Did you know that you can get plenty of state-of-the-art professional development and college courses - for free?

There are plenty of ways to access this material, but I'm just going to highlight the audio opportunities. Why? Because if you listen to these offerings on your iPod while driving, you'll save money on gas! I'll make my argument in a moment, but first the offerings:

Great Content

There are so many great podcasts out there about education, technology integration, teaching, best practice... you name it. Just spend some time in iTunes' podcast section and you'll find plenty. I've been commuting with podcasts since 2005 on the way to and from school and it has been some of the best professional development I've ever had. All for free. In order to access professional developmental opportunities in the car one simply needs some type of mp3 player and a way to broadcast it to your car stereo (either with an FM transmitter, a cassette adapter, or, if you're lucky enough to have a car that's 21st Century ready, you probably can plug your mp3 directly into the car). Some of my favorite educational podcasts to listen to are: Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wes Fryer, Connect Learning with David Warlick, anything produced by the folks broadcasting at EdTechTalk, and lately, Educause.

"Drive-in" Conference

The K-12 Online Conference has been offered since 2006. Heading into its 3rd year, the conference brings together some of the best minds and leaders in Education and Technology Integration entirely for free. Presentations are in audio and video form and supported by links and handouts online. Though the Conference does roll out in the month of October, all of the workshops, keynotes, and presentations remain on the web indefinitely. You could start with the catalog from 2006 and work your way up through hundreds of hours of great professional development audio - for free.

Graduate and re-certification credits can also be acquired.

More Conferences for the Car

The amount of presentations that are being captured and shared by "podcasters" is staggering. Weren't able to get to NECC this year? Here are plenty of podcasts to listen to from the conference at Apple's Learning Interchange. Sniff around the Web, and I'm sure you'll find plenty more. You're sure to find podcasts recorded at thousands of conferences. I myself got permission to capture some amazing presentations at the Building Learning Communities 2008 this summer. You can find them at my own blog here.

iTunes University

Why pay for college courses when you can get them for free? If you haven't tapped into the iTunes University offerings yet, you're really missing out on a gold mine. "Open Course-ware," presentations and guest speakers are presented in audio form from such giants as: MIT, Stanford, UC Berkley, Duke, Arizona State and Yale. All for FREE! Here's a great list to get you started.

iTunes U: K12 and Beyond

Besides great content from the University setting, iTunes also includes other learning resources in their iTunes U store. There's a section called "Beyond Campus" that includes some of my favorite self-learning resources: American Public Media, National Science Digital Library, and Smithsonian Global Sound (which actually includes many lesson plans as well). iTunes U is also now including content from the K12 community. I'm currently enjoying Arizona's IDEAL eLearning Platform (especially "Ask a Biologist" with Dr. Biology!) and my own state's Maine Department of Education resources.

Carpool with Knowledge

Ok: time for my "sweet-lemon-rationalization-argument." As I write this week's article, Gas is $4.00 at the pump, showing no signs of retreat. It's been painful for most wallets but we're reminded that it could be worse -- and probably will get worse. Perhaps it is in fact the best thing that could happen for the environment, but like a bandaid coming off, even when it's done quickly, there's still pain.

Let's take the average car's gas mileage (20 miles to the gallon) and a typical commute for many teachers (20 minutes) in order to make the math easy and keep the daily commute to $8 a day (to and from school) at the price of $4 a gallon. Once you get hooked on some of the excellent professional development audio treats mentioned above, you may come to the conclusion that I have: that this learning is invaluable. Priceless. If you agree with this, then you can think of your car as more than just a gas guzzling mode of transportation; it will transcend to become your "learning vessel." Where else can you get uninterrupted time for such focused learning? Don't think about the high cost of gas when you're at the pump. Think of the cheap price that you're paying for such excellent education!

So, let's say that you listen to an entire 40 minute lecture, presentation, or interview in a daily commute. How much is that worth to you? Would you say that it's worth at least half of that $8 you're putting into your tank? If you do, then you're really only paying $4 a day for gas and $4 a day for professional development! For a school year that's 165 days, that's $660 for professional development! Not bad. Convince your district that this learning should count towards re-certification hours (already possible with the K12 Online Conference), and you're saving money at this point (at least for the district). I doubt that you'll get reimbursement for your actual gas, but perhaps when districts become more accepting of this type of self-directed audio-learning (and hours can easily be documented and outcomes can be assessed), stipends could be given to reward teachers for professional development at incredible savings for districts. Think about it: How much would it cost to send your staff to NECC? Podcasts allow districts to significantly reshape their professional development budgets by taking advantage of the excellent free and global offerings found in audio podcasts

So, "fill 'er up!" Your tank, your iPod and your mind!

Bob Sprankle has been a multi-age teacher in Wells, ME for 10 years and has served as the school's Technology Integrator for the past two years.

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