A New Pathway: Video-Based Professional Development in Geography

The Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education, in partnership with the Agency for Instructional Technology, and the National Geographic Education Foundation have embarked on the production of a twenty-two-program, Web-based professional development series for teachers of geography, social studies, and environmental science, titled Geography: Teaching with the Stars. Recognizing that deficient preservice preparation in geography is a serious problem in classrooms across the country, this technology-based series of programs is designed to complement and extend the impact of face-to-face in-service teacher training, the preferred method currently being used by the National Geographic Society-sponsored State Alliance program. This article includes a survey of the research literature describing and analyzing the nature of similar series in other disciplines, as well as some results of preliminary research about the effectiveness of the prototype program, “Globalization.”