Prioritizing Professional Development: We Need it Now More Than Ever!

COVID-19 presented some challenges which we have not faced before as individuals nor as a community. As an active member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), I know I am not alone when it comes to keeping myself current and seeking ways to reinvent my contribution to teaching, learning, and assessment.

Perhaps, it is through the empowerment of the community that I decided to leave higher education in the traditional sense, just over a year ago to come here to AEFIS and make a greater impact.

AEFIS Academy was always a dream of mine in some way. Back in the 2010s, I began working on and eventually leading a number of grants sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) with other universities and K-12 districts. In addition, my institution was going through a curriculum change to support the new teacher leadership certification and creation of teacher leader positions at districts and I began graduate courses leading to my NJ superintendent license as well as a second master’s in Educational Leadership.

All of these activities were professional learning experiences, introduced to me by my dean at the time, and supported within my extended community which included Learning Forward NJ, ASCD, NJ Aspiring Superintendents Academy as well as Twitter connections and follows.

In an October 5th article written by Adam Geller, a colleague I met when I kicked off this professional learning journey, the call to action is clear: “Now is the time for professional development to be prioritized.” And it is with great enthusiasm and excitement that AEFIS Academy 2.0 Beta launched today, to bring all of your professional learning needs to one place, surrounded by change agents, leaders, and colleagues representing institutions from across the country.

I am blogging here today from AEFIS Academy 2.0 Beta right from my profile after logging into the system and completing my required profile items and taking ACAD 100, a course that provides context to the learning ahead of you on AEFIS Academy.

We know learning is lifelong. And we have so much to achieve but we don’t have to do it alone- we actually were never meant to- to paraphrase author and researcher, Brene Brown.

I hope you will join me in leading on AEFIS Academy and prioritize your professional development because our community needs you now more than ever! Register for our AEFIS Academy 2.0 Launch Event to learn more about how you can contribute to the Academy! It’s your community!