Assignment of Professional Development for Non-licensed Personnel
ArkansasIDEAS accounts are assigned according to the individual's designation in the Arkansas Educator Licensure System (AELS). There are two types of designations in AELS, Non-Licensed and Certified Teacher.
- Certified teachers have access to all courses available from ArkansasIDEAS.
- Non-Licensed accounts have a limited number of courses available.
Before assigning ArkansasIDEAS professional development courses to non-licensed personnel, please check the list below. If the course is not listed, it is unavailable to non-licensed account holders. As more courses are made available, this list is updated, so be sure to check back periodically.
Attention: Individual courses cannot be added to non-licensed accounts, nor can non-licensed accounts be upgraded to certified teacher or given access to the Certified Teacher Audience courses. This is based on intellectual property rights and copyrighted materials provided by subject matter experts at the time the course was created.
Human Trafficking: Who Are the Victims?
The U.S. Department of State estimates there are 27.6 victims of human trafficking at any given moment in the world. According to the Department of Homeland Security, “Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion in exchange for labor, services, or a commercial sex act.” The department also makes it clear that human trafficking can happen anywhere to anyone, even here in the United States, regardless of the victim’s age, race, gender, or nationality.
Arkansas is not immune to the crime of human trafficking. Between 2007 and 2021, the Human Trafficking Hotline identified 557 cases of human trafficking in Arkansas which led to 1,492 victims identified. In 2021, the hotline received 270 contacts identifying 74 cases and 168 victims. In two years, (2019-2021) the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline received 115 child sex trafficking reports and 10 child labor trafficking reports.
Recognizing the indicators and risk factors of human trafficking can help in the prevention and early detection of human trafficking. Our host, Alyson Courtney, asks the difficult questions from our experts Sergeant Matt Foster of the Arkansas Human Trafficking Council and Arkansas State Police, Gretchen Smelter from Into the Light, and Detective Jennifer Tarvin of the Saline County Sherrif's Office. They discuss important topics such as misconceptions, vulnerabilities, and indicators of human trafficking and its victims.
This course meets the human trafficking professional development requirements of ACA 6-17-710.
Arkansas History Overview
Educators enrolled in this course will explore a brief overview of key topics in Arkansas history. The video content is a carefully curated selection from previously released ArkansasIDEAS courses, offering a broad survey of the state's history, from pre-European exploration to the late 20th century.
This course meets the scheduled Arkansas history requirements as set forth in the Rules Governing Professional Development and required by ACA 6-17-703.
Closing the Empathy Gap
Closing the Empathy Gap brings to the forefront the vision of Susanna Post, 2021 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. Through her experience of teaching in alternative learning classrooms, she realized something important was missing. She began to understand that her students' life experiences were very different from her own, and she was unable to empathize to some degree. She began to suspect this was happening in every classroom across the country. Mrs. Post understood that these gaps were unintentional and built a platform on the desire to close those empathy gaps.
Arkansas has the highest rate of traumatic adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the country, so it made sense to start here in Arkansas. Through this course, you will follow her journey, learn about the brain science behind her claims, listen as other Arkansas Teachers of the Year and one Missouri Teacher of the Year discuss how empathy impacts their own classrooms, and watch one student's journey as he learns that empathy also comes with high expectations.
This course meets the requirements of ACA 6-17-708.
SMACtalk for Teachers: Online Dangers
As students spend more time learning and socializing online, we all need to work together to ensure our students stay healthy and safe. The social media awareness campaign, SMACtalk, was formed in response to this need. SMACtalk for Teachers is a series featuring an audio podcast published by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. The purpose of SMACtalk for Teachers is to raise awareness, provide resources, and increase communication for parents, teachers, and students.
This course is the sixth in a SMACtalk for Teachers series. The host, Cassandra Barnett, has been a school librarian for 42 years and is currently the Program Advisor for School Libraries for the Arkansas Department of Education. As advocates for digital citizenship, school librarians teach students how to behave ethically and responsibly when online.
SMACtalk for Teachers: Unplugging
As students spend more time learning and socializing online, we all need to work together to ensure our students stay healthy and safe. The social media awareness campaign, SMACtalk, was formed in response to this need. SMACtalk for Teachers is a series featuring an audio podcast published by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. The purpose of SMACtalk for Teachers is to raise awareness, provide resources, and increase communication for parents, teachers, and students.
This course is the seventh in the SMACtalk for Teachers series. The host, Cassandra Barnett, has been a school librarian for 42 years and is currently the Program Advisor for School Libraries for the Arkansas Department of Education. As advocates for digital citizenship, school librarians teach students how to behave ethically and responsibly when online.
SMACtalk for Teachers: Digital Learning Unit
As students spend more time learning and socializing online, we all need to work together to ensure our students stay healthy and safe. The social media awareness campaign, SMACtalk, was formed in response to this need. SMACtalk for Teachers is a series featuring an audio podcast published by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. The purpose of SMACtalk for Teachers is to raise awareness, provide resources, and increase communication for parents, teachers, and students.
This course is the eighth in a SMACtalk for Teachers series. The host, Cassandra Barnett, has been a school librarian for 42 years and is currently the Program Advisor for School Libraries for the Arkansas Department of Education. Digital citizenship is part of what school librarians teach, making them very interested in helping our students be responsible and ethical when online.
Coding Block: Making Decisions
Making Decisions is the second course in a three-part series intended to provide teachers of the seventh and eighth grade coding block with essential information regarding relevant computer science standards, as well as programming concepts and skills. Join Zack Spink, Computer Science Specialist for the state of Arkansas, as he explores how computers use data to make decisions.
In Coding Block: Making Decisions, Mr. Spink explains how computers store, reference, and evaluate information in order to make decisions about which blocks of code to run. He uses JavaScript with the browser-based Pencil Code programming environment to demonstrate concepts and skills related to using variables, different types of operators and expressions, conditionals, and loops in a code.
Coding Block: Fundamental Skills
Fundamental Skills is the third course in a three-part series intended to provide teachers of the seventh and eighth grade coding block with essential information regarding relevant computer science standards and programming skills. Join Zack Spink, Computer Science Specialist for the state of Arkansas, as he explores some of the basic concepts and skills necessary for computer programming.
In Coding Block: Fundamental Skills, Mr. Spink describes how commonly used functions and algorithms work in general and utilizes JavaScript in the browser-based Pencil Code programming environment to illustrate examples of specific situations. He also explains debugging, providing an in-depth description of different types of bugs that can occur and listing several effective strategies for catching and correcting such errors.
SMACtalk for Teachers: Online Etiquette
As students spend more time learning and socializing online, we all need to work together to ensure our students stay healthy and safe. The social media awareness campaign, SMACtalk, was formed in response to this need. SMACtalk for Teachers is a series featuring an audio podcast published by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. The purpose of SMACtalk For Teachers is to raise awareness, provide resources, and increase communication for parents, teachers, and students.
This course is the first in a SMACtalk for Teachers series. The host, Cassandra Barnett, has been a school librarian for 42 years and is currently the Program Advisor for School Libraries for the Arkansas Department of Education. As advocates for digital citizenship, school librarians teach students how to behave ethically and responsibly when online.In episode one of the podcast series, Cassandra and Dr. Robin Finley discuss ways to partner with students to help them positively engage with the digital world and become better digital citizens.
In episode two of the podcast series, the focus is online etiquette, specifically, how educators can model appropriate online behavior for students and encourage students to interact responsibly in online communities.
SMACtalk for Teachers: Vetting Information
As students spend more time learning and socializing online, we all need to work together to ensure our students stay healthy and safe. The social media awareness campaign, SMACtalk, was formed in response to this need. SMACtalk for Teachers is a series featuring an audio podcast published by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. The purpose of SMACtalk For Teachers is to raise awareness, provide resources, and increase communication for parents, teachers, and students.
This course is the third in a SMACtalk for Teachers series. The host, Cassandra Barnett, has been a school librarian for 42 years and is currently the Program Advisor for School Libraries for the Arkansas Department of Education. As advocates for digital citizenship, school librarians teach students how to behave ethically and responsibly when online.
In episode four of the podcast series, Cassandra takes the seat as our guest. Robin Finley, Alma School District Administrator and guest from the first two episodes, will be leading the role as host for this round as the pair to discuss vetting information.