Low-Cost or Free Professional Development

For higher education learning professionals (trainers, instructional designers, instructional technologists, learning technology coordinators, learning management system [LMS] administrators, etc.), professional development is a frequent topic of conversation. While the coronavirus is, understandably, on everyone's minds, professional growth should remain a priority.

Budgets are tight or nonexistent; the basic mantra has become, "Do a lot more with a lot less." Learning professionals are left asking, "How do we find time and money for professional development?"

First, let's quickly distinguish between the training you need to do your everyday job and the broader term "professional development." If you need to learn Camtasia or SnagIt (or any other software program, LMS, or course-management system), that's functional, everyday job work. You need these specific skills to do your job.

When thinking about what you want to do professionally, what you want to learn, and how much you want to grow (regardless of the pandemic), or when your boss asks you what your plans are for the next one, two, three, or five years, that's professional development.

Finding the time and money for professional development may be daunting, but it is not impossible. Do not overlook free resources. Yes, budgets are tight. But even with limited funding, you are not stuck. I have listed some organizations below that offer no-cost options. If you're able to get funding for professional development, you can dig deeper into the options that include a price tag.

All higher education institutions are different. Some may subscribe to professional development resources or cover the cost of memberships with organizations that offer professional development opportunities. Some institutions may not.

Do not be discouraged if your institution does not have memberships or subscriptions! Make your own list of resources that you'd like to use (free or low-cost institutional options as well as offerings from other organizations or schools). What classes or workshops do you want to take? Do you need training, professional development, or both? Push yourself to review and revise your list frequently. Staying on top of your profession benefits you and your institution.

As you create and maintain your list, think about the time you'll need for professional development. Keep in mind that "on-the-job time" is likely very limited. It could be less than 5 percent of your scheduled work time.

Where to Begin

Here are a few actions you can take to get started on your professional development journey:

• Volunteer to complete proposal reviews. (I've done this for EDUCAUSE and the Online Learning Consortium.) It's an excellent way to stay current.
• Get involved with mentoring as a mentor, a mentee, or both. Shana Campbell and Ryan MacTaggart (both are managers of professional learning at EDUCAUSE) co-wrote an excellent article about being a mentee, and there are countless resources on mentoring.
• Volunteer to review modules or lead a session at a conference. Start small. Presenting and getting out in front of the community is a huge professional development opportunity, and you can do it at every stage of your career! Presenting and networking is different online; however, the virtual connections may open a lot of doors and give you opportunities to connect with your colleagues across the world.
• If your institution has an EDUCAUSE membership, ask to be an ambassador if there isn't one at your school. Ambassadors make it their job to stay current with EDUCAUSE activities, trends, and resources.
• Think about your time. This is critical. Before the pandemic, I had already used a lot of my vacation hours on things like volunteer reviews, editorial work, mentorship, and presentations. These activities were, and still are, very important to my role. I was mindful, however, that there was simply no professional development time earmarked for these activities on the job. Think about how much time you want to invest and whether you can get support from leadership to count professional development time as work time. Every bit counts!
• Take time for yourself. Please. Self-care is an important component of professional development. Know when you need to take a break or take time to reflect.

Where to Find Free Resources

Now, let's talk about the possible "goodie bag" of free resources you can use and where to find them.

1. EDUCAUSE

This association is a trendsetter when it comes to higher education teaching, learning, and technology. The COVID-19 resource page on the EDUCAUSE website is very helpful and can be used beyond the current crisis mode. Full disclosure: I'm an EDUCAUSE ambassador (second year), so I'm invested in learning as much as I can about EDUCAUSE and sharing that knowledge. EDUCAUSE offers other free resources as well:

• Community Groups (CGs): CGs are open, online communities where people can learn from and network with others who share their professional interests.
• ID2ID: A partnership program between EDUCAUSE and Penn State, ID2ID is a peer-mentoring program for instructional designers.
• Webinars and courses (Not all webinars and courses are free.)
• Reports and summaries (for example, the EDUCAUSE Horizon Report)
• Articles, whitepapers, and blogs
• Communities of practice: By communicating with professionals in your field and asking and answering questions, you learn the nuances of your work and are able to collaborate with colleagues from other institutions.
• Resource collections (organized by topic; for example, teaching and learning)
• Job postings (excellent for benchmarking)

2. Online Learning Consortium (OLC)

The OLC is an online and blended-learning resource.

• Blogs, score cards for designing online courses, and reports (Not all of the reports are free, but some of the reports that are available for purchase have free summaries.)
• Webinars (Not all of the webinars are free. Check carefully.)

3. Masie Learning Consortium

This resource is not geared toward academic centers; however, it provides excellent information about what's done in the corporate realm. If you want to start bridging academic and nonacademic worlds (corporate and nonprofit learning), start here.

• Empathy! concert series
• Learning TRENDS newsletter
• Blogs and e-notes

4. United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)

The USDLA provides excellent resources on distance-learning topics and online learning. The association offers some free webinars throughout the year and hosts a free online learning week (usually in November). If you can't attend, register anyway. You should receive a recording of the webinar.

5. Association for Talent Development (ATD)

While not geared toward academe, the ATD is a professional membership organization that provides a lot of useful articles and webinars for learning professionals. Some of these resources are free if you create an account on the ATD website. (Note that creating an account is free but becoming a member is not.)

6. University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA)

The UPCEA is an association for professional, continuing, and online education. The association offers a lot of resources and options to join groups (the latter may be tied to membership). If your institution is a member of UPCEA, note that there may be free resources and regional conferences in 2021. If in doubt, ask.^Footnote1

7. Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)

MERLOT is an extraordinary open educational resource. It's an international community of educators, learners, and researchers and includes communities of practice, portals, and a content builder. It's a BIG resource, so don't "eat it all at once."

8. Canvas Network

The Canvas Network offers free MOOC courses.

Where to Find More Ideas

Except for MERLOT, every organization listed above has free and paid portions. For most learning professionals, free or very low cost is best. Find out if your institution subscribes to any of these organizations (for instance, the University of Michigan is an EDUCAUSE member institution).

These resources provide a starting point for those who are seeking professional development opportunities that won't break the bank. Do not be afraid to reach out to the leadership at your institution for more ideas and support. Our jobs are always evolving. We should be too!

Note

1. Thank you to Nargas Oskui-Tabrizi, my colleague at the University of Michigan, for mentioning this organization.Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.↩

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Irene Knokh is an Instructional Design Technology Consultant at University of Michigan.