Episode description

In the time of a pandemic, having tools to help control student movement is essential. This wasn’t the initial goal of Eduspire, but it is crucial in this new world.

On this episode of Voices of eLearning, Host JW Marshall talked with Eduspire Executive Director Nathan Hammond. The duo dug into Hammond’s history and the positive aspect of controlling student traffic using a digital hall pass.

“Eduspire is a state-wide leader in continuing education with an emphasis on technology integration and innovation. Eduspire offers professional development courses for educators.” The company also developed software to help educators as part of their solutions offerings.

Hammond was a teacher for 20 years, where he taught English and ESL. He grew up in Europe, and by the time he graduated high school, he had already traveled to at least a dozen countries. As a teacher, he loved teaching and tried to inspire his students.

Then he stumbled into EdTech while he was working in professional development. He helped create a partnership with a local university so he and some colleagues could continue their education. He wanted to solve the problem of assisting educators in getting more experience and education. This eventually grew into Eduspire in 2012.

“It has about 12,000 teachers that have taken courses,” he said. “We also have a comfortable, flexible masters.”

At this point, some of his colleagues started asking him if he was going to leave teaching. But, he was enjoying himself and had no plans to leave. Then a school administrator came to him with an idea where they would use spreadsheets. He told them he and his team could find a solution.

“I think my development team and I can do this,” Hammond said. He had good working relationships with the district and knew they could execute the project. That pushed him into working part-time for the two sides of Eduspire and working part-time for the school district.

One of the first solutions Eduspire created was the e-hall pass. It’s a digital solution for the hall pass. Especially in a pandemic, as students work to go back to school, the software can help control traffic in hallways and bathrooms.