5 Ways to Weave lilyPD into Your School’s PD Ecosystem

As a school leader, you already know the challenge: professional development time is precious, schedules are packed, and the needs of your teachers vary. Resources that can adapt to different contexts give you something rare: real options for supporting your teachers’ growth.

lilyPD: Professional Development powered by William & Mary was designed with exactly that flexibility in mind. Our skills-based online microcourses work as a standalone self-paced experience or as the backbone of structured, collaborative learning. 

Here are five practical ways you can easily integrate lilyPD into your school’s existing PD ecosystem.

1. Self-Paced Learning: Meet Teachers Where They Are

Not every teacher needs the same thing at the same time, and that’s okay. One of lilyPD’s greatest strengths is that it works beautifully as an independent, self-directed learning experience. Teachers can move through courses at their own pace, revisit content that resonates, and apply strategies when they’re ready.

Consistent with Knowles’s (1984) principles of andragogy, giving adults greater ownership of their learning can increase engagement and support the application of new knowledge in practice. Self-paced professional learning honors teacher expertise and trusts educators to drive their own growth.

How to make it work:

• Offer a curated menu of lilyPD courses and invite teachers to select a learning path aligned to their professional goals.
• Share lilyPD access during new teacher onboarding so it becomes part of your welcome toolkit.
•  Build in regular check-ins (e.g., a brief reflection, a conversation) to keep momentum going.

2. PLCs: Turn Shared Learning Into Shared Practice

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) thrive when there’s a shared text or anchor experience to build conversation around. lilyPD courses provide exactly that. Assign a module before your next PLC meeting and use it as a launching pad: What did you try? What surprised you? What are you still wondering? 

For school partners, our PLC Facilitation Guides make this process even easier by providing discussion prompts, reflection questions, and structured activities for each course designed to help teams move from learning to classroom implementation and impact.

This approach aligns with DuFour et al.’s (2010) conception of PLCs as communities engaged in collective inquiry and collaborative action. lilyPD provides a common learning experience that can ground those conversations and support the transfer of new ideas into practice.

How to make it work:

• Choose one lilyPD module as “pre-work” for each PLC cycle.
• Use PLC time to share classroom attempts and reflect on what worked and what to change next time.
• Build in student work analysis tied to strategies from the course.

3. Instructional Coaching: A Coach’s Secret Weapon

Instructional coaches are always looking for tools that bridge the gap between professional learning and classroom application. lilyPD is a natural fit for the coaching cycle. A coach can recommend a specific course or module based on an observed area of growth, then follow up with a pre-conference conversation, a co-teaching opportunity, and a debrief rooted in what the teacher learned.

This kind of job-embedded, coaching-supported professional learning is among the most effective models available. Knight (2007) emphasizes that coaching increases the likelihood that teachers will transfer new strategies into practice, and having a shared resource like lilyPD gives coaches a concrete anchor for those conversations with teachers.

How to make it work:

• Coaches preview lilyPD content and identify modules aligned to teacher goals.
• Assign a targeted module as part of the pre-conference preparation.
•  Reference lilyPD strategies explicitly during observations and debriefs.

4. Workshops: Give Full-Day PD a Research-Rich Backbone

Planning a full-day workshop or a multi-session professional learning series? lilyPD courses can anchor your agenda. Rather than building a workshop from scratch, you can use lilyPD’s evidence-based course content as the foundation, freeing you up to focus on facilitation, discussion, and application activities that make the learning stick.

This approach also helps address a common gap in traditional workshop models: the “learn and leave” problem. Without follow-up and support, even high-quality workshops have limited impact on classroom practice (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017). When lilyPD is the through-line, teachers can return to the content independently after the workshop ends.

How to make it work:

• Use lilyPD modules as the “pre-work” component and design your workshop around discussion and planning.
•  Ask teachers to implement one strategy, reflecting on what worked and what to change going forward.
• Create a workshop follow-up plan that points teachers back to specific lilyPD resources.

5. Department Meetings: Micro-Learning with Macro Impact

Department meetings can focus on more than announcements and logistics. With lilyPD, you can carve out even 15–20 minutes for meaningful professional learning. Ask teachers to complete one short module before the meeting, and spend your time together on application: How could you use this in your content area? What would it look like in your classroom next week?

This kind of embedded, recurring micro-PD builds professional culture over time. When learning is a regular feature of your meetings instead of a once-a-year event, it signals that growth is part of the job, for everyone (Vescio et al., 2008).

How to make it work:

• Build a rotating “lilyPD moment” into your department meeting agenda.
• Let department members take turns choosing the module and leading the discussion.
• Track strategies that have been implemented across the department and celebrate what’s working.

Your Next Step

You don’t have to overhaul your entire PD calendar to get started. The key is to start small and build intentionally. Pick one structure, such as a PLC cycle or an upcoming department meeting, and try integrating a single lilyPD course or module. Notice what the conversation looks like when everyone’s coming in with the same learning. Then build from there.

Explore our course offerings to find a course that fits your goals, and contact us if you’d like to learn more about bringing lilyPD to your school or district.

You can also download our printable resource!

References

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/effective-teacher-professional-development-report 

DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work (2nd ed.). Solution Tree Press.

Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction. Corwin Press.

Knowles, M. S. (1984). Andragogy in action: Applying modern principles of adult learning. Jossey-Bass.

Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 80–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.01.004