Lori Pringle earns District/Building ICoach designation
Lori Pringle, media specialist in the East Holmes School District, instructs Hiland students Abby Miller, left, Nikki Hochstetler, Delilah Hochstetler and Gus Jackson on INFOhio links.
Helping others help themselves, that is what Lori Pringle’s goal is after recently earning her ICoach designation.
Pringle, a district library media specialist at East Holmes Local Schools, has earned certification as a District/Building ICoach from INFOhio, Ohio’s PreK-12 Digital Library. The certification requires more than 15 hours of group training and individual study, which was completed on her own time. That means she is now certified to provide INFOhio tools and resources training to other educators, whether it is in the East Holmes School District or beyond.
The distinction is one that Pringle has been looking forward to training for some time.
“It’s exciting because it opens up some unique opportunities for me as an ICoach to help facilitate learning and educate staff, parents and students on taking full advantage of INFOhio resources,” Pringle said. “I am especially excited about the opportunity to introduce our students to some exciting learning opportunities through INFOhio. It is a wonderful resource that we definitely need to take advantage of.”
ICoaches, short for integration coaches, work with teachers to incorporate digital technology and research tools into their classrooms. Pringle joins 332 other educators around Ohio who have received District/Building ICoach certification.
“District/Building ICoaches are a linchpin in promoting INFOhio’s free resources and services to educators across the state,” INFOhio’s executive director Theresa M. Fredericka said. “An ICoach has firsthand experience with the demands classroom educators face along with boundless curiosity about the newest educational technologies. And they love to share their excitement.”
Pringle will continue to provide INFOhio updates and professional-development opportunities within East Holmes, but as the only certified Holmes County ICoach, Pringle is eager to share INFOhio with educators and students beyond East Holmes.
“Just the chance to branch out and share at other schools is exciting for me,” Pringle said. “I am looking forward to getting back into doing more INFOhio presentations and facilitating sessions for teachers. There have been a lot of impressive advancements in INFOhio, and connecting it with Google Classroom is exciting, and it should be fun educating teachers on the possibilities of plugging students in so they can see how powerful that can be that students can search for resources and teachers can push out resources to their students too.”
Homeschool families and area school districts are encouraged to contact Pringle to schedule INFOhio training opportunities. Pringle is available for complimentary INFOhio training on her off days because she is a part-time employee for East Holmes Local Schools.
Matt Johnson, Hiland principal, agreed. “Lori Pringle is definitely a building leader,” he said. “Taking personal time to learn more about these digital tools will directly and positively affect the quality of instruction our students receive.”
For more than 20 years INFOhio has provided online digital resources to Ohio’s PreK-12 schools and is one of the country’s largest library and information networks. In addition to library software group licensing and support, INFOhio provides a collection of online academic research databases to all PreK-12 students and their families as well as classroom information technology and curriculum support to educators.
For more information visit www.infohio.org, and for any homeschool parent who would like to contact Pringle, she is available at Hiland High School at 330-893-2626 or via email at lori.pringle@eastholmes.org.