NDSU’s Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) recently received state funding to develop new Professional Development classes for K-12 educators in North Dakota, and regional areas, through the North Dakota Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Funds. The GEER Funds will provide NDSU’s faculty and instructional staff with monetary stipends to compensate for the time spent on developing classes for K-12 educators. Once developed, we intend to have these classes offered on an annual basis through OTL. In addition to the allotted stipend for class development, class instructors receive a grading fee for each participant enrolled in classes.
Brief Summary of Professional Development Classes:
Professional Development (PD) classes are required by all K-12 educators to maintain their professional licensure, including teachers, school counselors, librarians, speech pathologists, and administrative support, on an annual basis. The classes are completed in exchange for Professional Development (PD) Credits. Each credit is equivalent to 15 hours of instruction. These class sessions provide opportunities to create significant educational improvements across North Dakota and aids in NDSU’s mission of serving the state as a land-grant institution.
Office of Teaching and Learning Goal:
Our goal is to expand and advance our current PD class offerings, in addition to developing a direct pathway for NDSU personnel to maintain contact with educators in the state. Areas of interest include: Engaged Virtual Learning, Social and Emotional Health, Adaptive Technologies, Active- and Problem-Based Learning, and Techniques in Online Teaching, in addition to modernizing special and core subject-specific teaching to promote the enhancement of K-12 student learning within virtual, in-person, and/or hybrid learning environments. Subject-specific teaching includes all disciplines related to mathematics, science, English literacy, social studies, health education, technology, and the visual/performing arts.
Advantages of Providing Quality K-12 PD Classes:
- Creates educational connections between NDSU and communities across North Dakota;
- Makes lasting impacts in meaningful knowledge acquisition for K-12 educators;
- Eases online teaching burdens for K-12 teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Provides updated information and instructional techniques to K-12 educators, which keeps teachers current in their disciplines;
- Aids in improving uniform academic rigor across all geographic locations;
- Contributes to strengthening the educational pipeline from K-12 to postsecondary education;
- Supports and improves statewide workforce development through skill acquisition; and
- Ensures information on new technologies is provided to students, through classroom and/or teacher-assisted virtual learning.
Stipends Available for Class Development:
Funding is available to develop up to 30 new PD classes. Wages will be paid at a flat “stipend” rate listed below. Costs associated with salary fringe expense for employee wages will also be paid through the grant funds for each class developed. Limited to one stipend per person. (1-3 credits; 1 credit = 15 instructional hours).
- 1-credit PD class: $3,000
- 2-credit PD class: $4,000
- 3-credit PD class: $5,000
Please Note: Classes offered in a 1-credit format tend to have better class enrollment. Courses developed under a 2- and 3-credit format traditionally attract less students, but the classes can also be professionally useful, depending on the applicability of the content presented. Grading fees received by the instructor per class are based on the number of credits offered and the number of students in each class. Fees are calculated on a per-credit basis. Class enrollment numbers cannot be guaranteed, as they vary across time and disciplines
Timeline and Class Proposal Selection:
Classes must be developed and initially implemented prior to November 2021. Most classes are commonly scheduled to take place across summer or early-fall, as is the peak season for PD classes, in relation to K-12 educator availability. Class proposal selection will prioritize classes that provide immediate, effective, desired, and sustainable impacts on teaching and learning in the K-12 educational system. The selection for prioritized classed will also be reliant on a first-come basis, in efforts to plan the summer selections offered. We aim to ease the burdens caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthen educational subject selection, impact workforce development, and provide sustainable instructional opportunities that can continue to be offered in the future.
For more information on offering a PD class >>
If you are interested in developing a K-12 PD class, please complete the online form >>
After the form is submitted, you will be contacted by: Barbara Schumacher, K-12 professional development coordinator in the Office of Teaching and Learning.
If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or another member of the OTL team. For specific questions, contact the following individuals:
