Technology Essentials in Education Episode 9:
Simplifying Professional Development with On-Demand Tools

Hello there. My name is Monica Burns, and welcome to Technology Essentials in Education. Today's episode is all about simplifying professional development with on-demand tools, and you'll hear from our guest, Naomi Church, Founder & Chief Learning Officer of Growing Minds Consulting, LLC.

We dive into the future of teacher learning together, and her background as both a consultant and her work leading Learning Forward Florida really gives her a unique perspective on what makes professional development actually stick for educators.

We talk about how to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to more comprehensive professional learning experiences for educators. If you are curious about the difference between PD and PL, if you are providing professional learning experiences for educators, or curious about on-demand PD, this episode is for you.

This episode is brought to you by Jotform. Jotform provides an all-in-one solution to streamline administrative tasks, enhance community engagement, and foster innovation. Using their no-code, drag-and-drop forms and workflows, your teams can securely collect and store data, automate tasks, and collaborate on team resources.

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Welcome to the podcast. I am so excited to chat about simplifying professional development with on-demand tools today. But before we get into all of that, can you share with listeners a little bit about your role in education? What does your day-to-day look like?

Sure. My name is Naomi Church. I'm an educational consultant, speaker, and the Founder & Chief Learning Officer of Growing Minds Consulting, LLC. I design professional learning systems that hopefully lead to changes in practice with a focus on Universal Design for Learning, effective math instruction, MTSS, and adult learning theory.

My day-to-day spans because I work with both K-12 systems and education organizations. I partner with schools and districts to design and deliver professional learning—anything from keynotes and workshops to on-demand learning pathways and systems of universally designed support.

I'm focused on helping teams move beyond one-time events and into learning that is flexible and actionable. It's also worth noting that I'm the past president of Learning Forward Florida, the Florida affiliate of the International Learning Forward organization, which has really changed the way I think about professional learning as an ongoing process rather than a one-off event.

Across all of my work leading that organization with companies, schools, and districts, the through line is designing learning experiences that are engaging, inclusive, and accessible. That's what I'm hoping we'll get into today—what it looks like to think about an experience that really sticks for someone as part of their ongoing learning over the course of the year or several years of their professional career.

So when you hear that phrase on-demand professional development, what comes to mind?

Immediately, I think about the difference between PD, or professional development, and PL, or professional learning. PD is a one-time event, often thought of as something done to teachers. It might be inspiring, like the best keynote or online course ever, but on its own it doesn't really change practice much.

Professional learning, on the other hand, is ongoing. It's a process, not a moment. It's iterative—the day-to-day work of reflecting, adjusting, and growing. On-demand PD becomes really powerful when it's designed as part of that larger professional learning ecosystem instead of just being an isolated resource or piece.

I like to talk about universally designed support here because in classrooms, students are variable learners. The same is true in any kind of professional learning; adults are just learners too. Challenges they had as kids usually don't disappear in adulthood. Many adults have challenges when they come to learning, so it's about honoring that and supporting them as people, giving them the opportunity to engage with learning in a way that is flexible and works best for them.

Much of what we do as educators when thinking about students is designing experiences that meet their needs. We know students' needs and learning styles differ greatly, and it's important to remember this also applies to adult learners in professional learning or development.

What pain points do you hear most often from educators about traditional professional development experiences?

Every August, if you're on social media, you see many memes about PD being a joke, something teachers aren't looking forward to because traditionally it's done to them and not designed for them. It feels disconnected from the reality of their classrooms.

Another big issue is the assumption that one session or meeting will meet everybody's needs, which isn't true. Beyond individual variability, roles differ—special ed teachers, music teachers, and fourth grade gen-ed teachers all have different contexts and goals. They need to know how learning applies to their specific roles and day-to-day work, or else it takes extra mental bandwidth to fit it into their context, making implementation harder.

I like how you frame that: we want something that's for teachers, not happening to them. From my experience, you want to feel seen and heard, with examples that connect to your classroom work. You don't want to be in a space where the timing or content doesn't meet your current needs.

As we think about on-demand professional learning, what might count as an on-demand tool that can support professional learning in a school today?

I think of on-demand tools for professional learning in two ways: access and timing. It's anything educators can engage with when the need is real, not just scheduled on a few planning days a year. This can include self-paced online workshops, short targeted modules teachers can revisit, recorded webinars accessible during planning and implementation, and virtual office hours where educators meet with experts to ask questions and troubleshoot critical points during implementation.

Another component is resource repositories where educators can dig deeper into articles, podcasts, or other materials. These can be housed in an LMS or shared platform. Membership sites also provide ongoing access to a wealth of information, allowing educators to access the right video or reading when they're in the thick of implementation.

On-demand tools are especially helpful for someone struggling with a particular pain point today, not just in the future. Sometimes professional development sessions feel interesting but not immediately relevant. Virtual office hours can be underrated but are a critical piece of responsive support.

I'm working with New York educators and coaches who meet monthly with a flexible calendar. Part of our time is dedicated to Q&A to address what's happening right now, making the learning timely and responsive.

This live in-the-moment interaction is a critical component often skipped due to funding and time barriers, but it helps people see how the pieces fit together in the larger professional learning ecosystem.

It has to be more than a one-time watching component. Interactivity is key to making professional learning responsive and effective.

I love live webinars where you can jump into the chat, share, or ask questions, but I also find value in watching recordings at faster speeds or skipping ahead to relevant sections.

What does effective on-demand professional development need to include to help move from watching to doing?

It has to be part of a larger professional learning ecosystem with explicit connections made by facilitators or schedulers. Learners shouldn't have to make those connections themselves. Nobody has time for one more thing on their plates.

A PD director said, "We don't have plates here; we have platters because our plates overflowed long ago." We won't make changes unless we see how everything fits together and ties to goals and intentional focus.

This might look like a webinar paired with a resource repository for planning or a continued conversation in a PLC to discuss implementation, reflections, and questions. It's about putting all the pieces together and making connections overt, just like we do for kids.

Intention is critical when scheduling professional learning. If you want someone to carve out an hour for a webinar, consider if they also have time soon after to put it into action.

I sometimes do webinars over the summer and tell people to attach the resource page to an appointment on their calendar for a later date, so they get a prompt to revisit it when it's relevant.

This helps prevent the resource from getting lost or feeling like a one-off moment.

I love that idea of tying it to a calendar. Emails with resource links often get lost, but calendar invites or personal reminders prompt revisiting.

I usually tell people to put emojis in calendar invites so they don't panic thinking they're late for something that isn't actually happening.

This extends the experience and puts a time stamp on when the resource will be relevant, even if it's not today.

Speaking of making professional development actionable, what role do templates, examples, and ready-to-use materials in repositories play?

These help teachers see what the learning looks like in practice, reduce cognitive overload, clarify expectations, and provide concrete starting points that can be adapted to their context.

From a professional learning perspective, they honor adult learners by supporting teachers' expertise without scripting or pushing compliance, which rarely goes over well.

As a classroom teacher, I experienced being handed curricula with scripts, and you want to do things right, but support from administration is key to understanding what 'doing it right' means.

Templates and examples help frame conversations and provide starting points without being overly prescriptive.

For coaches and team leads, how can they support teachers learning on demand?

They can create conditions for successful implementation by being supportive rather than evaluative, as coaching doesn't work well when people feel evaluated.

This includes asking reflective questions to connect learning with doing, curating resources to reduce overwhelm, and reinforcing that learning is iterative and not perfect the first time.

Just like with kids, sometimes you try something and realize you need to try again, and that attitude is important in supporting educators' professional learning.

If a school is starting from scratch and exploring on-demand professional development during a larger initiative, what is a realistic first step?

First, ask educators how they want to be supported, which is often overlooked. Without this, schools often miss the mark unintentionally.

I put out short online surveys asking educators how they prefer to engage with and implement new learning, including options like modeling, observation with feedback, resource repositories, PLCs, workshops, and webinars.

Administrators are often surprised by results, with PLCs frequently ranking high, contrary to assumptions that teachers don't want to participate.

I frame this as universally designed support: we might all attend an initial workshop, but ongoing support tailored to individual preferences turns professional development into professional learning.

As a coach, it's more meaningful to model for teachers who would benefit rather than everyone, which is a good reminder for those looking for next steps.

Starting by asking educators how they want to be supported is huge and often overlooked.

As we wrap up, where can people connect with you or learn more about your work?

I'm most active on LinkedIn under my name, Naomi Church. I also have a website, growingmindsconsulting.com, which has more about my work, a contact tab, and a blog with insights and on-demand resources.

This has been super insightful and actionable for educators looking to rethink how they support colleagues. Thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you. It's always a pleasure to chat with you. This was such a fun conversation.

I want to finish up with a few ways to make edtech easy. Traditional PD often feels done to teachers instead of designed for them. Effective professional learning is ongoing, flexible, and part of a larger ecosystem, not a one-off event.

On-demand tools work best when educators can access what they need when they need it and have the opportunity to put it into action when it is real for them, not just on scheduled PD days.

Resource repositories, office hours, and webinars help bridge the gap between learning and classroom implementation.

If you want to connect with Naomi Church after today, check out the show notes for this episode to continue the conversation about on-demand PD and professional learning experiences for educators.

A big thank you to Jotform, the presenter of today's episode. To learn more about Jotform and how educational institutions can get a 30% discount on Jotform Enterprise, head to jotform.com/enterprise/education.