Online CPD is growing in popularity and allows you to learn at a time and place that suits you. We spoke to Manette Carroll, a teacher at Bielefeld Primary School, about her experience on our online CPD.
Manette told us all about how participating in online CPD has supported her, the connections she’s made and how she has gone on to become an online peer mentor.
Why did you decide to do online CPD?
I chose to take part in CPD online mainly due to the location of my school - we are overseas and it can be difficult to attend face-to-face courses. However, I feel it is essential for all teachers to continue to keep their skills up to date. I also liked the idea that I could work at my own pace at a time that suited me and fitted around my normal workload.
How did you find participating in one of our online courses?
As a learner, the course provided me with a greater insight into teaching and learning than I had originally expected. It gave me the opportunity to engage with a wide range of people, from teachers to non-teachers, all of whom had a similar interest and all wanted to improve our skills. It also helped to see that others were in a similar situation.
As a group, we were able to share our ideas and experiences and discussed openly how the ideas could support our teaching and learning.
What I really liked was the fact that the course suggested ideas for improving my teaching and, once we’d had the opportunity to trial these ideas, we could discuss how they’d gone and share this with others. It enabled me to adapt what I was implementing and make improvements on how I taught my students.
How did you link the course content to your teaching practice?
It was fairly easy to link the courses to my teaching as a number of the videos were recorded in real classroom situations. This enabled me to see how they had been implemented and how they were used to support teaching and learning.
There were also a few online quizzes and surveys as part of the course that helped me to assess my progress and understanding. Due to the timescale of the course, I had the opportunity to implement small changes each week, leading up to bigger changes over a period of time.
Why did you decide to become a peer mentor on our online CPD?
Initially, I decided to be a mentor to give something back to the course. I felt that the mentors I had experienced on the course had been so supportive and given positive feedback during the course that I felt it would be very rewarding.
Having embarked on mentoring, I found that it has given me greater confidence in my own teaching and learning and allowed me to pursue other teaching opportunities.
I have been able to develop face-to-face CPD for my authority and cluster schools and I have also had the opportunity to present at STEM research conferences. This not only looks good on my CV, but it’s great to have the recognition from experienced individuals who I have admired professionally, and to have them take me under their wing and develop me both as a teacher and a CPD provider.
How has being a peer mentor benefitted you?
I have found the experience very rewarding both personally and professionally. In a personal nature, I feel proud that others find my ideas supportive and valued. On a professional level, it has allowed me to trial the ideas from the CPD and also those from the participants I have worked with. This has resulted in greater progress in students’ learning.
As I have taken part in the mentoring process online, I have also been able to develop as a mentor for my colleagues. This has resulted in greater teaching and learning across a wide range of adults and students.
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