Public Media Learns
Public Media Learns is the home of professional development courses from throughout the system, community spaces for our Peer Learning Communities, and the NETA webinar archives.
Do you have a course idea you'd like to share with members of public media? Use this form to propose your ideas.
Newest Courses
Join NETA and public media organizations across the country for PD Day 2026 on Tuesday, December 8 for three hours of national public media professional development, beginning at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT.
The PD Day course catalog features a curated mix of public media–specific and general professional development opportunities, organized by learning track. Whether you're building new skills, deepening expertise, or exploring fresh ideas, the catalog makes it easy to find something that fits.
Browse the opportunities and make your personal plan for PD Day 2026! Registration is not required. Click the link to learn more.
Is your outreach reaching the right people or just the easiest ones to reach? Audience Development & Segmentation is a self-paced course designed for public media professionals who want to build more intentional, data-informed audience strategies.
You'll learn how to define meaningful segments using your station's existing data, build actionable personas, and activate them across fundraising, marketing, and content workflows.
Drawing from real-world examples at VPM, PBS Utah, Buffalo Toronto Public Media, and CET, you'll explore how segmentation supports cross-team alignment and mission impact. You'll also learn to design a measurement plan with the right KPIs and use A/B testing to improve your results over time.
Whether you're new to segmentation or refining a strategy already underway, this course provides worksheets, persona templates, and a full segmentation plan to help you connect the right message to the right audience. Access this course and more through the PBS Course Catalog.
Is your station collecting valuable audience and donor data but still sending the same message to everyone?
Activating Existing Data for Marketing is a self-paced course that helps public media marketing and membership professionals move from bulk outreach to targeted, data-informed campaigns. You’ll learn to map your data landscape, segment your audience using first-party data, and design lifecycle-informed email campaigns.
Drawing from PBS station case studies, you’ll explore segmentation strategies, retargeting and lookalike audience tactics, and cross-channel coordination. You’ll also learn to apply ethical guardrails and select a primary KPI to measure your campaign’s success.
Whether you’re just beginning to use data strategically or ready to strengthen existing efforts, this course provides a Mini Data Inventory, a Data Activation Plan Worksheet, and proven frameworks to build a right-sized strategy. Access this course and more through the PBS Course Catalog.
Access this course and more through the PBS Course Catalog.
Is your station’s revenue too concentrated in one area? Building a Resilient Fundraising Portfolio is a self-paced course designed for public media fundraising professionals who want to build a more balanced and resilient funding strategy. You’ll learn how to evaluate your portfolio across disciplines, sources, and platforms and apply a practical Assess-Prioritize-Align-Revisit framework to move from insight to action.
Drawing from real-world case studies at Alaska Public Media, WTVP, WGVU, and KSPS, you’ll explore how stations are putting diversification into practice. You’ll also learn to match strategy to your organization’s capacity and mission and build the habit of revisiting your approach over time.
Whether you’re new to strategic revenue planning or looking to deepen an existing approach, this course provides portfolio assessment tools, a reflection worksheet, and a practical final assignment to support your next steps.
Access this course and more through the PBS Course Catalog.
Public Media 101
This PML course is for anyone who wants to learn the basics of public media. Whether you work at a station, are a board member, volunteer, or student intern, Public Media 101 provides an overview of public media’s origins, the many organizations that make up the public media ecosystem, and the rules and regulations that guide our work. In addition, the course breaks down the various types of stations, roles and departments within stations, and professional growth opportunities.
Anytime you feel like you’re swimming in alphabet soup, our Public Media 101 glossary provides an easy way to identify and define public media’s many acronyms and terms.
If you would like to register multiple members of your station and receive an invoice, please contact James Abraham(opens in a new tab) or Maria Rodillo(opens in a new tab) to start the process.
This course is self-paced. $100 for NETA Members; $550 for non-members.