Certainly, experiential learning can be addressed without sensitivity to authentic contexts for learning, for example, through simulations or workshop role-playing. However, connecting learning experiences to teachers' actual work will likely boost their commitment to learning and the transfer of skills to practice. As educators redesign their classrooms and experiment with new instructional strategies, they need support and guidance from peers and mentors. Interaction patterns among teachers should mirror the collaborative contexts they are trying to create for students. Teachers should codesign instructional tasks and engage in collective reflection with teams of peers who share instructional responsibilities.
Teachers also benefit from in-class coaching, peer coaching, mentoring, and structured feedback.
Such initiatives attempt to reduce teachers' isolation and reinforce the needed social support critical for effective learning. Whenever possible, professional development programs should be driven by participants' interests, questions, and needs. Participants should be intricately involved in determining the student learning goals to be addressed, in assessing what skills they need in order to address those goals, and in selecting the format of their development experiences. Integration into Local, State, and Regional School Improvement Programs and Goals Professional development programs should be integrated into local, state, and regional school improvement programs and goals. Without such careful alignment, participants may feel disoriented, fragmented, and even overloaded.