Do you need to update your lesson design skills or learn more about what's trending in education? Attend a free online webinar. There are many webinars available, a careful online search can offer you interesting topics to add to your yearly educator's personal growth plan. Many of the offerings provide copies of the presentation or links to videos and other resources that can help you and even certificates of attendance.

One recent webinar I attended was sponsored by ASCD.org The site has online courses, books, videos, consulting, and free webinars. most recent webinar I attended February 5th, 2019 was presented by David Niguidula called "Demonstrating School Mastery With Digital Badges and Portfolios". Niguidula is the author of a book by that same title. He is known for his work helping educational districts develop student assessments based on skill proficiency rather than pencil and paper test scores. The presentation was all about using digital badges as part of the evaluation process for students. Mr. Niguidula discussed how schools can adopt their own system and develop a series of badges that can motivate students to achieve a level of skill and learning, and how badges can also help students apply meaning to what they have learned. This is a school wide, if not district wide change because all stakeholders need to determine what the badge is and what skill level needs to be demonstrated for the child to achieve that goal in their educational program. Although the topic was to include digital portfolios, little was explained about portfolios during the presentation. Viewers could participate in the webinar using the side bar for chat, or post into the twitter feed which was on another side bar. Mr. Niguidula referred to his book should one want more information. A digital certificate of attendance was also made available to participants of the webinar. To access the recorded version of this webinar go to the website's archives or through this direct link: "Demonstrating School Mastery With Digital Badges and Portfolios" You can download a file of the presentation by using the same link. Overall, Mr. Niguidula was an informative speaker and presented great ideas on how to re-design a school's assessment strategies.

Another great place to find educational webinars is going to edweek.org You can do a general search for webinars or go to this link for the archived list. The most recent webinar I attended through this site was called "Early STEM Exposure Through Career-Focused PBL" which was presented by Dr. Genevra Walters and Felice Hybert, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction of Kankakee School District, respectively. This webinar is about how incorporating STEM in the elementary curriculum can bring positive change in learning using a project-based model to teach students about careers and STEM content in their early education experience. The presentation also discussed how the community contributed to the change within the school district by providing expertise and experiences which benefited the students and reinforced the district's educational goals.

The chat sidebar was active throughout the presentation. And there were responses given by one of the presenters. Both presenters seemed energized by their topic and truly believed they were on the right track to improve learning even so far as re-designing the classroom spaces to reflect this district wide change. The presenters introduced themselves along with their credentials and work experience, so the viewers knew these women came from the area and had an honest investment in their educational system beyond just their job positions. Both presenters spoke well and clearly enough for understanding. They were neither too loud nor too soft spoken. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation was provided via a link in one of the side bars. Since this webinar had so much information about improving a school district’s student learning outcomes then a 35 page handout was not unreasonably expected and quite useful for retention of information

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