Q: I participated in a PDH activity and received an Evidence of Completion form from your office. Unfortunately, I can’t find the form anymore and I need to upload it into my ISBE licensure account. Can it be replaced?
A: Yes! If you can locate the email you received originally, go ahead and click the link again – you should be able to see/retrieve the form again and click it as many times as you need. If the email is no longer available, email us or call our office at 217-333-2804 with your name, the title or type of activity, an estimate of the date or semester, and an email address to which we can send you a new copy of the Evidence of Completion form.
Q: I participated in a PDH activity. I haven’t received the Evidence of Completion form I was told to expect. What do I do?
A: The most common problem is that the email with the link to the Evidence of Completion form went to spam/junk email box. You may find the email with the Evidence of Completion form link there (tip – set our address pdh@cote.illinois.edu as a safe sender to prevent this for next time).
Another explanation may be that we don’t have a record of your completed ISBE-required evaluation form – your activity organizer would have sent a link to you to complete this online. If you haven’t completed an evaluation form and have lost track of the link, your activity organizer can send it again, or email us or call our office at 217-333-2807 and we can send you the link. We will need your name, the title or type of activity, an estimate of the date or semester, and an email address to which we can send you a new copy of the link.
Finally, it may be that you completed your evaluation form but there was not a match between the email address you entered on the evaluation form and the one we received from your activity organizer – perhaps there was a typo in one or the other or two different valid email addresses were used. You won’t be able to check that on your own – if you think this may be the problem – or you’re not sure what the problem is email us or call our office at 217-333-2804 with your name, the title or type of activity, an estimate of the date or semester, and an email address at which we can follow up with you.
Q: I work with a unit on campus that would like to give PDH to educators for participating in a workshop we plan to offer. How does this process work?
A: Details about the PDH process are provided on our website. From an overview perspective, activity sponsors complete a proposal that documents how the activity meets Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) requirements, including a link to standards and alignment to ISBE professional development expectations. After CoTE approves the proposal, you will be sent a link to an attendance form and a web link to the activity evaluation form that ISBE requires each participant to complete. You will distribute that link to your participants and send the attendance sheet back to our office after the event. Once our office receives the completed evaluation form from the participant and the attendance sheet from you, we will then digitally distribute the Evidence of Completion form to the participants.
Q: We are just beginning to plan a workshop for area teachers. What should we keep in mind to be sure the PDH process goes smoothly?
A: Here are some tips:
- Have your proposal approved by CoTE in advance – that way you’ll know for sure how many PDH participants in your activity can earn.
- Collect participants’ IEINs (Illinois Educator Identification Number) at the time they register for your activity. It takes extra time and effort for you to track them down afterward the activity – and educators cannot receive PDH without the IEIN number on the attendance sheet you return.
- Plan to distribute the web link for the required evaluation form to your participants. Be sure to explain to participants that if they do not complete that evaluation form, they cannot receive PDH.
Q: The web link we received for the evaluation form is too long – I don’t think participants will remember it and we are worried some characters of the address will get cut off or lost. Can’t you send us something shorter?
A: The web links are long. We recommend you use a URL shortener tool if you’d like to make your link shorter and easier for your participants to remember. We recommend the Short URL Webtool provided by Web Services in Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.
Q: I work with a unit on campus that would like to give PDH to educators for participating in a workshop we plan to offer. This process is new to me -I’ve never worked with standards before and I just don’t know where to start.
A: We are happy to walk you through the process! Email us or call our office at 217-333-2804.