Professional Development for Bermudian Educators.

This paper presents a case study of distance education and professional development in Bermuda, British West Indies. In 1996, the Division of Graduate and Continuing Education at Fitchburg State College (FSC), Massachusetts, entered into a program to provide a Master's of Education program to Bermuda's teachers. The Bermudian Ministry of Education had placed new requirements upon its teachers to upgrade their education in order to remain in their positions, but Bermuda had neither Bachelor's nor Master's level educational institutions. FSC developed an international distance learning program combining new computer technology and traditional classroom instruction. The program offers most courses over a computer network at a time and place convenient to students. Faculty members travel to Bermuda to instruct four of the program's courses. Two collaborative relationships have helped the program. With Academic Paradigms Online, an independent organization that facilitates online education and that first approved the program, there is a successful partnership that has embarked on additional graduate degree programs in Bermuda and other locations. A collaboration with Bermuda College, a post-diploma institution, involves exchange of faculty, presentations of professional development workshops, and a site in Bermuda for meetings and student services. The program will work with the Ministry of Education to delivery professional development programs for teachers and administrators. An appendix provides week-by-week details of one of the online courses. (Author/SM)