The survey listed a variety of professional development activities that included in-services, workshops, e-conferences, on-line training, self-study modules, credit courses delivered on-site and on-line, mentoring/coaching, access to expertise or resource people, and provincial/territorial certification program. The respondents were asked to select the types of PD activities that were available to them in the past two years and then choose the types of PD activities they would like.
The findings indicate that there is usually a direct match between the respondents ' PD preferences and the types of PD they have been able to access in their jurisdiction. At the aggregate level, 74 percent of the respondents selected workshops, 53 percent selected access to resource people or expertise, and 48 percent chose in-service as their PD preference. At the aggregate level, these ranked as the top three PD preferences and are are also the most common form of PD that respondents can access. In-service activities are not appropriate for many practitioners in remote areas, as there is usually only one staff person within a large geographic area. Within each jurisdiction, the findings are slightly different. Mentoring ranked as one of the top choices in Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Nunavut, British Columbia, and Newfoundland; while on-line training ranked as one of the top three choices in Ontario and Nunavut.
The findings indicate that the respondents prefer PD activities that allow face-to-face interaction with individuals and groups. At the aggregate level, educators selected workshops, in-service, and access to resource people or expertise as their top three PD preferences for learning about assessment. Accessing resource people or expertise differs from workshops and in-service in two ways. First, this option allows for observation and feedback; for example, a resource person could observe a practitioner administering an assessment and then provide feedback. One respondent confirmed this, by stating that onsite coaching serves "to validate assessor's proper use of meaningful tools."