About The Learning Professor

When you love what you do, it's not work anymore.

Our Core Values

We strive to embed these values into everything we do!

Be Empathic

Remember that everyone has a story that leads to their choices, and everyone is doing the best they can.

Be Respectful

Honor the decisions that others make, even if you don't agree. Ask questions instead of judging.

Be Passionate

Embrace the early childhood field and provide the content and experiences that will help influence the next generation.

Be Amazing

Deliver quality service to make learning come alive. Create content that is innovative, engaging, and interactive.

Our Vision

We want to inspire early care professionals to see all children with compassion, educate children in high quality environments, empower parents to be the best role models for their children, and be a one-stop resource for those caring for children from birth through 5 years of age.

Our Mission

We strive to empower early childhood professionals to care for and educate children holistically in high quality environments through engaging and interactive training experiences. We strive to inspire those working with young children to see themselves as professionals in this important field.

Meet the Learning Professor

Dr. Jenni Jacobs

Though she considers herself an early childhood generalist, Jenni’s top areas of expertise include infant toddler development and curriculum, preschool development and curriculum, brain development, social-emotional development, classroom management, and challenging behaviors. She tries to always blend theory along with good practice in all of her courses to make them relevant and practical for teachers.

She has been in the field of education for 26 years in a variety of roles, including family child care provider, infant/toddler teacher, preschool teacher, school age teacher, child care educational director, university instructor in early childhood, literacy, and instructional design, program manager of university ECE program, and instructional designer.

Her educational background includes an EdD in Special Education, with a focus on content mastery in online early childhood courses, a Master’s in Child Development, and a BSEd in PreK through 3rd grade education. Her passion has always been children from birth to 5.

“Education begins the moment we see children as innately wise and capable beings. Only then can we play along in their world.”

~ Vince Gowman ~

26 Years of ECE Experience

Expert in Early Childhood

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

~ Malcome X ~

GET IN TOUCH

~ Since 2018 ~

Jenni's Story

Jenni started caring for children in her home in 1994. Finding herself in between jobs and expecting her second child, she decided to start watching children in her home. She planned to go back to working in an office after her second child was born. The Universe had other plans though! Her OB/GYN office told her about a family child care provider that lived on the same street (obviously this was long before HIPPA!). Jenni walked the 8 houses down and introduced herself. This family childcare provider introduced her to their local resource and referral agency, 4C for Children. Jenni started attending workshops and learning more about children. By the time her son was born, Jenni had fallen in love with the field of early childhood and decided to make a career of it.

Over the next 6 years, Jenni gained as much knowledge as she could through conferences and local workshops and trainings. She participated in quality improvement projects that were sponsored by the local R&R, including an accreditation project that resulted in her being one of the first accredited family childcare providers in Ohio. In 1999, Jenni won a scholarship to go back to school to earn her associate’s degree in early childhood. With the support and encouragement, Jenni continued going to school until eventually earning her doctoral degree in education. Over the years she has held many positions in early childhood including working in a child care center, teaching within the public school, working at the resource and referral agency in her town, and working at the local University. She also began teaching workshops for other early care professionals through the R&R.

The Learning Professor was founded in November 2018 while Dr. Jenni Jacobs was still working at the University of Cincinnati. After a varied career path gave her experience in early childhood, special education, adult learning, and instructional design she decided to branch off on her own to share her wealth of knowledge beyond the borders of her community. She started the business by working evenings and weekends, performing all aspects of the business on her own. She quickly learned how to design a website, implement a learning management system to house the courses, and every other task involved in running a small business. After about 8 months, her two children began to assist in running the business and became an integral part of the day-to-day happenings. In June 2019 as her children began to pursue their passions and start their businesses, Jenni left her full-time job to run the business full-time.

The Learning Professor is now a one-woman show! Dr. Jenni Jacobs is responsible for all of the educational content at The Learning Professor. She also designs and maintains the website, completes all of the instructional design for the courses, and answers all emails and chat questions.