New - Professional Development Planning Assistance

Take advantage of our newest service offering assistance in professional development planning for your school or district. Using a team approach, we work with you to curate a set of courses that meet your yearly professional development goals. Gain access to our broad network of educators, courses offered exclusively at NDSU, and our team of support staff who manage the details from registration all the way through ordering a transcript.

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Offer a Class

The Continued Learning program is currently seeking high-quality, relevant, graduate-level professional development classes.

Did you know all North Dakota licensed teachers are required to take graduate-level professional development classes to maintain their teaching license? Also, many teachers from throughout the United States are required to have their professional development documented on a transcript for pay scale changes.

Who Can Offer A Class

Individual Instructors

Individuals who are an expert in a teaching-related topic are invited to develop classes for educators through in-person, online or a combination of those modes. Individuals interested in offering a K-12 professional development class must have a master's degree or higher from a regionally accredited university. You don't need to be a K-12 educator to offer a course, but your topic should be relevant to your area of expertise and topics that help K-12 educators as they work with the diverse learning needs of their students.

School Districts

It is also important that school districts provide staff development to help educators stay up-to-date on the latest teaching methods, curriculum, and technologies. We welcome school districts nationwide to offer professional development for their teachers through NDSU's Continued Learning program. School district's may also choose to open their professional development to all educators. If you plan to offer a class for teachers in your school or district and would like to offer professional development credit, request approval through NDSU Continued Learning. If you would like assistance in planning a slate of professional development for your school or district educators, we are here to help. Contact Dr. Stacy Duffield to learn more.

Next Steps

To offer a class for K-12 teachers you must complete the course proposal and course syllabus forms below. All classes offered are approved through NDSU Continued Learning and the appropriate NDSU department.

Here are some things to think about as you develop your course:

  • Who is your target audience?
  • What new information or existing strategies can educators take away from your course?
  • When will you offer your course? Consider offering your course in multiple semesters. Also consider what time educators are most available, if there is a face-to-face component.
  • Where will your students meet? A vital part of most courses is creating a connection among your students. Will they meet in person, via a web platform like Zoom or Google Classroom, through discussion boards, or some other way.
  • Why is your topic important to K-12 educators? How will you make this content engaging?
  • How much will your course cost? Will you take a grading fee or will you simply offer the course for NDSU's recording fee? What will the materials needed cost your students and will that be rolled in to the cost for the course?

There are a lot of considerations when thinking about offering a course, be watching for an expanded guide to assist you in planning your course.

Course Details

After your course has been approved you will receive a teaching contract. Many of these details are outlined in that contract, but this is a handy spot to refer back to when a question arises that you may not have the answer to. This section also helps address important policies and procedures related to your course.

The professional development contract for your course will be emailed to you by a Continued Learning staff member.

The contract provides the closing date for the registration URL as well as your grade submission deadline.

Please remind students of those dates.

Ensure students register in a timely manner. Only course participants who have enrolled and paid their fees by the enrollment deadline for each course will be considered enrolled.

Late registrations are charged the credit registration fee plus a $25 late fee.

Your contract has the URL closing date but the date is also posted in the registration information section of the course listing. Courses are removed from the website when the closing date has passed.

As educators register for your course, email notifications are sent to you.

We encourage you to communicate with those students as soon as possible. You can send them a "welcome to the class" email if you are not ready to send out course access yet. Letting students know when they can expect to receive access to the course is a good idea as well. We get numerous educators who call wondering when they will receive course access. Good communication with your students helps everyone out.

If you have any non-participating students, notify Janalee.Brandt@ndsu.edu. Check for students who have not accessed the course or participated in a reasonable amount of time. We will contact them to check on their course status.

Students dropping a course MUST contact Janalee.Brandt@ndsu.edu in writing.

Assigned work must be completed by the end of the course.

  • Refer to your emailed contract for the grade submission deadline.
  • Watch your email for a final grade roster from Janalee Brandt.
  • ALL grades are submitted to Janalee.Brandt@ndsu.edu within five business days of the course completion date.
  • Students with no grade listed will receive a failed grade of U or F. The grade can be changed when the student completes the course requirements.

Forms For Offering A Course

All professional development offerings through NDSU Continued Learning must be approved prior to being offered for credit. The following forms are for use when offering a professional development credit activity for teachers through NDSU Continued Learning.

K-12 Professional Development Courses Through NDSU

Use this form to propose a class offered for professional development credit for K-12 teachers.

Course Proposal Form

K-12 Professional Development Course Through NDSU

Once you have completed the course proposal form, use the syllabus form to submit a course syllabus electronically. Or, use the syllabus form as a template to format a document that contains your syllabus. Syllabus documents that match our online syllabus form may be emailed to Barb Schumacher.

Course Syllabus Form

Multi-Campus Course

If your class is funded through a state grant, you are required to offer the professional development class through a multi-campus agreement.

Use this form to propose a class offered for professional development credit through the multi-campus agreement.

Multi-Campus Proposal Form

Continued Learning

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