Using Cambridge English Teacher for Continuing Professional Development

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Using Cambridge English
Teacher for Continuing
Professional Development
Fiona Barker

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Fill in the gaps
An effective ____________ stems from
effective p_____, p_____ and p_____.
An effective language school stems from
effective people, policies and practices.

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Workshop Aims
• To explore how online communities can help
teaching staff to develop their skills,
knowledge and other aspects of their CPD.
• To present the rationale and look together at
the range of resources on offer in Cambridge
English Teacher.

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Workshop Aims 2
• To consider which resources would be of
most benefit in your context.
• To suggest ways in which we can improve
what is currently on offer.
• To consider what can be done to involve
more teachers and institutions in online
communities.

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Cambridge English
Language Assessment
• Exam board offering a range of ESOL
language tests and teaching qualifications
• A unique approach to teaching, learning and
assessing English, driven by world-class
research and continuous innovation
• Committed to:
• educational excellence
• language learning that benefits society

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Overview
1. Benefits and challenges of CPD for
language education
2. Using online materials for CPD: rationale
and our experiences
3. Case study: Cambridge English Teacher
4. Linking online CPD to existing
frameworks & professional associations
5. What’s next?

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1. Benefits and challenges of
CPD for language education
What’s our view of CPD?

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Activity 1: Think of one word that
describes CPD
engagement

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CPD involves …
www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm

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How does CPD benefit
language education?
1. Who are the stakeholders?
2. What benefits does CPD bring to key
stakeholders?

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Contexts & uses
of educational outcomesInputs to education
Curriculum
Teaching &
learning
Internal &
external
assessments
Qualific
ations
Educational system
Who goes
here?
And here?
Activity 2: Stakeholders in
language education

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Students
Teachers
Directors of Studies
School managers
Exam boards
Test writers
Examiners
Receiving institutions
Future employers
Government agencies
Professional bodies
Test administrators
Materials writers
Publishers
etc.
Students
Parents/families
Teachers
Directors of Studies
School managers
Receiving institutions
Employers
Examiners
Government agencies
Professional bodies
Academic researchers
Test writers
Examiners
etc.
Educational system
Inputs to education
Curriculum
Teaching &
learning
Internal &
external
assessments
Qualific
ations
Educational System
Stakeholders
Contexts & uses
of educational outcomes

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Activity 3: Benefits of CPD
What benefits does successful CPD bring to
one or more of these groups?
– Teachers
– DOS
– Management
– Language school chains

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Benefits of successful CPD
– Teachers: career revitalisation, progression,
promotion …
– DOS: motivated staff with up-to date skills &
knowledge, peer support …
– Management: identifying staff for promotion,
aiding recruitment, retention, cost
effectiveness …
– Language school chains: comparable
training across multiple sites, publicity …

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Activity 4: What are the main
challenges to providing or
undertaking CPD?
1. Management/DOS: Providing CPD
2. Staff: Undertaking CPD

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What are the main challenges to
providing or undertaking CPD?
1. Management: Providing CPD
– expense, access, technology,
motivation/inclination, keeping track,
following up on staff …
2. Staff: Undertaking CPD
– time management, motivation,
following up, peer pressure

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Defining CPD and its benefits for
language education: Summary
In section 1 we:
1.Considered key words to do with CPD.
2.Thought about key stakeholder groups in
language education.
3.Suggested some of the benefits and
challenges of CPD for management, staff
and more widely.

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Any questions or comments?

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2. Using online materials for CPD
• Rationale
• Our experiences

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A rationale for CPD
Successful CPD:
• Gives schools a competitive advantage
• Complements formal teaching qualifications
• What else?

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Activity 5: Your experience of
online professional development
What types of online materials have you used
for your own PD?
What motivated you to use them?
Did they offer everything you needed at the
time? If not, what would have improved
them?

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Our experience of online PD
Online materials:
• blogs / wikis / discussion forums / VLEs /
subscription or free websites / courses /
webinars ...
Motivation:
• requirement / recommendation / stumbled
upon …
Improvements:
• accessibility / accurate / up to date …

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Using online materials for CPD:
Summary
• We considered how online CPD might help a
language school or training organisation.
• We reflected on our own use of online
materials and communities for PD, thinking
about why we used such materials.
• We started to think about how they could be
improved.

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Any questions or comments?

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3. Case study:
Cambridge English Teacher
• Cambridge English Teacher delivers online
PD to English language teachers around
the world.
• Collaborative initiative with Cambridge
University Press to raise English teaching
standards worldwide through:
• Increasing expertise through PD and career
development
• Easy, affordable access - anytime, anywhere
• Cambridge English quality

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Online Professional
Development Community
• Courses
• Webinars
• Articles
• Access to
• Discussion forums
• User profiles

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What membership options are
available?
• Two types of membership:
– Institutional
– Teacher
Institutional Membership:
• Continuously develops your teachers’ skills and expertise
• Online training fits around busy schedules
• Recruitment opportunities
• Every teacher receives the benefits of Teacher Membership.

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Teacher Membership
• Join a community of over 30,000 language
teachers
• Free course on joining – and every year when
renewing – with discounts on further courses
• Webinars, talks and articles from educational
experts
• Certificates of completion/participation for courses
and webinars
• Recruitment opportunities.

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Online opportunities with CET
Registered guest users have access to:
•1 course (free Grammar for Teachers:
Language Awareness course)
•Resources
•Events (webinars etc..)
•Discussions
•More is available to subscribers

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Quick site tour

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Courses
Currently 14 self-study courses (around 10
hours each)
Certificate from Cambridge
• Add to portfolio/CV
1 included in every year of membership (can
purchase more)

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Current courses

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Resources
Articles
Knowledge library
• Continuous access
• Industry leaders
Growing
Videos & webinars

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Latest resources

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Sample resource

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Events
• Webinars – participate and/or watch
recordings
• Information about forthcoming Cambridge
Days and national and international
conferences

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Upcoming events

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Webinars
Every two weeks
- provides ongoing engagement for the community
Lead by teaching experts
- participants can interact with leading figures
Can be watched again afterwards

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Recent webinars

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Discussions
Any member can start or add to a discussion
forum
- 30,000 peers
- teaching and assessment experts
Private discussions can be held with
institutional membership

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Some discussions

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Activity 6
Which components of Cambridge English
teacher would be particularly relevant to one of
these teacher’s needs and interests? Why?
1)a new teacher
2)an experienced teacher who needs new motivation
3)an experienced and enthusiastic teacher
4)a teacher concerned about their language skills

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Relevance of Cambridge
English Teacher
1) new teacher
2) experienced teacher needing motivation
3) experienced & enthusiastic teacher
4) teacher concerned about language skills

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More features for members
Journal
Messaging through Inbox
Invite / Contacts

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Additional features for institutional
members (including their teachers)
• Private Community (20+ users)
• Upload specific content e.g. documents or event
information
• Messaging to your staff
• Communication and Collaboration
• Multi-site institutions or groups of schools
• Management and review of your staff’s use

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Launched this month…
Recruitment
• Post unlimited job adverts within each
membership year
• Search talented candidates and view their
profiles
• Verify applicants’ Cambridge English teaching
qualifications
• Receive applications and requests from job-
seekers through the site

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Cambridge English Teacher:
Summary
• We have looked at the range of resources
currently available in this online community.
• We considered how these resources would help
teachers at different career stages.

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Any questions or comments?

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4. Linking online CPD to existing
frameworks & professional
associations
Why should we invest in online CPD?

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Cambridge English Teacher could
help your institution to meet
EAQUALS’ inspection criteria
4.13 – Support and Guidance for Teachers
• Access to courses & resources
• Access to forums
• private institutional forums
• site-wide ones to draw on the expertise of others
• course-specific forums.

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4.15. Professional development
review of teaching staff
• Academic managers can use Cambridge
English Teacher to:
• recommend specific sets of development materials
to teachers with different needs.
• select from around 100 resources (articles,
webinar recordings etc.)
• purchase specific courses for individuals or groups
of teachers.

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8.29 Training and professional
development
• All members have access to a Journal in their
profile – this can be used for reflection on any
specific actions, courses of study and their
application in the classroom
• Managers can produce reports on course
progress, and, if their teachers allow it, they can
access their teachers’ profiles to look at all
courses taken, qualifications listed etc.

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9.32 Information available to
staff about the institution
• Institutional members can add documents, videos,
discussion threads etc… which could include
information about their school or company.
• They can also communicate through
announcements to their teachers, and through the
internal Inbox system.

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To sum up, Cambridge English
Teacher offers:
Development
– Courses
– Webinars
– Resources
– Discussions
– Profiles
Management
– Cost-effective CPD
– Control: manage and
review staff use
– Personalised private
community and
branding

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Worldwide use

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Don’t forget to visit our
Teacher Support website
• Information about all of our
assessments and teaching
qualifications.
• Teaching resources for each part of
each exam.
• More features to support teachers.
www.teachers.cambridgeenglish.org

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4. Linking online CPD to existing
frameworks & professional
associations: Summary
• We considered why it’s worth investing in online
CPD.
• We found out how online CPD can help
institutions to achieve accreditation from
professional associations.
• We saw how many countries already have users
of Cambridge English Teacher.

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5. What’s next?
• New developments are planned for
Cambridge English Teacher – watch this
space!
• We would welcome your ideas for:
• How can we improve what is currently on
offer?
• What can be done to involve more teachers in
similar online CPD communities?

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Two final thoughts …
• The best teachers never stop learning.
• The best schools never stop investing.

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Thank you!
For further information please
contact me:
barker.f@cambridgeenglish.org

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Links
Abcya word clouds:
www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
Cambridge English home page:
www.cambridgeenglish.org
Cambridge English Teacher Support
www.teachers.cambridgeenglish.org
Cambridge English Teacher:
www.CambridgeEnglishTeacher.org
Overview of EAQUALS Standards and Assessment
Criteria, last accessed 16/04/13 from
http://clients.squareeye.net/uploads/eaquals2011/do
cuments/Overview_of_EAQUALS_standards_and_a
ssessment_criteria.pdf