I am woefully behind on answering #maet questions! I finally had a moment to catch up and respond to @RyanMillerCISD ‘s inquiry:

I am sitting on all of these video tutorials and training resources I have created and am wondering how I can gather some useful data from those that utilize them.  I sense an Action Research Project unfolding!  The big question is how can I gather pertinent data from the use of my resources and what impact the resources have on:
1. New Staff Training
2. Improved proficiency
3. Preferred learning styles
I feel like there is the enormous hole in the universe when it comes to quality research on effective Professional Development…  maybe that is just my perception, but this is where I thought you might be able to point me in the direction of what is happening on the PD research front.

The direction I am heading is housing all of my resources in Moodle courses where the staff members we serve can access them and participate in on-going “courses.”  Moodle gives me the advantage of tying individual resources/topics with discussion forums, surveys, etc  – and I feel this might be my best shot at gathering useful data while providing the best possible learning environment.

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My response:

A good place to start is existing research and then modeling your work after that, adding your own special twist. The TPACK Reference Library is a good place to begin your explorations: http://tpck.org/tpck/index.php?title=Reference_Library

The following recent articles could be helpful to your situation:

Lee, M. H. & Tsai, C. C. (2010). Exploring teachers’ perceived self-efficacy and technological pedagogical content knowledge with respect to educational use of the World Wide Web. Instructional Science, 38(1), 1-21. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/d510480505435104/

Jamieson-Proctor, R., Finger, G. & Albion, P. (2010, April). Auditing the TPACK capabilities of final year teacher education students: Are they ready for the 21st century? Paper presented at the Australian Computers in Education Conference 2010, Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from http://acec2010.info/proposal/248/auditing-tpck-capabilities-final-year-teacher-education-students-are-they-ready-21st

Another excellent resource surrounding professional development is the POD Network – http://www.podnetwork.org – even though it is higher ed, it is focused on professional development in educational settings which you can transfer to K12.

Also, take a close look at the ISTE teacher standards and the new 2010 National Educational Technology Plan and see what you can take from there to frame your work and research.

Once you explore these resources and start to envision a project, post your thoughts and we’ll help you shape things up — there’s a whole #maet #edtech twitterverse and blogosphere here to support you!