How does a course work alongside my development cycle?

Courses can be used to build your knowledge and understanding during the Explore phase of a development cycle, helping you develop a stronger foundation before putting your learning into practice. 

In the Set a goal phase, you'll be prompted to set a professional learning goal through feedback and reflection. This will likely point you towards a particular dimension or element of the Model for Great Teaching, and towards a course that can help you achieve your goal. Courses are particularly useful if you're new to the dimension or element you've chosen and want a solid introduction to the evidence, ideas and knowledge that underpin it.

As you work through the course, use the reflection activities to connect what you're learning to your own practice and record your learning in your professional learning log. You don't need to wait until you've finished a course to put your learning into practice. Courses include short, low-stakes classroom activities that encourage you to try out ideas as you go. 

Courses introduce great teaching techniques that you might choose to explore further in the Develop expertise phase. At the end of the course, you'll be encouraged to choose one technique and start implementing it in your classroom, using what you've learned to adapt it to your context and solve practical classroom challenges.

This helps you move from building knowledge and understanding, to trying things out, reflecting on your practice and developing greater expertise.