Front row: Katie Berger, Danielle Pinkus and Elizabeth Roberts.
No matter their subject matter – English, English as a second language, history, math or even driver’s ed – teachers use technology.
Six educators within those disciplines at North Chicago School District 187 are now upping their game in ways that will help not only their students but their colleagues.
All are earning the NIU Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment’s (ETRA) K-12 Technology Specialist endorsement – with tuition and fees paid by their employer.
Hal Hinderliter, an ETRA instructor who is coordinating the cohort that began in the fall of 2021, calls it a success in progress.
“I believe that the D187 cohort members feel empowered by what they’ve learned during the program,” Hinderliter says. “These are graduate-level courses, so they can be challenging for time-strapped high school teachers who have just worked a full day in the classroom – but everyone is doing well and keeping up as we prepare to finish up in May.”
District 187 administrators are pleased that “teachers in the program are learning valuable and relevant skills to engage our students in various ways,” says Kim Andes, D187’s director of Human Resources.
“Technology in education is something D187 has valued for some time now,” Andes says.
“Coming out of the pandemic, however, we discovered an even greater level of importance that our teachers need to be comfortable embedding technology in their instruction,” she adds. “Our teachers in the cohort are teaching our students to use technology to gain access to learning resources and demonstrate what they know.”
Pursuing that goal resulted in a contract with NIU to deliver the advanced licensure program.
“We were seeking to expand our partnerships with institutes of higher learning and found that partnering with NIU would offer an opportunity for us to host the cohort in the district,” Andes says. “NIU faculty bring a high level of expertise and professionalism to the program.”
Using a hybrid model, NIU instructors have delivered the curriculum at North Chicago Community High School or online through Blackboard.
Students completed two courses last fall, two more last spring, one during the summer and are currently enrolled in one this fall, says Judy Puskar, academic program advisor.
NIU’s endorsement will equip and qualify the teachers to serve as technology coaches in their respective buildings, which span the K-12 spectrum in elementary, middle and high schools.
“The district is really going to get some professionals back in their buildings who can hold professional development for their fellow teachers or take administrative positions within the district so they can be lead teachers of technology,” Puskar says.
“They will know how to integrate technology into the classroom and into the curriculum. They can inform their peer teachers. They are able to select technology that is most appropriate for the grade level, the situation or the learners,” she adds. “They also will have the practical skills in using new technology and new tools.”
Meanwhile, as technology leaders, “they can present technology initiatives to the school board to and help to direct and engage students with technology and teachers with technology.”
Hinderliter, whose program coordination has included reserving classrooms, confirming audio-visual support, assisting ETRA instructors in creating their course schedules and helping to procure textbooks, shares Puskar’s expectations.
“Cohort members benefit from NIU ETRA’s Technology Specialist Endorsement program in three ways,” Hinderliter says.
“The endorsement itself is a valuable addition to their CVs, the lessons learned during the courses improve their classroom and online teaching skills and their accumulated knowledge prepares them to take the State of Illinois’ Technology Specialist Certification exam, which can qualify them for a career path upgrade – a ‘lane change’ – at their school,” he adds.
“Subsequently, these schools and the students who attend them benefit from the knowledge and experience of these cohort graduates.”
