School Administrators

Professional Development for Educators works with K-12 school administrators and other providers to submit, review and provide credit for locally designed and delivered professional learning opportunities. Your target audience of educators will receive one 2900-level graduate professional development credit for every 15 clock hours of instruction from your learning event or course. Requesting credit is free and easy to do with our online credit approval request.

Are you hosting a conference, learning event, study group, course or putting together a series of professional learning events for teachers, principals or school counselors?

If yes, get your staff development approved for graduate professional development (PD) credit through the University of North Dakota. Educators completing the credit requirements may use their PD credit for general teaching license renewal and district salary-lane changes.

If your learning opportunity is approved for PD credit, UND will provide participating educators a secure online credit registration site. The credit recording fee is $50 per credit, payable via credit card or company check made out to UND.

Professional Development Event Options

PDE Learning EventTargeted Professional Learning
Concentrated training or sustained collaborative learning
events focus on a topic or theme and consist of a minimum 15 instructional hours. These events may be face-to-face, online or blended (combination of face-to-face and online). Events include:

  • Workshops
  • Conferences
  • Seminars or institutes
  • Study groups or book studies
  • Professional Learning Communities
    (collaborative teams)
  • Online courses

PDE Learning EventCumulative Credit or "Cafeteria" Plans:
Planned district or consortium programs allow educators to select a variety of short-term training opportunities/learning events and accumulate or "bank" their hours toward credit over a school year.

Important Information
  • One graduate professional development credit is awarded for every 15 hours of instructional time.
  • Meals, breaks, exhibits and other non-instructional activities are not counted toward credit.
  • Instructor(s), Instructors of Record or Facilitators must hold a master's degree or higher.
  • For multi-speaker activities, 75% of the total instructional time must be provided by presenters with master's degrees or higher.
  • Submit your application 20 business days prior to the start of your event.
  • You will receive notification of your credit approval, need for editing, or disapproval within 2 weeks of submission.
  • If approved for graduate professional development credit, UND will provide a secure online registration form where participants can register and pay for credit.
  • Please contact our PDE office at 701-777-4225 or jenna.l.zavoral@und.edu if you have questions.


Six Step Application Process

  • Step 1 Go to the Registration dashboard.
  • Step 2 Log in with your NDUS Identifier (firstname.lastname) and password.
    • If you have not been issued a NDUS Identifier, you can Register to access this application.
  • Step 3 Click on Professional Development for Educators under Dashboard.
  • Step 4 Complete the Profile Information. If you hold a master’s degree or higher and if you will be the one responsible for grading this course, choose Instructor of Record (IOR). If you select IOR, you MUST have a current resume to upload.
  • Step 5 If any additional IOR, Facilitators, or Presenters will assist with the learning event, add them by selecting People and Add Person from the menu.
    • Use the pencil icon to edit an existing person or the X to remove a person.
    • Note: you must have at least one Instructor of Record (IOR) to start any application. If you are the IOR but do not appear as one in the People Management window, please update your profile. To update your profile, select your name in the upper menu, and choose Profile.  Select IOR under Position Information at the bottom of the screen, complete the required information, and submit your changes using the Update Profile button. If you are the only IOR, continue to step 6.
  • Step 6 Choose New Application to begin the process.
    • Choose Targeted Professional Learning if you plan to submit a face-to-face, online or blended learning experience that consists of a minimum of 15 instructional hours per credit requested. This includes workshops, conferences, seminars, institutes, etc.
    • Choose Cumulative Credit if you are submitting a cafeteria style plan for your school district, school, or consortium. Your submission must include a minimum of 15 instructional hours per credit requested.

If you are unable to complete your application in one sitting, you may save your progress by using the Save Application button. To resume your work, go to My Applications, find your application in the list and click Open Application. Check the progress of your application from My Applications.

Credit Approval Request App

Review your application and follow its progress

Once you submit the application, you will not be able to edit your application, unless it is returned to you for editing.  You can review its progress in History once our team takes action on your plan.

The Plan of Action section is where your cumulative credit/cafeteria plan approved events are listed, and also where you may add additional events.