Professional Development for Teachers Online
As a busy classroom teacher, I’m only interested in time-effective online options for professional development. Let’s rate the popular online opportunities to boost your teaching knowledge and skills.
Quick Summary
Fastest options: Online workshops and webinar platforms.
Best for classroom technology: EdTech training from Google, Microsoft, or similar providers.
Best for recognised skills: Micro-credentials or CEU courses.
Best for career growth: Postgraduate education courses.
What is Professional Development for Teachers?
Professional development (PD) is ongoing training that teachers complete after gaining their teaching qualification. It builds classroom knowledge, teaching skills, and professional currency. In K-12 education, teachers in most states also need to complete PD to renew their teaching license.
PD can cover assessment, classroom technology, student support, teaching methods, leadership, and policy changes.
Online Professional Development Opportunities
Busy teachers need online PD that is quick to start, easy to finish, and useful in the classroom. The options below are arranged from quickest to most time-intensive.
Educators should talk to their administration about required and optional PD opportunities. Most schools have required PD workshops for teachers, but your professional development journey doesn’t have to end there.
Online PD workshops
Time efficiency: Very high. Best for teachers who want quick, targeted training without committing to a full course.
There are tons of free online professional development workshops available for teachers. PBS offers courses in planning and preparation, assessment and evaluation, effective instruction, learning environments, and disciplines.
Coursera is another site where you can get access to free training. Most courses do charge a fee if you want to receive a certificate. Coursera partners with universities to make learning more accessible. With Coursera, you take courses like Supporting Children with Difficulties in Reading and Writing or Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms, Basics of Inclusive Design for Online Learning, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and more.
Virtual PD communities and webinars
Time efficiency: Very high. Best for teachers who want short sessions, on-demand webinars, and topic-specific PD hours.
Virtual professional learning communities give teachers access to live and recorded sessions without enrolling in a full course. Platforms such as edWeb and Share My Lesson offer short PD sessions, subject-based training, and teacher communities built around grade levels, subjects, and classroom needs.
Webinar-style PD can be especially useful when you need flexible hours, fresh classroom ideas, or a quick way to learn from other educators working on similar teaching challenges.
EdTech integration
Time efficiency: High. Best for teachers who want classroom technology skills they can use straight away.
The rise of technology being utilized in schools means that educators need to stay up to date on the latest in educational technology. Both Google and Microsoft offer software that can be highly beneficial to your classroom.
You can take classes and earn certificates from Google and Microsoft to demonstrate that you are technologically literate and understand how to use technology to your advantage in the classroom. You can even take your knowledge to the next level by becoming a Google Certified Trainer and working with other schools and educators to improve their EdTech utilization.
NEA micro-credentials
Time efficiency: Moderate to high. Best for teachers who want recognised skill development in a specific teaching area.
The National Education Association (NEA) offers micro-credential certifications to educators and aspiring educators who want to develop specific competencies. Micro-credentials are earned via the completion of courses in a variety of topics.
Some of the topics you can earn micro-credentials in include: bully-free schools, using your voice to advocate for students, building effective teams, arts integration, assessment literacy, and technology integration.
Online graduate credit and CEU courses
Time efficiency: Moderate. Best for teachers who need continuing education units, graduate-level credit, or salary advancement hours without starting a full degree.
Some online PD providers offer self-paced teacher courses that can count toward continuing education units or graduate-level credit. These courses are usually more structured than a short webinar but less demanding than a postgraduate qualification.
Online graduate credit and CEU courses can suit teachers who need documented professional learning for licensure, district requirements, or pay-scale movement. Before enrolling, check whether the course is accepted by your school, district, or state education authority.
Postgraduate education courses
Time efficiency: Lower in the short term. Best for teachers who want a formal qualification or a pathway into leadership.
Graduate certificates are common amongst educators. Some teachers also decide to earn their master’s degree during their first few years of teaching and others wait a few years before re-enrolling in school.
After you’ve graduated and landed a job at a school, going back to college might sound like the last thing you want to do. Luckily, flexible graduate certificate online courses are available. Earning a postgraduate qualification helps you explore topics more deeply, gain new knowledge about teaching methodology, and grow professionally.
Fast way to choose the right PD
The fastest way to choose professional development is to match the course type to the outcome you need.
- Need PD hours quickly? Choose online workshops or webinar platforms.
- Want classroom technology skills? Choose EdTech training.
- Want a recognised skill badge? Look at micro-credentials.
- Need CEUs or graduate credit? Choose online graduate credit or CEU courses.
- Want promotion or leadership options? Consider postgraduate study.
A short workshop is best when you need one useful classroom strategy. A longer course is more suitable when you want a credential that can support your next career move.
Why Professional Development is Important for Teachers
Once you have chosen a time-effective online option, it is worth appreciating what good PD can do for you. Taking a moment to notice the benefits can make professional development feel less like another task and more like a chance to reset, improve, and feel more capable in the classroom.
Become more effective in the classroom
A teaching degree cannot prepare you for every challenge that appears on the job. Professional development gives you space to step back, reflect on classroom problems, and approach them differently.
Good PD can also expose you to ideas and strategies you may not have found on your own.
Stay on top of education research
You do not have time to read every new education study. PD workshops can translate research into usable ideas for teaching, assessment, classroom management, and student support.
Education research continues to shape discussions around social-emotional learning, play-based learning, student-centered classrooms, and other approaches that influence modern teaching.
Enjoy your teaching job more
Being capable and confident in the classroom is linked with higher job satisfaction (see, for example, Ortan et al). When PD improves your skills, the classroom can feel more manageable and more rewarding.
Motivation also improves when professional development feels available and useful, rather than like something you need but cannot access.
Adjust to changes in the education environment
Teaching conditions change quickly. A new school, a different student group, more English language learners, new technology, or a shift to online learning can all demand fresh methods.
Professional development gives you better information, examples, and support from experienced educators when those changes arrive.
Adapt to policy changes in education
Education policy affects class size, teacher qualifications, curriculum, school infrastructure, teaching methods, and graduation requirements.
PD workshops can help you understand the policies that affect your classroom, especially when rules change and you have little time to work through the details alone.
Connect with the teaching community
Professional development can be completed individually or as part of a group. Individual PD suits you when you need flexible study, while group PD allows you to share ideas and learn from other educators.
Online PD can also connect you with people outside your own school, giving you fresh insight, encouragement, and a broader professional network.
I spent twenty years in the classroom and can count on one hand the number of professional development sessions that were valuable. Most of the presenters spent their time telling us what we should be doing in the classroom while usually reading from their own PowerPoint presentation. As a professional actor, I created a show that illustrates the value of the teaching profession, which has been called by one college professor the “anti PD PD” and compared to a TEDTalk. I am interested in offering it to schools around the country. Any suggestions on how I may accomplish this would be appreciated.
Sounds hilarious and amazing! Id love to watch it!
I would be interested to know more about your program.
I found this article incredibly helpful. It is always discussed how vital professional development is, but not how many avenues there is to gain professional development. I knew of PD workshops and that many educators went back to school for a master’s degree. However, gaining professional development from NEA micro-credentials and certificates from Google or Microsoft were not options I was aware of.