificate holder a catalyst for staff PD

An ICT Certificate holder at Rosedale State School (P-12) is going beyond the call of duty by helping her teaching colleagues keep up-to-speed with the digital pedagogy evolution.

Tammy Lord began delivering professional development to her colleagues at the start of 2008 and by the end of that year, she had gained ICT Certificate accreditation.

By delivering PD to her colleagues, Tammy started her journey towards advanced licence accreditation as well - without even realising it.

'I'm doing this to help students get the most they can from their education,' Tammy said.

'The best way of doing that is to help staff in schools to learn more about ICT and the Digital Evolution, especially digital pedagogy.'

Just a few months after getting her ICT Certificate, this digital savvy teacher presented ICT awareness seminars to her colleagues, which she affectionately calls DigiPD, during a student-free day.

There, teachers learned about freely available software that is ideal for learning, teaching and planning.

They also found out more about the software that comes preloaded on their Computers for Teachers laptops.

'They loved it,' Tammy said.

'I was delighted to hear that some of my colleagues felt reinspired and others realised that some of the pedagogical approaches they were using are inadequate for today's students.'

Tammy introduced her school's teacher-aides to three software programs that would be used by most teachers this year.

'After the session, some of them let me know they no longer felt scared about technology while others were keen to learn more,' Tammy said.

Tammy has developed PowerPoint presentations featuring instructional videos and more, covering the topics outlined in her DigiPD sessions.

She has uploaded them onto the school's intranet for all staff to watch and learn from.

To make the presentations easier to access, Tammy has cut them into bit-sized chunks, each focusing on a specific topic.

Tammy continues to run DigiPD sessions for her colleagues almost every week.

The more PD she offers, the more prepared Tammy is for seeking advanced licence accreditation.