An interesting article on facilitated professional development. There are definite implications for mLearning asynchronous, always on, anytime, anywhere…
“A facilitated format, experts say, adds three major benefits that can improve teacher engagement in ongoing training. First, it can maintain or even increase the level of interaction of an in-person class, because an online instructor or facilitator isn’t limited by time constraints and can have multiple dialogues with each participant. Second, it allows for a measure of flexibility in timing, so a teacher can participate at a time and place that lets him or her more fully engage in the content. And finally, the online medium offers a way for those teachers who tend to hold back during in-person professional development to express themselves.”
Sawchuk, S. (2009) The Online Option. In Education Spotlight PD. from Education Week’s Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook