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William & Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation

Professional Development

We collaboratively research, develop and implement evidence-based, customized professional development programs for pre-service and in-service K-12 educators and educational leaders.

free online professional learning for educators

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Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for Educators

The Social and Emotional Learning modules are a set of on-demand, self-paced online learning opportunities that can be taken in any order. They are grounded in the CASEL Framework for Social and Emotional Learning and provide information, resources, strategies and engagement opportunities related to SEL competencies.

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Learning Differences

The Learning Differences course focuses on executive functions such as attention, memory, task prioritization, organization and planning, helping teachers and students understand how strengths and struggles in any of these areas manifest in classroom learning and what strategies support all functions of the brain.

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Amplifying Statistics

Amplifying Statistics and Data Science in Classrooms is a set of modules that help educators develop strategies for using an investigation cycle to teach statistics and data science, ignite students’ interest in real world data investigations with technology and emphasize inferential reasoning through posing different types of investigative questions.

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Indigo graphic with a collage of images of people working in a classroom interspersed with icons including a lightbulb, magnifying glass and a wrench. Includes the text u0022Free personalized professional learning to support teachers and instructional coaches in developing expertise in teaching statistics and data science in grades 6-12. instepwithdata.org

InSTEP: Invigorating Statistics Teacher Education Through Professional Online Learning

InSTEP is an innovative personalized online learning platform that allows teachers to develop their expertise in teaching statistics and data science.

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In-person opportunities

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LASER Institute

The Learning Analytics in STEM Education Research (LASER) Institute is a professional development program for early and mid-career researchers to leverage new data sources and apply computational methods (e.g., network analysis, text mining and machine learning) to support their existing research and develop new lines of inquiry.

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Virtual Schools Network

The Virtual Schools Network (VSN) is a partnership between the Friday Institute and North Carolina Virtual Public School that supports and connects traditional virtual public schools.

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North Carolina Computer Science Professional Development

These free Code.org professional learning trainings are intensive, highly supportive programs designed to prepare educators who have not necessarily taught or studied computer science previously. Educators across the state can now register at a training site nearest them to complete the computer science professional development that best suits their instructional needs.

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projects and programs

See more projects from our Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative

Making Computer Science (CS) STICK: Systemic Change for Teachers

In partnership with the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), the Friday Institute created and developed a sustainable community of elementary teachers to support ongoing integration of computer science (CS) concepts into core content areas. By implementing a scalable professional development (PD) program and co-creating locally relevant curricular materials with teachers, the project team aims to increase access to computing education in elementary schools, ensuring that every student in North Carolina has the opportunity to experience CS regardless of historical stereotypes and institutional barriers.

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The Innovation Project Early Learning Network (TIP ELN)

With a generous three-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, The Innovation Project (TIP) and its partners have developed and supported an inter-district network focused on redesigning learning environments to better address the early learning needs of vulnerable children. In its first two years, the Early Learning Network (ELN) engaged school design teams and principals from 36 schools in 12 North Carolina districts.

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Trauma Informed Practice Support (TIPS) in Schools and Communities: Collaboration Between Education and Social Work

The core of the project focused on conducting focus groups that explored teachers’ and social workers’ experiences with the dual pandemic of racialized violence and COVID-19 using a trauma-informed framework and an interactive design method. Overall, we found that an interdisciplinary approach between education and social work provided insight related to trauma-informed approaches in educational contexts. Results of this study demonstrate that teachers and social workers articulate a need for professional development that could have an important impact on the experiences of children and families.

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Digital Learning Plan Initiative

Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative offered focused professional development workshops and webinars for Digital Learning Plan Initiative grantees and their planning teams, complete with Digital Learning Plan visioning, planning and implementing templates to guide working teams towards personalized learning successes.

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Want to learn how the Friday Institute can support your professional development needs?

Contact Us

pllc@fi.ncsu.edu

Learn more about our Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative