MNABE PD Catalog: Get an overview of all MN Adult Education professional development (PD) activities in one convenient, searchable place! Find online courses, cohorts, study circles and more!

• ​​​​​Best Practices in Digital Learning: Formerly known as Distance Learning 101/102, this professional development cohort opportunity will support ABE teachers, staff, and administrators in setting learners up for success in distance (asynchronous) learning and online class formats (fully online, blended, HyFlex, etc.). We’ll focus on learner orientation, ongoing digital navigation/tech support, and instructional and assessment best practices.  2025-26 times and dates to be announced - please check the MN ABE Connect newsletter and the Distance Learning website.
• Building an EdTech Strategy Tooklit (BEST): The Building an EdTech Strategy Toolkit (BEST) cohort is a 10-12 week course designed to help teachers take a strategic approach to educational technology-based routines they use with their learners. 2025-26 times and dates to be announced  - please check the MN ABE Connect newsletter and the Distance Learning website. There is a $250 stipend for those who complete all the cohort requirements. Facilitated by Cathy Grady (St. Paul ABE, Hubbs Center) and Nicholas Houlson (Literacy MN). For more information about the course content, click here.

• Get to Know Google Classroom is a self-paced, asynchronous course for adult education teachers who are new to using Google Classroom, a learning management system commonly used in Minnesota schools. This course introduces teachers to the platform and walks through the steps of setting up a class, inviting learners to join the class, creating assignments, and sharing and collaborating with other teachers. The Distance Learning Team extends our sincere thanks to adult education teacher Kris Klas of the Hubbs Center for Lifelong Learning for sharing their original class and materials with us so that we can make them available to all adult educators in Minnesota. To join the course, go to Google Classroom, login with your Google Account, and enter class code: td3vjxb, or use the link above.
• Distance and Blended Learning Basics for Minnesota Adult Education has replaced DL Basics. This course was designed for education providers and practitioners teaching adult basic academic skills, ESOL, and literacy at a distance and/or through blended learning; it provides strategies and resources that are essential for both setting up and implementing distance education or teaching with a blended approach. The course includes six modules: Getting Started With Distance And Blended Learning; Outreach, Screening, & Orientation: Supporting Distance Learners From The Start;  Effective Distance & Blended Learning Instruction; Assessment; MN ABE Distance Education Policy and Procedures; and Teacher Verification Model (TVM) in Practice."
• Northstar Digital Literacy Foundations provides an introduction to the Northstar Digital Literacy standards and how they can be integrated into any adult education course.  The Northstar standards are one of three required sets of content standards for adult education in Minnesota (along with the College and Career Readiness Standards and the ACES-TIF standards).  This course is intended for Minnesota Adult Education teachers, managers, program coordinators, and anyone in a role supporting learners or staff with digital literacy instruction (e.g., curriculum specialists, distance learning coordinators, technology integration specialists, digital navigators, volunteer tutors, etc.).  Participants will earn 5 CEUs upon completion. To register for program year 2025-26, register here.

• AI Playgroup & Makerspace - 2025-26 times and dates to be announced

  You’re invited to our playgroup! Join your adult education colleagues and members of Literacy Minnesota’s Digital Learning team for a fun, informal, and interactive learning experience. Each month, we’ll focus on a different application of generative AI to support teachers and volunteers in their work with learners. You’ll get to see lots of examples, talk about pros and cons, and have “playtime” to develop resources that you can use in your teaching context right away. Most importantly, we’ll share our creations with each other and develop a collection of open resources for adult educators. Instead of focusing on specific AI tools or platforms, we’ll look at various “use cases” for AI, including: Teaching Academic Vocabulary, Dialogues and Speaking Practice, AI and Math, AI and the Writing Process, Adapting and Developing Appropriate Texts for Adult Learners.

GOOGLE Offerings

• Session 1: Introductory Data Analysis with Google Sheets:  2025-26 times and dates to be announced

  Google Sheets is a powerful tool to summarize data and understand trends in learner data, but many users don’t understand how to maximize its potential. In this session, beginning users of Google Sheets will learn how to filter data and use a few basic functions to discover valuable data points within their learner population. This PD session will be useful for teachers looking at class data or administrators looking at data across a whole program.

• Session 2: Deep Dive into Data Summarization with Pivot Tables in Google Sheets:  2025-26 times and dates to be announced

  Pivot Tables are one of the most powerful tools in Google Sheets and Excel, but they strike fear into the hearts of most casual spreadsheet users. Join this PD session to learn more about how to use Pivot Tables in Google Sheets to summarize data easily and quickly. Participants will walk away with an understanding of how to import a file into Google Sheets, perform quick and basic data cleaning, and then use pivot tables to summarize information and draw conclusions. 

Edmentum Offering

• Strategy Session for Edmentum Program Administrators:  2025-26 time and date to be announced. We heard your feedback! Edmentum can be really useful, but it’s…complicated. This strategy session will address housekeeping issues and provide some quick tips to make managing “all the things” on this platform easier. 

• You can assess your own digital literacy skills, to identify strengths and areas you would like to improve. To access a confidential Northstar assessment site, go here, and click Sign up as a learner. You can take up to 15 different assessments in the areas of Essential Computer Skills, Essential Software Skills, and using Technology in Daily Life. You can also access Northstar Online Learning to improve specific skill areas.

Looking to request Continuing Education Unites (CEUs) for completing recorded webinar trainings or workshops? Click the link below for more information, requirements and the request form.

CEU Request Form

World-Ed offers a series of three free online self-paced courses related to distance learning: Introduction to Blended Learning; Introduction to Mobile Learning, and Open Educational Resources. Go here to get started, and here to learn how to self-enroll in any of these courses:

• MN Introduction to Blended Learning: This mini course introduces participants to essential and foundational information about blended learning. It includes key definitions, strategies, examples, and reflective activities primarily presented in multimedia format. The goal of the course is for teachers tunderstand the different forms of blended learning and how they might integrate them into their coursework.
• MN Introduction to Mobile Learning: Welcome to the Introduction to Mobile Learning course. This multi-media mini course introduces participants to the basics of integrating mobile devices into their classroom, distance, or blended instruction. It includes key definitions, suggested strategies, examples, and reflective activities to help teachers incorporate what they have learned into their practice. The goal of the course is for teachers to understand the different ways adult learners and their teachers can use flip-phones, smartphones and tablets to enhance learning both in and out of the classroom.
• MN Open Educational Resources: This mini course introduces participants to essential information about Open Educational Resources (OERs). It includes key definitions, examples and reflective activities presented primarily in multimedia format. The goal of the course is for teachers to understand the benefits of using OERs, know where to find them, and how to evaluate their effectiveness.

Download and read the handbook here.

You can assess your own digital literacy skills, to identify strengths and areas you would like to improve. To access a confidential Northstar assessment site, go here, and click Sign up as a learner. You can take up to 15 different assessments in the areas of Essential Computer Skills, Essential Software Skills, and using Technology in Daily Life. You can also access Northstar Online Learning to improve specific skill areas.