Create professional development courses

Your district can track any course work your staff members complete toward their professional development. Sometimes, staff members might take professional development courses that help them achieve a goal you define. For example, if you create the ”Keep up-to-date with course work” goal, you can align any courses they can take to achieve that goal.

Create courses for both in-district and out-of-district courses. This way, you can track all professional development activities.

To create professional development courses:

  1. Log on to the Personnel view.
  2. Click the PDClosed Professional Development Admin tab.
  3. Click the Courses side-tab.
  1. On the Options menu, click Add. The New PD Course page appears.
  2. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:
  3. Field Description

    Identifier

    Type a value that identifies this course. For example, you might assign course numbers to courses in this field. You might assign all English courses numbers beginning with 1, and all pedagogy courses might start with the number 2.

    Title

    Type the course name.

    Type

    Select one of the following to determine the type of course:

    • External (offered outside the district, such as at a local university)
    • Independent (no provider, such as a research project)
    • Internal (offered within the district)

    Content area

    Select the subject area of the course.

    Format

    Select the format of the course, such as in-service or online.

    Level

    Select if the course is Advanced, Beginner, or Intermediate.

    Description

    Type a description of the course.

    Provider

    Select who provides the course, such as a local college or a consultant.

    Content points

    Type the number of content points a staff member earns upon completion of the course, if any.

    Pedagogy points

    Type the number of pedagogy points a staff member earns upon completion of the course, if any.

    Other points

    Type the number of any other points a staff member earns upon completion of the course, if any.

    Hours

    Type the number of hours the course takes place.

    Credit

    Type the number of credits a staff member earns upon completion of the course.

    Cost

    Type the cost of the course, if any.

    Funding source

    Select the funding source for the course. For example, staff members might pay for the course, or a federal grant might provide the course to your district.

    Section enrollment max

    Type the maximum number of staff members who can attend a section of the course.

    Is proxy course

    Select this checkbox if the course is a proxy course.

    You might create one proxy course as an umbrella for all external courses of a specific kind. For example, you might create "External college course" as a proxy course. When a staff member takes an external course, they can select the generic proxy course and type in the actual title of the course when they link it to their plan. This way, all of the many external courses do not clutter your professional development course catalog.
  1. Click Save.