The Transformation and Funding of PreK-12 Professional Learning in the COVID Era

Presented by Kathy Mickey, Senior Analyst/Managing Editor, Education Group, Simba Information; Joyce Whitby, President, Innovations4Education; and Lisa Schmucki, Founder and CEO, edWeb.net

Sponsored by Simba Information, a business of Market Research.com

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Online professional learning has accelerated rapidly during the pandemic and has been identified as one of the silver linings of the pandemic. Professional learning is also one of the district expenditures that aligns with the ESSER funding. Watch a recorded edWebinar on how COVID-19 has impacted preK-12 professional learning, and how to help districts align their professional learning needs with the ARP funding.

Our panelists include Kathy Mickey, Managing Editor of Simba Information, who discusses the Simba PreK-12 Professional Learning Market 2020 report. The report was issued during the pandemic and examines the continued transformation from top-down professional development to teacher-led, job-embedded, continuous professional learning that has been going on for several years. Kathy discusses:

• The increase in need and demand for professional learning.
• The topics in demand now.
• Changes in how educators want professional learning delivered.
• How the pandemic accelerated changes, and which changes are most likely to stick around.

Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO of edWeb.net, reports on edWeb’s Annual Professional Learning Survey conducted in April 2021. The survey has tracked attitudes and preferences over four years. This year, the survey added questions on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on professional learning.

Joyce Whitby, President of Innovations4Education, has been working with clients on how to help districts meet their professional learning needs with ARP funding. The need for quality professional learning is higher than ever, and industry partners can help educators make the best use of these funds.

This edWebinar is part of our edFocus series exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the future of education. The recorded program will be of interest to district leaders and industry executives in K-12 education. 

View all previous recordings in our edFocus series here.

About the Presenters

Kathy Mickey is Senior Analyst/Managing Editor of the Education Group at Simba Information, where she leads research on the PreK-12, higher education and workforce education markets. Kathy writes the biweekly business intelligence newsletter Educational Marketer, oversees the K-12-focused biweekly business intelligence newsletter Electronic Education Report, and works on a number of annual market forecast reports. She joined Simba in 2000.

Joyce Whitby is the president of Innovations4Education. She is a lifelong educator who spent over ten years teaching graduate-level courses in educational technology at Long Island University, where, in 1984, she developed the T.E.A.M. program (Telecommunications, Education, and Multimedia). Since then, Joyce has been in the business of educational technology with key roles in professional development, marketing, and sales leadership. Most notably she has developed strategic sales initiatives targeting complex and urban environments for several organizations including WICAT Systems, Jostens Learning, Scientific Learning, Apple Computer, Monarch Teaching Technologies (makers of VizZle, an app for students with autism), and the education group of West Corporation (SchoolMessenger solutions). She has been an active member of SIIA for over 15 years.

Lisa Schmucki is the founder and CEO of edWeb.net. Lisa is an education, publishing, and media industry veteran with 40 years’ experience in product development, professional learning, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Lisa has served on the Board of the SIIA Education Technology Industry Network and is on the Advisory Council for the ERDI Alliance for Education Impact. She is a graduate of Princeton University and has a master’s degree from the Stern School of Business at NYU.

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.

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Simba Information is widely recognized as the leading authority for business intelligence in the educational and professional media industry, delivering an independent perspective on the people, events and alliances that shape the K-12 and higher education markets through newsletters and research reports.