Since its inception, the Center for Professional Development has been involved in developing and/or teaching numerous instructor-led workshops and seminars.
All seminars and workshops are developed and taught using adult-learning principles with an emphasis on problem-centered learning based on the real-life experiences of the instructors and participants.
Web-based conferencing is quickly becoming a popular method of providing instructional material to groups of all sizes. The Center for Professional Development has been involved in the development and presentation of several "webinars" including:
The advantages of the webinar format are numerous including minimizing travel costs for participants (and instructors), providing interactive question and answer opportunities, having the ability to show graphical information, and providing a greater cost effectiveness for organizations receiving the training.
Web-based conferencing is also ideal for group meetings where there is a need to go beyond simply teleconferencing in order to show meeting participants visual material such as presentations, web sites, software demonstrations and applications, and videos.
Clearinghouses are another form of research implementation. More and more clearinghouses are moving toward complete electronic databases of information. The Center for Professional Development currently maintains the Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP) clearinghouse (http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov) for the Federal Highway Administration. Another clearinghouse for traffic management centers is currently under development.