Our EdTech coverage has, until now, focused mainly on students and in-class technology. However, there are a whole host of tools available to help teachers and educators advance their own skill-set. One such tool comes from Knowledge Delivery Systems. KDS has been providing a huge offering of resources to teachers since 2001, in pursuit of their mission:

Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS) is the leading provider for research-based, blended-model strategic professional development solutions for states, districts and schools — supporting the professional growth and needs of individual teachers, coaches, and school leaders.¹

During ISTE, Knowledge Delivery Systems launched what may be their most ambitious platform yet: the Professional Learning Platform (PLP). PLP is a robust platform that offers educators, “a centralized and unified solution for teacher professional development that seamlessly integrates personalization, collaboration, and content to allow educators to connect, inspires their teaching, and transform their practice.”²

PLP, in practice, provides educators with a powerful outlet through which they can, “encourage one another, access coaching and mentoring, and [it provides] a way to leverage the expertise of peers.”³ While PLP does include a lot of general teaching instruction and materiel, the largest contribution that the platform makes is in the form of the current challenges in the teaching field: things like Common Core implementation, cultural competency, and personalized learning. In broad strokes, PLP offers:

• A personalized experience, based on goals, interests, and ongoing practice that adapts over time
• Learning that melds district, school and individual goals
• A growing library of over 600 curated videos and comprehensive PD resources, covering effective teaching practices and subject matter
• Integrated access to third party content providers and district-sourced content
• Sharable, user-generated content that taps teacher knowledge
• Groups and virtual communities of practice to connect, share, communicate, and collaborate with other educators, using synchronistic tools
• Web-based meetings through HD video conferencing, screen sharing, and instant messaging
• 225+ compliance courses for a rich and engaging online learning experience
• Online and onsite coaching tools that include scheduling and tracking and that support effective 1:1 coaching and communication
• Reporting and analytics, including key performance indicators with drill-down capabilities to demonstrate compliance, history towards completion, content usage, and overall PD performance⁴

For a company that prides itself on offering tools to help educate teachers, this is a logical step. With PLP, Knowledge Delivery Systems is taking on some of the biggest challenges that the modern teacher faces.