PD | ISTE 2014 Coverage
KDS Unveils Cloud Teacher Professional Development Platform
Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS), a
provider of professional development for K-12, has debuted its new
Professional Learning Platform at
the ISTE 2014 conference in
Atlanta, GA.
The cloud-based platform lets teachers access on-demand resources, interact
with other educators through social collaboration tools and access online
professional development courses. According to the company, PLP combines formal
learning with informal, self-directed and collaborative learning, and it aims to
help educators connect with each other, encourage each other and transform their
teaching practice. KDS plans to use the platform for all of its future strategic
professional development solutions.
Key features of the KDS Professional Learning Platform include:
- Library of more than 600 curated videos and other professional
development resources about effective teaching practices and subject matter;
- Integrated access to third-party content providers and district-sourced
content;
- Sharable, user-generated content for knowledge sharing;
- Synchronous tools for groups and virtual communities of practice to
connect, share, communicate and collaborate with other educators;
- Web-based meetings through high-definition video conferencing, screen
sharing and instant messaging
- More than 225 compliance courses;
- Online and onsite coaching tools, including scheduling and tracking;
- Reporting and analytics, including key performance indicators with
drill-down capabilities to demonstrate compliance, history towards
completion, content usage and overall professional development performance;
and
- Support for mobile devices.
The School District of Philadelphia
and several districts in New Mexico are already planning to implement the KDS
PLP.
Further information about the KDS Professional Learning Platform can be found
on the company's site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at leilameyer@gmail.com.