Teaching & Education Professional Development

Communication is critical to student success. A variety of technology tools available to 21st century educators expand your ability to give students fast and effective feedback, saving classroom time and accelerating student achievement. Throughout this course, Oliver Schinkten explores how teachers can use Internet-based tools such as video and audio conferencing, learning management systems, and social media to communicate more effectively with students, parents, and other educators.

Preparing students for the careers of tomorrow means teaching them how to teach themselves, and getting them ready to adapt to an ever-changing world. How will you make sure your students are future ready? Kevin Brookhouser explores the three literacies students need to master for tomorrow's jobs—business skills, video production, and coding—and provides practical ways to help students prepare to be successful in future careers by engaging their current aspirations.

The Common Core State Standards are designed to standardize education across the nation, and it's teachers who are expected to implement them. So how do they impact your classroom? Find out in this course with educator Aaron Quigley. Aaron explains what the standards are designed to do—prepare high school students to be college and career ready—and breaks down the guidelines for math, English literacy, history, science, and other subjects.

What does it mean to be a digital citizen? Good digital citizens use technology in appropriate and respectful ways, and build community in every corner of the Internet. In 21st century education, helping students become good digital citizens—who communicate, search, and stay safe online—is part of every educator's responsibilities.

Learn how to harness common social media platforms—such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Flickr—to accelerate student learning. Kevin Kelly explores using social media to aid content mastery, increase academic focus, and foster effective classroom debate.

Along with being a core part of building digital citizenship, internet safely is an essential skill for students. This course explores how students can protect themselves by understanding the nature of Internet-based threats and learning about the protection options and tools built right into most web browsers and mail systems.
 

Becoming a mentor gives you a way to share your wisdom and knowledge with someone less experienced. People who mentor also benefit; studies have shown they often earn more money and promotions than nonmentors. But there are some important guidelines to consider before you start this mutually beneficial relationship.
 

Learn how to harness common social media platforms—such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Flickr—to accelerate student learning. Kevin Kelly explores using social media to aid content mastery, increase academic focus, and foster effective classroom debate.

Formal mentoring programs help organizations retain employees, increase job satisfaction and commitment, and cultivate organizational citizenship behavior. In this course, management professor and mentoring expert Ellen Ensher outlines five critical elements of a formal mentoring program, and explains how to establish a program in your own organization.

When it's done right, mentoring helps people take positive steps forward in their careers—which also helps develop the talent pool in an organization. In this short course, author Todd Dewett shows you simple steps to become a mentor who works with others to achieve more in their professional lives.