Ed3, a nonprofit whose pedagogy-first AI courses have supported more than 20,000 educator enrollments across 48 states, has a new partner in Illinois: the University of Illinois Springfield's ION eLearning program, training online educators since 1997.
Housed within UIS's Continuing and Professional Education (CAPE) unit, ION eLearning will offer Illinois K-12 educators a suite of self-paced, fully online courses and stackable micro-credentials developed with Ed3, giving teachers a structured, credentialed path to build AI literacy, with room to grow toward AI agency over time.
"The University of Illinois Springfield and ION eLearning are proud to partner with Ed3 to expand access to high-quality pedagogy-first AI professional learning for teachers across Illinois."— Russ Stoup, Acting Director of Continuing and Professional Education, University of Illinois Springfield
Illinois educators who have already taken the courses have reported real impact:
"This course did an excellent job showing us actual applications of how to use AI as an educator as well as numerous tools."— Teacher, Illinois
"I really enjoyed this course. It was packed full of the information I needed with activities that were actually meaningful for application for a teacher who is working full time."— Teacher, Illinois
ION brings a track record few professional learning providers can match: founded as a partnership between the University of Illinois and ten community colleges, it has since grown to include all 48 Illinois community colleges as founding members, alongside all three University of Illinois campuses. Over more than 25 years, ION has trained educators in online teaching, accessibility, and open educational resources, with participants coming from over 90 countries.
CAPE brings decades of experience training educators in online learning through its ION eLearning division. CAPE brings decades of experience training educators in online learning through its ION eLearning division. That reach is now paired with Ed3's pedagogy-first AI courses, where 93% of educators say they'd recommend the course to a colleague and 98% report improved career outcomes.
"PreK-12 AI guidance is only as good as the degree to which it positively impacts instruction in the classroom. What stands out about this partnership is that UIS and ION eLearning aren't waiting to see how the policy-to-practice gap gets closed — they're taking the lead on it, giving Illinois teachers a credentialed, classroom-ready way to put this guidance into practice right now. That's the kind of leadership we think every state needs from its higher-ed partners, and we're proud to help UIS deliver it."— Vriti Saraf, Founder & CEO, Ed3
Courses are available now for Professional Development Hours (PDHs) and Continuing Education Units (CEUs), with stackable micro-credential pathways that let educators build credentials over time.
