Professional Learning for the Innovation Stage

When webinars and one off workshops aren’t enough

A person taking notes at a desk with a computer monitor showing an online learning session, a keyboard, and various stationery items visible on the desk.

Our professional learning system makes innovation visible so your team can learn what works and do more of it.

WHAT YOU GET:

For your organization

  • A professional learning system grounded in the belief that learning professionals should be valued for their expertise and given opportunities to learn together in context

  • Access to a platform that can host structured learning pathways (co-designed), with badges tied to real changes in practice as milestones

  • Guided, peer-to-peer learning conversations grounded in actual work — see the sideby session below

  • Ongoing exchange of ideas, examples, and small wins across your organization

  • A system for ongoing, job-embedded improvement and learning — not one-off training

Visibility and Insight

  • Artifacts that show real work in progress

  • Disaggregated trends across roles, cohorts, or sites

  • Insight into where practice is strong—and where support is needed

  • A growing library of internal examples (“bright spots”) to learn from and spread

Expert support

  • Access to a team specializing in learning design, facilitating adult learning, and continuous improvement for equity

  • Optional customization, including office hours and coaching to support implementation and problem-solving

  • Guidance grounded in real classroom and organizational practice

Book a Personalized Demo

This is a sideby session

Here’s a shortened example of learning in action on sideby with our co-founders, Erica & Mike. It’s a guided conversation with a strategically matched peer. We record and transcribe these conversations, so we can share back ideas, track evidence of learning, and make the next match even better.

  • Peer to Peer

  • 18-25 minutes

  • Guided by thoughtful prompts on the topics you choose

  • Developed by experts

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A man with glasses and a white sweater with navy trim, sitting at a desk with a laptop, appearing focused on his work.

Who is this for?

Learning Communities that:

  • Value professional educator expertise, retention, and collective efficacy

  • Are seeking a transformational approach to adult learning and innovation

  • Want collaborative, adaptive learning that ultimately leads to impact on classrooms, regardless of your proximity to direct work with students

  • See Deeper Learning as the bigger “why” for transformation with this approach to teaching and learning as a north star

  • May be experimenting, unsure of exactly “what works” for scale (see below)

Not for:

  • One off training

  • Compliance-only PD

  • Uncritical adoption of innovation

Diagram of a social network showing five connected user icons, each in colorful squares with outlines, linked by blue lines.

How we approach innovation

Educational infographic titled 'School Reboot 2018' outlining steps for school improvement: craft a vision, call to action, encourage experimentation, small wins big stories, scale what works, with icons of flags and individuals, and descriptive text under each step. Credits Stanford d. School at the bottom.

How the Journey Unfolds

We co-design pathways together, aligned to priority learning outcomes for adults.

Diagram showing a pathway for guided learning involving cohorts and enteara
Colorful badge: Improvement Cycles
Colorful Badge: Envisioning the Future
Colorful Badge: Success Signs in Practice
Colorful Badge: Mindsets for Innovation
Colorful Badge: Collective Efficacy
Colorful Badge: Accountable Teams
A flowchart illustrating a learning process with four steps: 1. Get matched with a peer, 2. Engage in a synchronous one-on-one learning session, 3. Receive an idea, 4. Share a practice-based small win, with arrows indicating the cycle.
Orange arrow pointing downward.
Diagram illustrating how side-by-side sessions build badges to AI learning pathways, with an arrow connecting the concepts.
An orange arrow pointing downward.
book a personalized demo
check out a sample insight report

We use badging as a milestone-based approach because our badges work.

Comparison of online course completion rates with badges earned. On the left, average badge completion rate is 68%. On the right, average badge retention rate is 88%.

Research-Backed Evidence of Effectiveness

  • Screenshot discussing direct transfer to practice in education, with statistics on applying learning and progress, quotes from practitioners, and references to a study by Darling-Hammond et al.

    Transfer to Practice

  • Screenshot displaying a section titled "Users describe the hallmarks of transformational (not transactional) learning - reflection, challenge, and identity shift." It contains quotes, data, and research.

    Transformational Learning

  • Screenshot discussing the importance of cross-role professional learning communities among educators and administrators. It includes research, data, and quotes.

    Belonging

  • Screenshot discussing teachers' retention and engagement, citing studies and survey data, with highlighted key points in colored boxes and quotations from educators.

    Engagement & Agency

  • Screenshot discussing the 'Progress Principle' with key quotes, survey data, and citations, emphasizing collective efficacy and reflective practices.

    Progress Principle

Build learning journeys with badge-based milestones, aligned to adult learning competencies.

Sample Topics Rooted in Learning for Innovation

Sample badge structure:

A flowchart diagram illustrates the learning process with five sections. The first section, in dark brown, is titled 'sidebar session #1' and discusses setting goals and introducing the topic. The second section, in orange, titled 'sidebar session #2,' focuses on application, background knowledge, and reflecting on small wins. The third section, in blue, titled 'sidebar session #3,' emphasizes a deeper dive, sharing ideas, and spreading small wins. The fourth section, in brown, titled 'sidebar session #4,' involves a presentation and reflection on lessons learned. The diagram features the NATO logo at the top of each section and an arrow indicating the flow from session 1 through to session 4.

Take a tour of sideby

check out a recorded demo

What real educators have to say

We say it’s like building the Teachers’ Room of your dreams across your whole organization, whether you’re focused on teachers, a network, education leaders, or professionals supporting educators engaging with a transformational innovation.

Get to know our core features

Transformation requires focusing on big outcomes, not just operational efficiencies. Learning in real-time from ideas in action, not just static webinars. Seeing collective progress as it happens, not after the fact. Learn more about our overall approach to transformational learning here.

  • Three blue checkmarks and two pink shelves on a white background

    AI for Deeper Learning Pathways (or Co-Designed Pathways Based in Other Goals)

  • Icon of a person in front of a presentation board or screen.

    Progress & Reflection Learning Dashboard

  • Colorful compass rose with four quadrants in green, yellow, red, and orange, and a blue outline.

    Goal-Driven Self-Assessment

  • A stylized head silhouette with a yellow interior and a blue outline.

    1:1 Guided Conversations with Strategic Matching Across the Organization Cohorts

  • Stylized atomic model with orange nucleus and orbiting blue electron paths.

    Access to the Community Idea and Small Win Exchange

  • Illustration of a molecular structure with a central pink node connected to five other nodes of different colors.

    AI Supports in the Background to Empower Human-to-Human Connection

A woman with earphones using a laptop to video chat with another woman, who is wearing glasses, with a plant in the background.

Interested in partnering to support transformational adult learning?

We are too!

We can apply our approach at sideby toward any innovation in teaching and learning and co-design learning pathways together. Our team has facilitated, coached, led, learned, and researched across these areas and more. We’re excited to collaborate with the right partners.

connect with our team

Build a learning community, without putting yourselves on mute.

book a personalized demo