Online Professional Development: Design, Deliver, Succeed!

John Ross has been helping educators from the classroom to the state board room better understand how technology integration enhances school improvement efforts for more than a decade. Spearheading the 2004 launch of an online professional development environment for an educational non-profit, Dr. Ross has since designed and delivered online professional development that has gone to many thousands of educators in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. He has connected with educators across the nation through podcasts, webcasts, webconferences, social networks, dabbling in Second Life, and his blog. Dr. Ross is the subject-matter expert for Principal Connections Online, an expanded, Web-based version of the popular training on technology integration for K-12 leaders. He worked with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) to design and develop the free, Web-based Data-Based Decision Making Tool: A Resource for Teachers (www.edvantia.org/dbdm), a comprehensive guide for developing and implementing school improvement efforts; and also developed the Web-based version of the K-12 Total Cost of Ownership, or TCO, Calculator (www.edvantia.org/tco), which is based on the work of the Integrated Technology in Education Group. He served as the director of the Institute for the Advancement of Emerging Technologies in Education and as the director of technology for the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC), both funded by the U.S. Department of Education, where he has educators at all levels investigate and incorporate new and emerging technologies in support of their work. Dr. Ross is a frequent presenter in the field of educational technology at state and national conferences and has served as a consultant and trainer for teachers, administrators, and policymakers. He teaches an online graduate class he created about technology integration for Bethel University based on the textbook he co-authored with Dr. Katherine Cennamo from Virginia Tech and Dr. Peg Ertmer from Purdue. The textbook, Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach, is the first to address the revised National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Dr. Ross was a classroom teacher for 10 years and holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and instructional technology from Virginia Tech.