story by Claire Miller
Teachers and administrators are often required to complete professional development and training to refine and improve their skills as educators.
But the process of finding the right learning opportunities for the right teachers can be daunting and time-consuming.
“It can be hard to ascertain the quality of some professional development opportunities, and there’s not a lot of teacher voice in the process,” said College of Education & Human Development alum Jennifer Owen (M.Ed. ’16, Ed.S. ’17). Owen has worked in education for 12 years as a teacher, school leader and coach, among other roles. “Professional development has been a pain point for teachers, and if we’re all struggling with it, there has to be an easier way,” she said.
Owen developed an online marketplace called Co-CreatED to give teachers, administrators and school systems a virtual platform to connect with vetted professional development training providers.
Educators can search through the site’s learning opportunities, give ratings and reviews to the ones they’ve completed, and plan the professional development sessions needed for the entire academic year.
Individual teachers can also create free profiles that automatically keep track of all the professional learnings they’ve done, which can be useful when applying for new teaching jobs or promotions.
Owen believes Co-CreatED can help school systems better develop their teaching staff, who in turn will have an even greater impact on their students.
“We don’t want teachers to go to required trainings and be miserable – that’s ineffective. And we know that teachers are the No. 1 factor in students’ improvement and academic achievement,” Owen explained. “The vision for Co-CreatED is to make it easier to access quality professional development, which leads to better student outcomes. When we invest in teachers, we invest in students.”
Earlier this year, Owen was accepted to the Main Street Entrepreneurs Seed Fund’s third cohort. This six-month program, led by Georgia State University’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute, “supports underrepresented students, recent alumni and Georgia State community entrepreneurs with seed funding and mentorship to start and grow new ventures,” according to the program’s website.
She hopes to learn more about fundraising and capital investments to pitch to potential investors and make the connections necessary to grow Co-CreatED.
Owen also looks forward to connecting with Georgia State again and participating in an inclusive entrepreneurship program.
“I had a great experience at the university in my graduate work, and going down this new career path, I was drawn to this program,” she said. “Being a woman in the tech space has been a challenge, and it’s important to me that Georgia State values diversity, equity and inclusion.”
To learn more about the Main Street Entrepreneurs Seed Fund, visit https://eni.gsu.edu/msesf.