McCormick Institute for Early Childhood

BY | May 29, 2025

This document may be printed, photocopied, and disseminated freely with attribution. All content is the property of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.

EXTENDING THE LIFE OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING


Professional learning opportunities, specifically workshops and conferences, are among the most exciting places to be as an early childhood education and care leader. The chance to step away from your day-to-day work, reflect deeply on your growth and the state of the profession, and learn from many diverse individuals is stimulating and dynamic. It can also bring unique challenges, namely, what do you do when it's over?


You may feel overwhelmed, inspired, or fatigued. These are all normal. But once you've unpacked your bags and gotten a good night's sleep, you'll want to capitalize on all you took away from your professional development experience. Using the ideas below, you can ensure that your insights and learnings continue growing beyond the days you attended the conference. Instead of gathering dust, you'll gather momentum.


ORGANIZE YOURSELF


You’ve likely come out of this experience with much more than you entered it with: intangibles, like ideas, wonderings, a-ha moments, and likely many tangibles like notes, flyers, brochures, and branded gifts! It can feel like an overwhelming amount of “stuff.” Dedicate time to sort through it all. Determine what you want to keep, and put things where they belong. Organize these items according to your intended use. Here are some suggestions for how that might look: 


  • Notes: You likely took many notes, and you may have them in a multi-media format (something scribbled on a post-it, perhaps, or a photo of a slide). Bring all of the information you want to remember to a central location. You may like to type up everything into a document. You could have a folder on your computer for professional development containing a Word document for each conference and workshop you attend. Or you can group items by function. For example, all your notes on compliance may go with your previous professional development on licensing and compliance. Whatever the system, ensure your new learnings quickly join the rest of your information and knowledge.
  • Promotional materials: Water bottles, notepads, and product samples. The list goes on. Sort through those things and put them where they need to go. For example, my McCormick Institute for Early Childhood tote is stored with my reusable grocery bags, and my Leadership Connections 2026 boat is in my desk drawer, ready to squeeze in a stressful moment.
  • Connection materials: These are the business cards you may have collected. Any brochures or handouts for organizations you want to follow also belong here. You'll want them together to use them for the next step. 


REFLECT AND CONNECT


You'll want to think deeply about all the information you took in. It likely all seemed vital and exciting in the moment, and much of it still is. But now that you're out of the excitement and long days that come with conferences, determine the most helpful information. Make a list of what you want to keep front-of-mind.


And once that’s done, remember the little stack of connection materials you made? Go through them! This is one of my favorite parts about a professional development experience – you've met wonderful people and don't want that professional bond to end. Whatever social networks you use, jump on and connect! Maybe it's following Michelle Kang on LinkedIn after her remarks at the Colloquium or browsing the new MIEC website. Was there a presenter you couldn't stop thinking about? Find them and send them a message – tell them how exciting it was to sit in their session. You'll never know when these professional acquaintances will have a meaningful impact on your growth.


DEBRIEF WITH COLLEAGUES


A colleague once said that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. If your colleagues did not have a chance to join you in this experience, bring the experience to them. Schedule a lunch-and-learn with your staff to share the knowledge you gained with them. Use this as an accountability checkpoint for yourself. You can discuss any actionable changes you're considering with them so they know what to look for. Make it exciting! Show the photos you took, and display the additional materials presenters posted in the conference app (for example, the LC25 App or here for Android phones).


If you were able to attend with colleagues, schedule a separate debrief with that group. Share what you learned with one another. Someone may have a perspective from a workshop you hadn't considered. This helps maintain accountability and lets you process all your learnings.


TAKE SUSTAINABLE ACTION


You likely want to do so much based on all the learning you did. Start immediately by taking one small action. It can be as small as emailing your local legislator and discussing the importance of quality early-childhood learning experiences for all children. Maybe you want to purchase a copy of Dan Wuori's book to put in your site’s professional development library. Was there a Professional Learning offering that you wanted to recommend to a colleague?


Extend your learning onward


The most crucial step to take is to keep the momentum going. Your energy and enthusiasm about what you've learned may not always be as high as it is right after a conference. Use this opportunity to plan intentional experiences for your future self. You may want to research and register for other workshops related to the informative sessions you attended. You could schedule regular reflective sessions for your leadership practice and check in with how you're applying those actionable steps from above. It could be as simple as marking your calendar for Leadership Connections 2026. Whatever your next step is, your look to the future will propel your professional development onward while keeping you connected to the knowledge you've gained.

Natalia Ambrozek, B.S., is a Quality Assessment Coordinator at the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood at National Louis University. Natalia earned a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a concentration in French at DePaul University and has since completed her ESL endorsement. Previously, Natalia taught for over 10 years in Chicago in Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms and has experience as an Assistant Director. Natalia is also part of the leadership team for the Illinois Southland chapter of NAEYC and an alumnus of the Maria Whelan Leadership Institute.

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The AI-Enabled Administrator: Reclaim Valuable Time

By Dr. Neal Green • February 8, 2026
Tools: Gemini Gems, NotebookLM, Perplexity Spaces Overview The evidence is clear that early childhood professionals' most significant challenge is a lack of time. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, when used strategically, can give administrators some of the time they desperately need, allowing them to focus more on their staff and the children and families in their care. This approach aligns with the foundational goal of strengthening leadership effectiveness and program impact (Abel, Talan, & Masterson, 2023). When I scan the AI landscape of available products and platforms, it becomes overwhelming. There are so many options that it is impossible to keep up with every new development. Focusing on a limited number of AI tools backed by organizations with strong infrastructure and fiscal stability is a wise place to start your AI journey. McCormick Institute for Early Childhood’s (MIEC’s) upcoming professional development sessions will focus on three AI tools. These include Gemini Gems, NotebookLM, and Perplexity Spaces. Think of Gemini Gems as your customized AI assistant that you "train" to follow your rules and meet your goals. Gemini Gems are the right tool to tackle Internal Operations . NotebookLM is perfect for creating Family Support resources that stick. NotebookLM is a powerful AI tool that uses only the documents or other resources you add to generate specific, focused output. Perplexity Spaces is a fantastic choice to address Marketing demands. Like many AI tools, you can toggle back and forth between open web searches and focused documents that are specific to your work. Gemini Gems: The “Specialist Teammate” Gemini Gems allow you to create templates you can use repeatedly for agendas, HR policies, and more. If you have used AI in the past, you know that writing an effective prompt takes time, and they can easily get "lost" if you use AI often. Gems removes that challenge and lets you save your most effective prompts without having to rewrite them every time you use Gemini. It is up to you to decide if you want to create several smaller Gems to tackle common challenges you face or create larger Gems that encompass large swaths of your work. For our purposes, we will focus our Gem work on Internal Operations, addressing Program Administration Scale (PAS) Item 9: Internal Communications (Talan & Bloom, 2011). Imagine using a Gem to turn messy staff meeting notes into professional minutes with clear action plans in minutes or less! NotebookLM: The "Walled Garden" NotebookLM is an excellent tool for Family Support for your center, addressing PAS Item 17: Family Support and Involvement (Talan & Bloom, 2011). After uploading documents and resources, such as your parent handbook or community referral lists, to your Notebook, you can create several resources that parents/guardians of your center students will love. Just a few of the impressive features available with NotebookLM include audio (podcast) summaries, video summaries, and reporting functions with templates or the option to create your own report with metrics that matter most to you. Perplexity Spaces: The "Research Librarian" Perplexity Spaces is a perfect AI partner for Marketing your early childhood education (ECE) program, addressing PAS Item 18: External Communications (Talan & Bloom, 2011). You can build your own centralized repository, with control over branding to ensure consistency and present a professional, current image. Adding specific instructions to your space eliminates the need to format documents constantly and saves valuable time. The consistency that a Perplexity Space offers in this regard allows you to upload messages that are the "voice” of your brand. Your marketing efforts are not only more aesthetically pleasing but also enable you to track trends at similar centers in your area, helping you assess the competition. Strategies for Success: Audit your Internal Communications: Identify one repetitive task, such as creating staff meeting agendas (PAS Item 9), and automate it with a Gemini Gem. Curate your Family Resources: Gather three to five existing documents to "feed" a NotebookLM project for more responsive family support (PAS Item 17). Standardize your Brand: Use a Perplexity Space to ensure all public relations tools project a consistent, professional image (PAS Item 18). Reflection Questions: Which administrative task takes the most time away from your interactions with staff and families? How might centralizing marketing materials (branding) impact the professional image to prospective families? Table 1: AI Tools for ECE Professionals
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