Ensuring that educators have access to professional development is a central focus of the IB, along with publishing new materials to develop learning resources. We know from our community that inspired educators instil the drive to learn in their students.
It is with this aim of offering learning opportunities to educators and broadening their knowledge that the IB annually updates workshop offers, and has launched a new resource centre.
During 2017, we decommissioned the Online Curriculum Center (OCC) and launched the Programme resource centre (PRC). The OCC has been our community’s main access point to our resources and forums for many years but the needs from our community required us to develop a more future proof alternative. The changes that we have implemented represent a huge milestone and shift in the way we service our community – something they have been asking for, for some time. The PRC enables our community to find programme resources easier and more quickly, and increases the readability of our content.
The interest in resources and learning can also be seen in workshop trends. More than 1,000 online workshops were organized last year including 50 new types compared to the previous year. This growth is the result of rising demand from educators. During the past financial year, 72,080 participants completed face-to-face training, around 1,000 more than the previous year. The same trend can be seen in online workshops, with a growth of around 800 participants to a total of 12,483.
To further teacher development and provide new options for training, the IB continues to explore new, innovative ways to deliver training. Last year, the blended workshop format was introduced, which includes both online and face-to-face elements. The IB is also exploring informal professional development options, such as webinars.
