Page 26 - The Architecture of Professional Development

Messages and Meaning in

the Architecture of Professional Development

This booklet began with a descrip on of the architecture of professional development. Designs for
professional learning in schools are works of architecture, built environments, that create and define
space much like buildings and monuments do in the physical world. These structures represent
architects’ and builders’ efforts to integrate func on, structure, and beauty in ways appropriate to
se ng and historic moment. The evalua on of this architectural form, addressed in the second
sec on of the chapter, described how the systema c gathering and analysis of assessment provide
opportuni es to examine various aspects of the design, delivery, context, content, and outcomes of
professional development. These evalua on data also permit us to examine the architecture of
professional development as a form of language that communicates important messages. The
architecture of professional for teachers and principals conveys meaning beyond its structural
dimensions. In the last sec on, I examine symbolic dimensions of professional development
architecture.

James O’Gorman (1998) notes that, “To communicate architecturally, or to respond appropriately to a
building’s message, you must use or read its formal parts according to their associa ve meanings. The
principal building blocks of architectural meaning is style, but materials, size, even loca on do play
roles in how we interpret a building” (p. 98). What messages then does the architecture of
professional development communicate? I begin with a discussion of the meta‐messages
communicated in the architecture of professional development. Next, I use three types of professional
learning experiences— workshop/ conferences, convenience courses, and collabora ve ac on
research— to illustrate how style (expressed in professional development design and delivery) is a
language that communicates important messages and meaning.

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