NC-NET Academy Course Schedule

Professional Development

NC-NET Academy Course Schedule

Spring 2024

Enrollment through registration request required – please see enrollment dates below.

Facilitated Courses

 Enriching Courses by Crossing Content Boundaries
March 8 – April 22, 2024; final projects due April 26
Early enrollment opens February 18.
Open enrollment begins February 20.
Enrollment is now closed.

Format: This is a facilitated 7-week course with weekly objectives, discussions, and a capstone activity Week 6.
Completers earn a completion certificate, a professional development badge, a stipend and may have their final project featured on the NC-NET website.

Career and technical courses offer the ideal integration points for concepts from math and science or for cross-pollination with applications from multiple program areas. In this course you are asked to bring both your technical expertise and your creativity to the instructional design process. This course is designed to open the door to greater student engagement and content understanding by building on existing student interests. You will select from a variety of proven strategies (e.g. case studies, project-based learning, workplace scenario problems) to use as the foundation for your capstone lesson. Collaboration with your colleagues in the course is welcomed.


Habits of Happy Teachers: Perspectives on Thriving in Education
April 19 – May 24, 2024
Early enrollment opens March 26.
Open enrollment begins March 28.

Format: This is a 5-week facilitated course with weekly objectives and discussions.
Completers earn a completion certificate, a professional development badge, and a stipend.

Teaching has always been a demanding field, requiring intellectual curiosity, creativity, and stamina. The Covid epidemic and all the restrictions and adaptations it required of the educational environment stressed faculty and students in a multitude of ways. Excitement and motivation for teaching and learning is still in recovery mode. This course provides opportunities for reflecting on our experiences, drawing inspiration from our colleagues, exploring habits that promote wellness, and regaining our “spark.” You will come away with fresh perspectives on educator social-emotional support, stress management, motivation, supportive relationships, successful habits, and much more!


On-Demand Courses
Self-enroll and start anytime

Start Teaching Today  for New-to-Teaching CTE Instructors
This is a modified, self-paced version of our facilitated Start Teaching Today course. This 4-course series is completely self-paced. Completers of each course receive a mini-badge.

What Do I Need for the First Day of Class? ENROLL
You’ve been hired for your professional experience and subject-matter expertise but have never taught. Now what? If you are unsure about where to begin, this is the course for you. You will have access to tips and tools that will help you launch your successful teaching career. The other courses in this strand will then help you take it to the next level.

How Do I Create a Positive Classroom Climate to Support Adult Learners? ENROLL
Learning environments play a key role in establishing classroom climate. Both physical and online classrooms need to optimize positive student interaction with the content, each other, and the instructor. In this time of both human and computer viruses, safety is a fundamental consideration. You will also want to consider how socio-emotional factors impact adult learning. How does providing frequent communication, setting clear expectations, and practicing inclusivity help you build a supportive, respectful climate? This course is designed to help you examine the total learning environment through your students’ eyes.

How Can I Enrich the Learning Experience? Making “A-ha!” Happen ENROLL
Student engagement with the concepts they are learning provides more “a-ha!” moments (and content retention) than memorization plus testing or other low-engagement teaching methods. What you might not know is that it makes teaching more fun when you are the facilitator not just the content provider. Hands-on learning is a natural fit for career and technical education but hands-on is only part of the active learning toolbox. In this course you will be introduced to a range of student engagement strategies and will select 1-2 to integrate into your teaching practice.

How Do I Know What They Know? Incorporating Authentic Assessment Practices ENROLL
While our students take myriad assessments over their educational career, they probably only remember the summative, high-stakes tests—like those for professional certification or licensure. But formative, low-stakes tests (and other assessments)


Employability Skills for Student Success in the Workplace
This is a 3-course series. Completers of each course receive a mini-badge.

Teaching Necessary Skills NOW! ENROLL
Course open July 1st
It is common to hear industry leaders share their desire to find entry-level workers with strong soft skills, or what we commonly refer to as employability skills. Employers often say their biggest challenges include finding and hiring workers who have good communication skills, can show up on time, and can work effectively in teams. This course is designed to help instructors empower students by developing awareness of the importance of employability skills. The content emphasizes the value of developing good habits and behavior that shape an individual’s reputation as a skilled, competent, and responsible professional.

Critical Thinking for the 21st Century  ENROLL
Course open July 7th
Our students have millions of resources for answering simple questions at their fingertips. But memorizing or searching the internet is not very intellectually stimulating and the knowledge gained is not likely to stick in any meaningful way. What if we took a page from the healthcare, criminal justice, or automotive syllabus and challenged our students with problem- or case-based learning? In this course you will learn how to teach critical thinking processes such as analysis, application, synthesis, and reflection and develop activities for students to practice using them.

Coming Soon:

Effective Workplace Communication 
Effective workplace communication requires a set of skills—verbal communication, active listening, professional writing, and awareness of nonverbal communication—that can be taught or reinforced in college courses. This course will help you expand your course content to include opportunities for students to demonstrate expected workplace communication protocols for presentations, interviews, and professional emails that are equally helpful in their college courses.


Questions? Please email academy@nc-net.info for additional information.