Lisa Schmucki didn't start out as a teacher or intend to be an entrepreneur. Yet as founder and CEO of edWeb.net, she created an award-winning professional learning network that helps educators share their best ideas and practices to improve teaching and learning. Lisa sits down with Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, to discuss professional learning, teacher voice and choice, and EdTech's role in helping educators grow.
Professional Learning Can Be More Flexible Than You Think.
Lisa is quick to point out the difference between professional development (PD) and professional learning:
"When you say PD, it brings up one set of associations: what a district has made you do. We've all seen those pictures of people sitting in a room, falling asleep on the desk. As opposed to 'professional learning,' which is more preferred now – it can be more informal, more self-directed, more personalized, and differentiated. However, educators do often have PD requirements or professional learning requirements for PD hours."
She notes that school leaders, who have been slow to accept online professional learning, are becoming more receptive:
"Administrators were skeptical of whether online professional learning would work, or whether their teachers would fully engage because they weren't able to monitor it. But they saw the results of allowing them to engage in virtual professional learning during the pandemic."
Teachers Need Agency, Too.
While many educators advocate for student voice and choice, Lisa recognizes that staff members across the entire education community should also be encouraged to self-direct:
"If you can have flexibility in doing it anytime, anywhere, you can watch a webinar while you cook dinner, you can listen to a podcast while you're commuting. Everybody now gets that that's a more personalized, successful, and effective way to do it. Some administrators still say that they know what their teachers need, but our experience in the chats of all our webinars is that the teachers are focused on what their students need. And so they're going to pick a program to help them with a student or a group of students. So that's really important to accept, realize, and honor."
Of course, teachers still frequently identify and pursue their own needs:
"The original idea for edWeb was to help with the adoption of technology, and then we evolved into professional learning. Now our most popular topic is mental health and social-emotional learning. It's the human side, not even the technology side."
EdTech Can Be A Partner In Professional Learning.
Thanks to her marketing and product development background, Lisa knows how EdTech can meet teachers' professional learning needs. She also understands the importance of actually engaging with the topic under discussion rather than leading with a sales pitch:
"Think of it as submitting a speaker proposal for a big education conference. It can't be vendor-related at all, or they won't accept your proposal."
If you're an EdTech company looking to build your audience, Lisa shares a critical piece of edWeb's strategy for creating successful webinars: partnering. When you invite subject matter experts or decision-makers who've had the experience of adopting new products for their schools or districts, you have a better chance of delivering the greatest value. She suggests:
"Do an assessment of what you know are the critical topics in the area of work that you're in. If you're a reading company, if you're a math company, you want to craft a topic around that."
She also reminds us that consistency in your efforts to build and lead a community of likely customers is the glue holding together the greatest ideas and the best intentions:
"Sometimes you see people with a big plan, and they come out and do a lot at once, but then they take a hiatus. You really want to think about what you can do on a sustainable basis."
Lisa offers a parting thought about the professional learning ecosystem:
"Providing quality professional learning for your staff helps with retention and culture at a time when it's really difficult. It's not just about the learning in and of itself; it's how people are. You can support their wellness, their mental health, and their positivity about the profession."
What We Talked About
Use this to jump to parts of the conversation you want to listen to more closely.
[00:47] Introducing Lisa Schmucki
[04:45] How Lisa defines professional development and professional learning
[07:42] Lisa’s wayfinding journey to figure out what educators need
[13:08] Lisa's thoughts on the most popular and effective PD
[17:48] How personalized PD is more effective than standardized PD
[20:52] The importance of voice and choice for all education professionals
[23:30] Helping new educators direct their professional learning; the power of a learning community
"I think just dipping a toe in and picking a topic is one of the best ways we've just discovered for people to realize how much there is to learn."
[30:07] How EdTech companies can get involved with teachers' professional learning
"Community takes leadership, it takes consistency. And often the benefits of it are longer term. But building community and that support, it's harder to get the ROI, it's harder to get the result. So it tends to not get as much attention."
[40:06] If Lisa had a magic wand, how she'd create the best professional learning for educators
[45:03] Lisa's shout-out to educators and the great service they're providing
[46:12] What refuels Lisa
[49:45] A final word from Lisa
[50:31] How people can contact Lisa
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
All Things edWeb
edWeb.net, a professional learning network founded with the mission of making it easy for teacher collaboration, peer-to-peer learning, and sharing innovative ideas and resources
Webinar Calendar, edWeb's upcoming events; Lisa reminds us that you don't need to be a community member to view these webinars
Communities, edWeb offers a variety of communities that you can join based on your interests
Professional Learning Exemplars, learn how innovative educators are re-inventing professional learning with edWeb.
edWeb eNews, Lisa invites you to sign up for the newsletter
Get in touch with edWeb by email: info@edweb.net
Learn More About...
InnovateHers: Why Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurial Women Rise to the Top by Barbara Kurshan and Kathy Hurley; Lisa is featured in this book examining the achievements of accomplished, purpose-driven, entrepreneurial women
EdCamp Community, Elana recommends these free public events that leverage attendees' knowledge and experiences by allowing educators to collaboratively determine discussion topics onsite
Easy EdTech Club, Elana mentions this cohort within Monica Burns' Class Tech Tips community as an example of a specialized professional learning community
DOLS Network, a professional organization that helps women who work in the business of education help one another; Lisa mentions this group as a way of staying connected during the pandemic
Content Marketing for EdTech: A Conversation with Annie Teich, Elana mentions this LCG podcast about marketing within the EdTech space
Contact Lisa
Elana Leoni, Host
Elana Leoni has dedicated the majority of her career to improving K-12 education. Prior to founding LCG, she spent eight years leading the marketing and community strategy for the George Lucas Educational Foundation where she grew Edutopia’s social media presence exponentially to reach over 20 million education change-makers every month.
Lisa Schmucki, Guest
Lisa Schmucki is the founder and CEO of edWeb.net, an award-winning professional learning network that provides peer-to-peer learning for a global community of 1.4 million educators. edWeb's framework for Best Practices for Virtual Professional Learning provides districts, schools, and individual educators with professional learning that impacts staff growth, culture, wellness, retention,and student outcomes. edWeb has won 9 SIIA CODiE Awards for professional learning and collaboration.
Lisa is an education, publishing, and media industry veteran with 40 years experience in product development, professional learning, marketing, and entrepreneurship. She serves on the Board of NCTET (National Coalition for Technology in Education & Training), the Expert Network for ERDI (Education Research and Development Institute), the Project Tomorrow SpeakUp Council, the Advisory Board for the Powertrip for Women District Leaders, and previously on the Board of the SIIA Education Division.
Lisa is one of 29 women entrepreneurs featured in InnovateHERs: Why Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurial Women Rise to the Top, by Kathy Hurley and Bobbi Kurshan. Prior to founding edWeb, Lisa held senior positions with Time, Macmillan, Peterson's, Films Media Group, MKTG Services, Acxiom, and Achieve3000. She is a graduate of Princeton University and has a Masters Degree from the Stern School of Business at NYU.
About All Things Marketing and Education
What if marketing was judged solely by the level of value it brings to its audience? Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education, a podcast that lives at the intersection of marketing and you guessed it, education. Each week, Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, highlights innovative social media marketing, community-building, and content marketing strategies that can significantly increase reach, relationships, and revenue.
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