We've got a big surprise... Eduhero is now offering a Webinar Series to all Heroic Subscribers! This gives our educators a chance to take their technology education even further from our talented professionals, Stormy Cullum and Emily Williamson, former and current Technology Integration Specialists at Region 6 Education Service Center. Each session will be close to an hour, crammed full of useful information, and give 1 CPE credit hour upon completion.

To kick start your learning this Webinar Series already has the following 5 courses:

• Chrome Browser in the Classroom
• No Clickers Needed
• Blogger in the Classroom
• The Smore You Know, The Smore You Make
• Introduction to Edmodo

This webisode series includes several courses in a webinar format. Subscribe now and learn many the tricks of the trade for educators needing to learn new technology!

One of the key features that Eduhero offers educators is the new and improved Course Player. The design is user friendly and simple to enhance the user's experience to be even more enjoyable. This player navigates the user through the course as well as updates the user on their course progress. The image below is what the user will see when they enroll in a new course and is designed to help them understand the Course Player interface before beginning.



The player includes many familiar items such as Volume, Play/Pause, a Seekbar, Restart option, and Previous/Next buttons to skip to another slide. The blue bars at the top represent completed sections within the course. To the right of the blue progress bar you will see four icons, an icon to Open/Close the top panel, a Resources icon, the Hero Panel icon, and the Exit Course icon respectively. 

Once a user has completed a section they have accessed the ability to go back and review the section within the Course Menu by clicking the blue progress bar, or the Open/Close icon. When clicked, the activities within the course that have been completed will be accessible on the screen to click and navigate to a previous section.

The Resources icon will open the resources that the user can visit or download to expand their knowledge further on the subject of the course. This tool can be especially useful for users who need to refer to policies in their classroom on a regular basis. Such as Bullying Management practices, Blood Borne Pathogens laws, and OSHA chemical safety policies. 

An additional new feature that has been added to Eduhero is the Hero Panel. This panel brings a whole new social feature within Eduhero. The user receives knowledge points (KP) to level up and unlock more customization options within the site. These can be received by completing the course, making 100% on the course, as well as sharing your progress via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. This is a fun way for districts and campuses to compete against each other and just one more way that Eduhero makes learning FUN!

Lastly, the Exit icon will direct the user to three options: leave Feedback, Restart the Course, or Exit the Course.

Educators are often looking for software that is fun, engaging, easy to use, and easily accessible due to busy schedules. Eduhero seeks to provide teachers with this convenience by offering unique features that are unlike any professional development program on the market today. In an effort to streamline the process and make learning simple, Eduhero focuses on maintaining an engaging, interactive, and user-friendly platform. We also give credit to our course tracking feature found in the Learning Tab. This feature allows users to view the courses they are currently enrolled in, track the progress of these courses, pin courses for easy access, and view the course plans that are established by their district. Below we will provide you with a quick preview of these options so you can see how easy and fun it can be to learn within Eduhero. 

The first tab you will find within your Learning Tab is the Incomplete Tab. This tab includes a list of your incomplete courses that you are currently enrolled in. Within this tab you are able to view and track the progress of each course, as well as see your last test attempt. You may also launch the course from where you left off or restart your progress on the course. All of these options are accessible within the same window, and allow educators to move through their courses at a quicker pace. Best of all, you can track your completion in real-time.

The next tab you will see is the Completed Tab. This allows access to the course and has many of the same features as the Incomplete Tab. However, within this tab you can now see your best test score and the day it was completed, as well as the ability to view or download your certificate of completion. This tab ensures that you will always have access to your previous courses and be able to refresh your learning. You may simply view your completion certificate to share your success.

Another feature is the Pinned Tab. This allows you to view your "pinned" courses. In Eduhero, you have the ability to pin courses you may want to save to take in the future. You can pin courses wherever you see the pin icon. Click it once, and it will become an actively pinned course, turning red instead of black. This feature allows you to pin courses as you find them throughout the website and access them in one location.

The final tab is the Plans Tab. This allows users to view the menu of courses that have been assigned and created by their district. These plans can be customized by the administrator, but are usually assigned with a due date and are easily tracked. This tab has provided continued satisfaction from district managers and teachers who are able to stay engaged with their administrators without daily communication.As you can see, we are always seeking to advance Eduhero. Our mission is centered around fulfilling educators' needs making it easier for our users to customize their experience to get the most out of their professional development. Try it yourself and see just how fun learning can actually be!

We are excited to announce that New Caney ISD & Alvin ISD have completed over 4,000 hours of coursework in Eduhero! This is no small task, and we are encouraged by the amount of dedication our schools have shown, and the commitment they have given to improve themselves as educators. Often, teachers are tasked with the need to facilitate their student's growth so much so that they limit their ability to grow as professionals. It is teachers like those at New Caney ISD & Alvin ISD that show us there are educators that seek to continue to grow personally so they can continue to pour their passion into their students on a daily basis.

A big thanks to both of these districts for their constant participation and we applaud you for your effort in your work, which helps to support our mission of impacting teachers across Texas. It is and has always been our hope that Eduhero can serve as a resource for teachers who want to grow in their careers, and that we can provide an avenue to help accomplish these goals. The feedback you as educators have provided us has helped us to grow and develop to be able to better serve all of our districts. Keep up the great work!

We had an incredibly successful in-service week for 2013. This marks Eduhero's first year online and still in beta, now with over 5,800 registered users actively engaged within our courses and had served over 14,000 certificates site-wide. This momentous occasion could not have been accomplished without the dedicated support of our users. We strive to provide the best and easiest experience to our school districts and all users abroad, and it is through consistent feedback and participation from you that allows us to achieve our greatest goals.

From everyone here at Region 6 ESC, thank you for making Eduhero's first venture an amazing one!