Free Professional Development Opportunities 2025

We're pleased to offer free professional development to help you teach students how to evaluate online information effectively.

Webinars

We will offer two different one-hour online webinars in the coming weeks:

• Introduction to Civic Online Reasoning: Teach Students to Sort Fact from Fiction Online

  The Digital Inquiry Group’s Civic Online Reasoning curriculum, based on research with professional fact checkers and tested in classrooms across the country, teaches students to effectively evaluate online content. During this interactive webinar, participants will consider the research behind the curriculum, review free curricular materials, and discuss how these resources can be integrated into their own classrooms.

  • Register to attend this webinar on Tuesday, February 11, at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET
  • Register to attend this webinar on Wednesday, March 5, at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET

• Reading Like a Historian with Digital Literacy

  Explore new Reading Like a Historian lessons that teach students to evaluate online sources. During this session, participants will experience a model lesson, receive access to new curricular resources, and identify strategies for integrating proven digital literacy approaches into history instruction.

  • Register to attend this webinar on Tuesday, February 25, at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET
  • Register to attend this webinar on Wednesday, March 12, at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET

Asynchronous Courses 

We will offer two asynchronous online courses. Each course will include: 

• Evidence-based approaches to teaching digital literacy  
• Instructional videos
• Instructional simulations
• Discussion boards
• Optional webinars

The courses will run over seven weeks to allow participants to complete them independently. Upon successful course completion, participants may request certificates of attendance indicating the number of hours of professional learning they completed.  

•  Civic Online Reasoning 

  In this 10-hour course, participants will learn about research-backed strategies for effectively evaluating online information and explore free curricular resources developed by the Digital Inquiry Group for teaching students these vital skills. The course will also address common student misconceptions and the pitfalls of outdated approaches to teaching digital literacy. The course will include three modules:  

  • Module 1: Search like a fact checker with lateral reading
  • Module 2: Verifying claims on social media and click restraint
  • Module 3: Evaluating different types of online sources.

  This course will run February 10 to April 1. Click here to enroll in the course.

• Basics of Evaluating Online Sources

  In this 3-hour course, participants will learn about research-based strategies for evaluating online information, with an emphasis on the skill of lateral reading. Participants will also explore free, research-backed curricular resources developed by the Digital Inquiry Group for teaching students these vital skills. The course will include one module: Search like a fact checker with lateral reading. 
  This course will run February 10 to April 1. Click here to enroll in the course. 

Please note: The content of the two asynchronous courses will overlap, so educators should enroll in either the 3-hour or the 10-hour option, but not both. 

If you have any questions about our webinars or online courses, please email learn@inquirygroup.org.