The Tutor.com Blog

Every week millions of teachers spend time planning out lessons that will engage a classroom of students. Mat Doty, a ninth grade teacher at the Crossroads Center, an alternative education center that is part of the Baltimore County Public School System, is one of those teachers. But, Mat doesn’t have to plan alone.  Mat has been participating in the MyLivePD™ Online Coaching Service pilot program since September 2011. Thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, several school districts, several Teach for America (TFA) regional districts and National Education Association (NEA) members have enjoyed free access to experienced Algebra coaches online.

Mat uses the service regularly to connect to a coach during his prep period or after-school hours to collaborate on lesson plans especially for upcoming high stakes exams. Here’s how MyLivePD is helping Mat every week.

Tutor.com: Mat how long have you been teaching?

Mat: I’m in my fifth year of teaching at the Baltimore County Public School System. Right now I teach Algebra to classes of 18 ninth graders, who all have different challenges when it comes to school and school work.

Tutor.com: Ongoing professional development is an important part of your profession.  What types of professional development programs have you participated in?

Mat:  I’ve done a lot of professional development (PD) since I started my teaching career. I’ve attended conferences, workshops and I have even provided PD to other teachers, as well.

Tutor.com: What type of PD were you providing?

Mat: I focused on helping teachers make math relevant to their students to help really engage the students in the classroom. The program also brought the elements of urban culture to suburban teachers.

Tutor.com: How is MyLivePD different from other PD programs you’ve done?

Mat : It’s a completely new way to get help. Before MyLivePD, if I had a question about a teaching technique or wanted to try something new in my classroom, I would have to wait for a larger workshop or seminar that may be weeks or months away. Now I can get help from one of the coaches right when I need it, which is really exciting.

Tutor.com: How often do you use MyLivePD and what types of topics do you discuss?

Mat: I started using the program this past September. I have been using it pretty regularly. In the fall I used it to get my courses fully planned and to tweak some of my lessons. I also connected to coaches to prepare for my observation. Now, I’m using the service for suggestions on engaging my students to prepare them for the Maryland High School Assessment (HSA). Our recent benchmark tests were not as high as I’d like and I want to find innovative ways to prep them for the test.

Tutor.com: What do you like best about connecting to a coach for PD online?

Mat: I like how immediate the help is and how personal it is. I get to ask a specific question and get a very personal experience and response. Not long ago, I prepared a lesson and it didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. That day I was able to connect to a coach online during a prep period and work through some other options. I had a new lesson plan ready to go for the very next day. Other PD doesn’t work like this.

Tutor.com: How would you recommend other teachers use MyLivePD?

Mat: There are many ways teachers can use MyLivePD. I recommend it for planning lessons to help make them more exciting and to better engage students. When you are planning alone you can hit a wall sometimes. It’s great to have a coach to share ideas. The service also helps teachers take more risks and try something new like inquiry-based lessons. And I like that I can have a great new idea and lesson plan in 30 minutes or less. It really saves me planning time.

If you or your school district would like to check out MyLivePD go to www.mylivepd.com to watch a video and read more about this new, teacher-driven PD.

Tutor.com is well-known in education circles for our on-demand, one-to-one, tutoring solutions for students. Not long ago, we started seeing an interesting trend with our student services— teachers were connecting with tutors and they loved the experience. Those early teacher comments helped us create a new type of professional development service, MyLivePD™ Online Coaching Service.

First launched as a pilot program in several districts with about 200 teachers as part of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MyLivePD is now available to Algebra and middle school math teachers everywhere. It’s online, on-demand and personalized to teachers’ specific planning and PD needs to make an immediate impact in the classroom.

Why It’s Different

We hear from teachers all the time that their current PD solutions just aren’t working for them. Yet, districts regularly spend thousands of dollars per teacher each year to deliver PD that isn’t helping teachers get the training they need and want. MyLivePD is different.

With MyLivePD teachers choose the topics they want to discuss with an experienced coach. All of our coaches have classroom teaching and coaching experience. Teachers simply login online and then connect to a coach for a session about the topic of their choice. Teachers work with coaches on:

• Differentiated learning
• Classroom management
• Student assessments
• Common Core
• Lesson planning

Teachers are enjoying professional support that is personalized to their needs and their schedules. 90% of teachers report that they are using ideas from their coaching sessions within a week in the classroom. The new generation of teachers are hungry for the same types of technology and blended solutions they use in the classroom with their students for their own PD.

If you and/or your district are interested in a new way to deliver PD, we invite you to learn more by reading “Personal, Private and On-Demand Teacher Support” in the March issue of School Administrator. You can also visit www.tutor.com/mylivePD.

We’d love to hear from you!  What PD programs are working in your district? Let us know in the comments.

Coaches work in real-time with teachers

Back in September, we were excited to launch the MyLivePD™ Online Coaching service pilot thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  We now have almost 300 algebra teachers participating in the pilot to get real-time, on demand coaching.

Today, we’re officially launching MyLivePD for all mathematics teachers.   That’s right.  School districts may now purchase MyLivePD for their math teachers. In early March, teachers will have the opportunity to buy their very own subscription using a credit card or purchase order from their school.

We speak to teachers all the time who have sat through long PD sessions that may have limited to no impact for their day-to-day teaching.  MyLivePD is the EXACT OPPOSITE.   Teachers connect to a coach for an individualized session for immediate real-time collaboration around all planning topics, including differentiating instruction, classroom management, Common Core transitions, creating assessments and much more.  Teachers are using information from their sessions the very next day in the classroom.

Here’s what algebra teachers are saying about MyLivePD:

“Great advice and resources.”

“[Coach] took care of a fairly undirected question and provided some great ideas that went well past the experience I have in aiding student mastery.”

“This was great. I sometimes struggle with real-life connections, and my coach had some great examples.”

“I came in with a pedagogical issue and was helped with a great resource and transition into my next topic! Thank you!”

“I really enjoy working with the coaches I have learned so much I am excited about the process”

“(Coach) was wonderful. I really liked her idea, and look forward to trying the idea in class tomorrow.”

To learn more about planning with a trusted partner online, go to www.mylivepd.com

We’re excited to announce a new partnership with the National Education Association Member Benefits  (NEAMB) to provide MyLivePD™ to NEA members through the NEA Academy.

We launched MyLivePD, the first personal, online professional development and coaching service funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in September with a few school districts and regions of Teach for America (TFA).   Now, we’re expanding the program to NEA members.

Through this partnership, NEA members who teach algebra will get free access to MyLivePD through June 30, 2012.   Space is limited to the first 100 algebra teachers registered.  Current service hours are Sunday through Thursday from 2:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Algebra teachers can sign up at www.mylivepd.com and NEA members can register at  www.neaacademy.org/mylivepd.html.

Teachers using the new coaching service are giving it high marks.  97% of teachers would recommend the service to a colleague and nearly 90% are using the information from their session right away in the classroom.   And here’s what one 8^th grade algebra teacher commented after a session.

“ I’m SOOOO thankful for this program! It’s so great to know if i have ANY question I have someone I can talk to and I don’t feel so alone, afterwards I feel empowered to go in to my class the next day and teach with more confidence! Thank you so much, this is a wonderful resource and help for me!”

Teachers can ask any instructional question from pedagogy to classroom management and work with one of our experienced coaches one-to-one.

If you are an NEA member and algebra teacher, check it out at www.mylivepd.com.

Less than a year ago we announced an exciting new project thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation .  We were given the opportunity to create a brand new professional development service modeled on our flagship live,  on demand tutoring program used by millions of students around the country and world.    After months of research and conversations with teachers and education leaders this week we launched  MyLivePD. 

The MyLivePD pilot program will be used by more than 200 middle and high school algebra teachers from the Baltimore County School District, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Tucson Unified School District, and four Teach for America regions.

MyLivePD offers a one-of-a-kind PD experience that has never been available before now. Rather than participating in a few teacher professional development seminars during the year, teachers can connect to a live coach as often as they wish throughout the pilot and ask any instructional question.  MyLivePD coaches are available every Sunday through Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to Midnight Eastern Time.

To learn more about this new service check out Professional Development Just-in-Time and One-on-One in THE Journal.  Includes an in-depth  interview with George Cigale, Tutor.com’s founder and CEO.

Education Technology Expert Joins Tutor.com to Lead Live On Demand Professional Development Program

Tutor.com is proud to welcome Pamela Livingston to the Tutor.com team. Ms. Livingston is now the Product Manager for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant funded Live On Demand Professional Development Program. Pamela Livingston will be overseeing day-to-day operations and work with participating school districts to create a completely new professional development model to provide one-to-one support for math teachers.

Pamela Livingston has spent seventeen years directing education technology programs and helping teachers integrate technology at public, private and charter schools.   She is also a well-known expert on school laptop programs and published the ISTE bestseller “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs that Work” after spending a year interviewing laptop leaders across the country.   As a frequent presenter and keynote at national and international venues, Ms. Livingston continues to assist educators with integrating digital technologies into the classroom environment. Read the press release.

You can learn more about Pamela Livingston on her blog, 1-to-1 Learning and on Twitter @plivings.

Don’t forget to follow Tutor.com @tutordotcom for more news about online learning, education and our professional development program.