Professional development for teachers (PDT) is the primary objective of the Schools Around the World (SAW) Program, which is a multinational endeavor initiated by the Council for Basic Education in the United States. The project offers teachers of science and mathematics from around the world an opportunity to share their students’ work by uploading them to the project’s website. Teachers can then examine and reflect on their own teaching practices by viewing the student work database. Apart from individual reflection, SAW also provides a platform for an exchange of professional experiences among teachers from the nine participating countries around the world with a view to improving student achievement. The SAW project makes use of information technology (IT) to construct a model of online PDT. A number of initiatives are included, namely the establishment of the student work database, online seminars and forums, and the Shared Reflection System (SHARES). This chapter describes the principles underpinning these initiatives from a PDT perspective, outlines the content of such initiatives, and offers practical hints for teacher educators who offer online PDT projects. Having introduced the SAW model from a professional and a technical perspective, the chapter goes on to provide a summary of the experiences of the participating teachers in the United States and Hong Kong. Their reflections suggest that their perceptions of the effectiveness of the Web-based communication tools and online resources will be very much affected by their existing workload and the support given by their schools or the government. Drawing on the SAW experience, the authors provide suggestions that may facilitate the use of technology in PDT.
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