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College Board Online Events: Professional Development Anywhere, Anytime
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by Donna de Soto
The College Board
New York, New York
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Gathering in a Virtual Classroom
It is about 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and Jane Wilson, a new teacher from rural New Mexico, is getting ready to take a one-day workshop in AP Biology. At 8 a.m. in western Canada, Rob Peyroux, an experienced biology teacher and new AP teacher, is also preparing to join the first session. At the same moment, Jennifer Gold signs in from her school in Germany, where the time is 7 p.m. The presenter, Janice Webb, an AP Biology teacher from Georgia, types a welcome message for the participants to see as they enter the online, virtual classroom. Lucy Stuart, the moderator of the workshop, starts the session from her office in New York City, where it is 11 a.m. She counts 30 workshop participants from every corner of the U.S. and from four other nations in the virtual classroom.
This virtual classroom includes a whiteboard for text and images, a list of the participants in the class, a direct messaging board for text messaging, and tools for communicating, taking Web tours, and using the whiteboard. Participants in an online workshop hear each other using a technology called VOIP (voice-over-IP), see the presenter through her use of a Web Cam, and communicate via text messaging on the direct messaging board. In the AP Biology workshop that has just started, Webb uses a polling tool to find out more about the participants, their level of teaching experience, and what they hope to get out of the workshop. She then clearly defines the workshop outcomes and learning objectives for each of the five, one-hour sessions.
During the workshop, to illustrate a concept, the presenter uses the online whiteboard to display images of cells seen through an electron microscope. Later in the session, she displays a simulation of the circulatory system from a university Web site and suggests that the teachers bookmark the site so they can use it with their students in class. When Robert, a new AP Biology teacher from Tennessee, has a question about teaching to multiple skill levels, he "raises his hand" on screen and types his question. Webb responds with some suggestions, and while she is doing so, several of the workshop participants type in strategies and activities that have worked for them.
Connecting Knowledge and Educators Worldwide
Since 2004, College Board Online Events has served over 4,000 educators in 30 countries. Now, with access to a computer and an Internet connection, teachers, AP Coordinators, counselors, and administrators around the globe are able to participate in live, interactive, online professional development. Among the offerings are topical seminars, course updates, mini-workshops, one-day workshops, and two-day intensive workshops for more than 30 AP subjects. One of the most popular offerings is our "Teaching the Book" series in AP English, French, and Spanish Literature as well as AP English Language. The College Board also offers topical seminars such as "Teaching Iran," "Using Video in the AP Physics Classroom," and "AP Calculus Applications."
Real Examples, Strategies That Work
Back in the AP Biology workshop, participants are reviewing how to score an AP Exam question. A couple of weeks before the workshop, they received the workshop manual and a sample scoring assignment for one of the past AP Biology Exam questions posted on AP Central. After a meal break between sessions, participants now discuss how they scored the student samples and refer back to the scoring guidelines for that question. Other topics they discuss in the workshop are the Course Description, the AP Course Audit, student recruitment, pacing, resources, syllabus development, homework, and exam preparation and scoring.
At the end of the workshop, during the Question and Answer session, participants ask any questions they still have. They then complete an event evaluation and save the whiteboard slides so they can refer to them and print as needed. The CEU certificate for the event will arrive via email in a week or so, with instructions on how to view the recorded event archives. The group has enjoyed the interactive discussion and sharing of ideas so much that they agree to swap emails and stay in touch.
In addition to live, online events, the College Board offers the opportunity to register for recorded archives of many events. Teachers and administrators can view the recorded archives at any time, play them multiple times, and review the same materials used in the live events.
So wherever you are in the world, and whatever your professional development needs are, there's a College Board Online event for you! For more information and instructions on how to register, visit the College Board Online Events section of AP Central.
 College Board Online Events
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