Frontline Blog

What happens when teachers work to ensure their students’ success but that success remains elusive? Frustration. I hear frustration from teachers when they feel they are not meeting the needs of their students. Teachers care deeply.

Micro-credentials are picking up steam in the professional learning world. From what you’ve heard, you might think of them as merely a series of badges learners can earn (more on that later). But there is far more to micro-credentials than that.

There are so many reasons to use online learning as part of your professional development strategy. Classes available on-demand? Just click a button. The ability for hundreds of individual people, each engaging in unique learning that meets a wide variety of needs? Check. Cost-savings compared to in-person workshops? You bet.

Teacher engagement in professional learning is a topic we’ve talked about a fair amount at Frontline Education. How can school systems increase that engagement? And what does it look like to put teachers in control of their own PD? Providing relevant, just-in-time PD opportunities is part of the answer — and online professional development course libraries can provide a wealth of on-demand learning for teachers. But the district’s role doesn’t stop there. Studies have shown that ongoing district support is vital if such a program will be successful.  

Though many organizations have heard the term “learning management system” (LMS), only those in the educational space have heard the term "Professional Development Management System" (PDMS), and for good reason: the two do not perform the same functions or meet the same objectives. That matters to any educational organization considering which type of system they need.

You’ve probably heard a lot of terms around online learning like synchronous and asynchronous, on demand, blended, eLearning, and if you’re really paying attention, LMS and SCORM. It probably feels like a lot to learn for something that’s just an augmentation to face-to-face learning, right?