New Security Features for Professional Development Registration Effective April 18

Beginning next Monday, April 18, 2011, educators registering for professional development activities on the Heartland AEA website will notice some new choices and several increased security features. You will still be able to browse the professional development catalog without making any changes to your account profile, but once an activity is added to the shopping cart, a new login screen will appear. This login screen is where you will begin to create a unique passcode (password) and establish security questions and answers.

In 2010, Heartland AEA processed 28,980 professional development registrations, and most of those registrations were completed online and included payment in the form of credit card numbers or district purchase orders. In an effort to protect educators’ personal information, these new security features have been programmed into Heartland AEA’s online professional development registration system.

Instructions for New Security Features
If you have previously registered for a Heartland AEA professional development activity, please enter your first and last name and the login method that you previously used, either your Social Security number or your driver’s license number. Then enter the set-up passcode, eduCation2010. Now click the LOG IN button. You will be taken to a screen where you will create your unique passcode and choose from several security questions. Once you have selected and answered the two security questions, click on CONTINUE. The new screen will allow you to update your account records. You will have the option of including three possible login identification numbers: Social Security number, driver’s license number or Iowa BOEE folder number. In the future, you will be able to log in with any of the numbers you have provided along with your unique passcode.

If you have never registered before for a Heartland AEA professional development activity, please enter your first and last name and the login method that you prefer to use. Then enter the set-up passcode, eduCation2010. Now click the CREATE NEW ACCOUNT button. You will be taken to a screen where you will create your unique passcode and choose from several security questions. Once you have selected and answered the two security questions, click on CONTINUE. The new screen will allow you to set up an account. You will have the option of including three possible login identification numbers: Social Security number, driver’s license number or Iowa BOEE folder number. In the future, you will be able to log in with any of the numbers you have provided along with your unique passcode.

If you forget your passcode, there is a button on the login page that you can click. An e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address on record with instruction on how to reset your passcode. Heartland’s Professional Development secretaries will not be able to tell you your passcode if you forget it; they will only be able to reset it to eduCation2010 after you provide them with the answers to your security questions. You will then be able to create a new passcode.

Transcript Changes
Another improvement that begins on April 18 focuses on transcripts that participants receive after successfully completing a course. Currently, 3 copies of a transcript, listing a single course, are sent to participants after grades are entered. Thus, if a participant takes 4 courses he or she will receive 12 pages of transcripts. The new system will send 1 transcript that lists all of the courses successfully completed in the prior 5 years. It is our hope that this will make recordkeeping and renewing educator licenses a much easier process. Course participants will still be able to request a transcript (2 copies) with their complete course history for $10.

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact the Professional Development Department at profdev@aea11.k12.ia.us (800) 255-0405 ext. 14701.