Orton-Gillingham Online TrainingIMSE has always had plans of making our training available online. While we love seeing our participants face-to-face and working side-by-side, the truth is it’s not always feasible for some teachers and school districts to travel.

Early this year, the IMSE team began to realize that virtual training had to be implemented as soon as possible. Our team worked tirelessly with our instructors to outline how the virtual sessions would work and what issues might come up.

We’ve continued to fine-tune the process as it’s gone along. Now, IMSE has had over 3,500 participants take part in our virtual training since April and the feedback has been amazing!

The Virtual Setup

We are extremely confident of the efficacy of our interactive live format that has been the hallmark of IMSE’s Orton-Gillingham training for the past 25 years. Our goal was to replicate the live in-person training in a live virtual setting. 

That means our virtual training has the same 30 hours of content as the in-person training. Participants receive the same physical materials, including manuals and textbooks, as well as access to IMSE’s Refresher video, and an extra year of IOG (our online lesson planning tool).

Currently, IMSE is offering several types of Orton-Gillingham training:

     – Comprehensive

     – Intermediate

     – Introductory

     – Phonological Awareness & Beginning Orton-Gillingham

Online Reading Instruction

They are conducted live with a trainer and a cohost for larger groups. We offer plenty of opportunities for connections, including:

     – Breakout rooms

     – Lesson planning practice with peers

     – Regular polling

     – Q&A sessions

For public training sessions, all training materials will be shipped directly to individuals. For district training, all materials are shipped to a central location for disbursement or pick-up. 

The Benefits of Virtual Training

Aside from attending in your pajamas, our virtual training setup has many added benefits. Given the current social climate, the main benefit of virtual training is it’s not dependent on any state or local social distancing mandates. 

More than that, IMSE’s Virtual Training format gives us the ability to be far more flexible with our scheduling options. No matter what your schedule looks like, we have a session that can fit your time constraints.

     – Traditional Sessions (Monday-Friday, 6 hours per day)

     – Morning Sessions (10 sessions, 3 hours per session)

     – Afternoon Sessions (10 sessions, 3 hours per session)

     – Evening Sessions (10 sessions, 3 hours per session)

     – Weekend Sessions (4 sessions, 7.5 hours per session)

And instead of scheduling by location, sessions are scheduled by time zone. We have designated sessions for Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Time Zones.

With room for 46 participants in each training session, IMSE can easily accommodate district trainings as well. The virtual setting makes it so administrators can easily observe their teachers during training, or even drop in on a current session to see how the format works. 

Another huge benefit of IMSE’s virtual training format is you will see firsthand how to implement Orton-Gillingham teaching techniques in an online classroom setting. We want to make sure you are completely comfortable giving effective literacy instruction to your students no matter how you will be teaching your students in the fall. 

From Google Slides to at-home activities, you’ll walk away feeling empowered with the knowledge and techniques to improve your students’ reading abilities. 

Visit the IMSE training schedule to check out courses and scheduling options!