This summer, Ball State began the first online licensing program in the state for graduates of the education program.
Ball State is the first public Indiana university to offer its teaching graduates a chance to apply for or renew their teaching licenses online.
The first pilot run of the program took place on June 28 with 11 teachers
successfully obtaining licenses, Director of Teacher Education Services Judy Miller said.
"There were only a few minor changes that had to be made," Miller said.
Teachers College administrators have been working with the Indiana Professional Standards Board for 14 years to create online licensing process.-á
Graduates of the Teachers College can now benefit from a new online system that reduces the six-week wait for a license to one week. Educators can go online, fill out the license form, pay electronically and receive their license in the mail.
When Ball State came up with the idea of online licensing 14 years
ago, the state was interested in the program, but its licensing database could not support an online system. After Indiana updated its database in 2001, it took the computer systems nearly three years to make a full transition, Miller said.
One of the challenges the state initially faced in starting the progam involved accepting electronic payments rather than the money orders the state traditionally uses for registration.
"Now, with the online system, teachers can pay electronically with a credit card and are only charged an electronic payment fee," Miller said. -á
"The 11 pilot participants came to the Teachers College for the registration," Miller said. "Administrators could see what, if anything needed to be fixed." It took participants approximately five minutes to complete the registration for their license. The longest part of the process was entering in their credit card number.
Senior teaching major Amanda Curran said she likes the possibility of online registration for educators.
"I think it's an excellent idea. With schools in need of teachers, the
immediacy allows for quicker certification and gets the graduates into jobs," Curran said.
"Because the pilot program was successful, Ball State hopes to have full-time online registration by the end of the summer," Miller said.
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