North Dakota United empowers our members with high-quality, research-based professional development programs designed to share best practices, enhance classroom success and promote personal growth. Book studies remain the bread and butter of ND United’s professional development offerings.
During the 2024-25 school year, educators registered for 2,744 professional development courses on a range of topics like artificial intelligence, classroom management and social-emotional learning.
With your ND United membership, you can access over 60 different book studies every year. You’ll find course topics ranging from mindset, self-care, student engagement, student poverty, behavior and classroom management, trauma, innovation and more. These courses can help you achieve a lane change or meet your licensing requirements.
Support from the NDU Foundation
The NDU Foundation covers the costs of registration fees for all NDU members who choose to enroll in a professional development course, which would otherwise cost $100 per registration. At the time of writing, members have registered for 883 courses through NDU PD since the start of the 2025-26 school year, which means the NDU Foundation has already saved members more than $44,000 in course fees. During the 2024-25 course cycle, the NDU Foundation saved members a total of $137,200.
Podcast PD
NDU is happy to continue to offer Podcast PD after much success in the program’s first year. Podcast PD is perfect for busy educators, as participants can explore topics that relate to their professional interests in a convenient format that can match their busy schedules.
Participants submit a reflection paper for each session (podcast episode) they listen to. They earn one credit for every seven sessions and reflections they submit, and they can submit reflections on episodes from different podcasts to meet the requirements for credits. In other words, to receive credit, they don’t have to submit seven reflections on seven episodes from (for example), the Wired Educator Podcast. They could submit one reflection from an episode of the Mel Robbins Podcast, another from an episode of the Literacy Talks Podcast, and so forth.
This year, the seven podcasts that can be used for credit are the following:
- Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore
- Teach Me, Teacher
- The Wired Educator
- Truth for Teachers
- Literacy Talks
- The Mel Robbins Podcast
- Stepping into Special Education
Since Sept. 1, NDU has had more than 130 registrations for Podcast PD.
Early Career Educator Cohorts
NDU also offers Early Career Educator Cohorts, which are catered toward members in the first seven years of their careers. In 2024-25, members registered for 248 spots, which allowed them to earn credits while building connections with peers from around the state. NDU is proud to offer flexible, affordable professional development opportunities for our members. Our mission is to always support educators and public employees as they strive to meet their professional goals.
