Learning Development: Making the Leap as an Educator

For many educators, making the leap from the classroom or central office is one they consider at some point in their careers. One field that stands out as a natural landing spot is Learning and Degelopment in a company. Learning happens in every industry, although it looks slightly different than what most educators are used to as the outcomes are often tied to sales and market drivers. So how can educators successfully make that leap? Below are some tips for how to get started:

1. Do Your Research- As educators, we value being life long learners. Switching to a new industry requires us to lean in to our learning brain in order to find out more about about the lingo, priorities, and practices that often differ slightly from what we are used to in education.

2. Earn a Cerificate- Many universities offer continuing educational opportunities that teach you strategies for developing learning content, including, trainings, professional learning, and courses.

3. Connect on Job Sites- Most job sites (think LinkedIn, Glassdoor, etc) have professional learning groups for all industries. Set up your job site profile and search for learning development communities you can connect with.

4. Resume Writing- When writing your resume, think about the activities that you do like collecting data and designing classroom lesson plans and how those same skills are applicable to learning in other environments when phrased slightly differently.

Making the leap from educator to learning development is possible if you put in time and research to make yourself marketable and knowledgeable.