Dive Brief:

• The Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative is adapting the idea of online teacher training to include targeted custom-fit instructions on how to adapt this knowledge to meet the challenges of its own classrooms and student population, according to The Hechinger Report.
• These courses offer “micro-credentials” that can often be applied to meet state requirements that teachers achieve a master’s degree or the equivalent within five years of teaching.
• These free classes are created with the convenience of the teacher in mind and adapted to allow for swift application of the new skill set to meet the needs of the school community. 

Dive Insight:

Isolated areas such as the Appalachian Mountains often have trouble attracting, training and retaining teachers, partially because there is not convenient access to colleges where teachers can continue to improve their craft and meet state professional development requirements. Some school communities are using the advantages of modern technology to make this process easier and more applicable to their situation.

Kentucky is not the only place to see the value in offering a digital solution to the personalized professional development model. Delaware, Florida and Tennessee are also experimenting with the offering of micro-credentials based on the needs and interest of teachers. Many of these states and school districts are using non-profits such as Digital Promise to help them craft more personalized educational technology programs designed to improve instruction and help teachers achieve their own professional development goals.