Continuous, effective professional learning can help teachers and administrators improve teaching and learning, but research shows traditional forms of professional development have become expensive and ineffective. In the past 10 years, social media has helped educators connect online to more easily share resources, ideas, and practices among themselves, leading to more grass roots, open source collaboration and the evolution of personal learning networks. This trend is disrupting traditional models for professional development. edWeb.net helps educators connect and collaborate using our... more »

edWeb is 10 years old! It feels like such a big milestone, especially since it’s been 10 years since the dawn of the “connected educator” movement. I still remember so well when the U. S. Department of Education issued the 2010 National Education Technology Plan. The plan included the first statement I know of that officially endorsed using social networks for professional learning in education, “Social networks can be used to provide educators with career-long personal learning tools and resources that make professional learning timely and relevant as well as an... more »

“edWeb gives you a tool to make a very easy jump into personalized professional development.” Dr. Robert Furman, an elementary principal at Southpark Elementary School in PA, is a best-selling author, and a national keynote speaker. He talked with Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO of edWeb.net, about how he uses edWeb.net to provide personalized PD that gets his teachers really motivated and excite about their professional learning. Rob describes how successful it was the first time he asked his teachers to try using edWeb for PD. “We did a half day PD session with edWeb and it... more »

edWeb.net has free professional learning on such a wide range of topics that we call it “free-range PD!” Learn, share, and mentor with colleagues in your school and district, or meet up in edWebinar chats and in our professional learning communities with educators all around the world. Classroom teachers, librarians, and administrators can use edWeb to fuel their professional growth by viewing edWebinars live or on-demand, joining online discussions, accessing free resources, and creating a support network. more »

STEAM lessons offer educational benefits beyond technological literacy, such as collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Educators who incorporate STEAM into the classroom are preparing students now for jobs that don’t exist yet by giving them confidence in problem-solving, noted Dr. Azadeh Jamalian, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, Head of Education Strategy at littleBits. For many educators, though, blending STEAM with traditional subjects can still seem daunting. During the edWebinar “Bringing Hands-On Coding and STEAM into Your District or... more »