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OnCourse Trailblazers

 

 

OnCourse Trailblazers are forward-thinking educators who harness technology in innovative ways to create positive change within their own teaching practices and throughout their school districts.

 

Within the OnCourse ecosystem, Trailblazers carve out unique paths to success. They uncover time-saving shortcuts, discover powerful ways to leverage data, and serve as guides for others seeking to enhance their practices.

 

Trailblazers share their stories with the OnCourse community through interactive workshops that all educators are welcome to attend. Below, you can meet our trailblazers, watch replays of past workshops, and register for upcoming sessions.

 

Now accepting applications for the 2024 cohort! Apply HERE.

Trailblazer Stories

Data-driven Instruction

Ali Angelle is a teacher who returned to her hometown to make a difference. She teaches 4th grade ELA and Social Studies.

About her work:

“Analyzing data from handwritten or even electronic-based assessments can be time-consuming without the right tools. Once I realized that by using OnCourse Classroom, I could link my standards and generate mastery reports, I began immediately. In doing I have been able to take “data-dives” each time I give my students an assessment. ”

See Ally's Work

Tech-enhanced Assessments

Taylor Wilkes is wrapping up her eighth year as a middle school math teacher!

About her work:

“In previous years, this question would have to be completed on paper, hand graded, then calculated and added in with their digital portion of the test. OnCourse has streamlined this assessment for my team and students allowing us to have all the students’ test components in one place for ease of grading as well as viewing data for standard mastery at the completion of testing. “

See Taylor's work

Student Accountability & Parent Engagement

Christine Arsenis is an 8th-grade science teacher.

About her work:

“In addition to using OnCourse for our daily attendance, I use the Classroom feature to integrate all my assignments for my absent students. This makes it extremely useful for my students to check the work they missed from class, message me with any questions, and easily access resources from our class together at home or in the classroom. “

See Christine's work

Data Accessiblity

Amy Ard was our 2022 honorary Trailblazer and is an Instructional Technology Facilitator at her district.

About her work:

Amy Ard had a vision for meeting district-wide goals around student data; teachers making progress monitoring data accessible, eliminating spreadsheets, increasing teacher use of data during collaboration, and achieving transparency of different data points across the district. She used Multiple Measures reports to bridge the gap often seen in education between technology departments and teachers.

See Amy's work

District Benchmarks

Jennie Foster has been an educator for 22 years. She is now the Supervisor of Assessment and Accountability, where she has been for six years.

About her work:

“Using Oncourse Assessment and its item bank, we created quarterly District Benchmarks. After our first year of implementation of Oncourse Assessment and our District Benchmarks, our students showed significant growth on state testing, improving four points in English Language Arts and three points in Math.”

See Jennie's work

Standards Mastery

Christy Aymami is the Director of Educational Technology.

About her work:

“When it came time to view data for the OnCourse Assessment Interims, we created templates in Multiple Measures. This data has been an amazing tool to help teachers, as well as District and School Administrators, get a pulse of standards mastery for all students.”

See Christy's work

Student Growth

Christina Verberne was a high school science teacher for 20 years before moving into the role of Instructional Technology Facilitator for her district.

About her work:

“I began to build practice CLEP exams in OnCourse to help my honors and dual enrollment students prepare for the CLEP tests. If they passed the CLEP exams, they earned college credit for free before they graduated high school.   Several students graduate with enough college credits to begin their first year of college as a sophomore or junior!”

See Christina's work

Trailblazer Program FAQs

What is a Trailblazer?

An OnCourse Trailblazer uses technology in innovative ways to make a difference in their individual work or across their district. Trailblazers forge their own paths inside the OnCourse ecosystem. They find shortcuts that save valuable time, discover high-impact ways to use data, or guide others in improving their practices. Whether you are moving mountains or making things a little more streamlined in your district, we want to celebrate it!

Why become a Trailblazer?

Becoming a Trailblazer brings visibility to your best work, unlocks exciting perks, and gives you a chance to be the Trailblazer of the Year, an accomplishment that comes with a $1000 grant to attend an education conference of your choice. Addition Perks: Exclusive swag box ​ Digital badge Recognition and profile on the OnCourse website​

What should I expect if I am accepted?

The purpose of the OnCourse Trailblazer is to inspire and guide others to be their most effective selves, supported by technology. Each selected educator will be a featured speaker at one of eight monthly Trailblazer webinars hosted and promoted by OnCourse. This webinar gives you a chance to showcase your work to a greater audience. This webinar will be recorded and shared in OnCourse’s training portal and on social media pages.

How do I apply to become a Trailblazer?

Applications will open at the beginning of the calendar year. Applicants will fill out a form that includes a project showcasing their unique work in the system. Open topics will be accepted to encourage users with a variety of skills to submit meaningful projects. Here are a few examples across different departments: building a tech-enhanced assessment that improves the student experience, rebuilding a schedule to better meet student needs, using data to design effective interventions.