The teachers' plan will involve multiple sources for learning about the topic. First the teachers pick a critical area in which they want to develop such as formative assessment, RTI (Response to Intervention), literacy development, or 21st century skills. These adult learners can go to Amazon.com to find out who is writing about the topic or they go to wikipedia to get a basic understanding of the topic and to find the names of some of the modern leaders in that area. Next, they search the web to see if those experts have webpages or blogs. They subscribe to the experts' blogs by using an RSS feed through Google Reader. They search Slideshare, Youtube and Teachertube for presentations on the topic. they search for podcasts on the topic by searching for podcast +topic such as podcast + “formative assessment”. They use delicious, to find other educators' bookmarks on the topic. They use the school's or public library's online library to read articles on the topic. They find other teachers who are implementing this new techniques through webpages and blogs and they email that person with their questions. They may videoconference with that person at school through the school's videoconferencing equipment or through Skype at home. They can summarize their initial learning in a blog or a wiki. Through all of these tools, the classroom teachers develop a strong foundation in the new topic.

Good professional developmnt moves teachers from learning about a topic to implementing that topic. As the teachers plan to use the strategy in their classroom, they may ask a colleague, a principal, a curriculum expert, or the district's curriculum director to mentor them. Likewise, they can have a virtual mentor such as one of the teachers they have email or videoconferenced with. As the classroom teachers prepare the lesson plans using this new strategy, the mentor can look over the lesson and give advice. If they do not have a face-to-face mentor, then, as they teach their lesson, they digitally record their class. They can send the video to their virtual mentor. Teachers who try out new strategies need the reassurance that they are doing it correctly and they want to learn how to do it better. Face-to-face or virtual practitioners can supply practical information.

A critical question for any professional development is whether the professional development increases student learning. The classroom teachers can supply evidence in their blog or wiki of increased students' learning as a result of implementing this new strategy. Teachers can include pre-post assessments such as essays before the new strategy and essays after the strategy or a pre-assessment of the state test from two year's ago and the post-assessment of last year's state test. They may include several formative assessments done throughout the unit to show the growth in the students. Other educators may have students develop mini-portfolios or blog pages where they showcase their changes in learning through this new topical strategy.

This Web 2.0 professional development has many advantages. First, teachers investigate educational topics that are of critical concern to them. They design their own professional development. Next, they learn from many experts instead of one person. In addition, their information on the topic is as current as the experts' last blog. Likewise, these professional developments are not limited to a few days in the summer or a specific number of days after schools. Classroom teachers extend their professional development for a semester or for the school year as they grow and implement the new topic strategy. Furthermore, these sessions cost almost nothing for the district. There are no instructors' cost or snack costs. The major cost is in the time for the professional development specialist to oversee the teachers' progress as documented in their blog or wiki by using Google Reader.

Teacher develop more deeply in a topic, have local or virtual experts help them as they implement and reap the students' academic rewards when they plan their own professional development using Web 2.0 tools. The outside world becomes a catalyst for within the class change.

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