Unified In-Service 2026

Presenters: Brian Brandenburg and Nicole Lindsay

Description of Presentation: We’ll explore how to find and use templates as a starting point, navigate Canva’s wide range of design options, and customize templates to make them truly your own. Participants will learn how to personalize colors, fonts, images, graphics, layouts, and other elements to create designs that reflect their organization, audience, and message. We'll also cover Canva's accessibility features for creating usable documents, PDFs, and HTML content, including reading order, alt text, and text semantics. Hands-on practice with the built-in accessibility checker will help you catch and fix common issues (illogical content order, missing image descriptions, mismatched heading levels) ahead of the federal government's April 26, 2027 compliance deadline. 

Presenter: Stephanie Bilger

Description of Presentation: HR updates, new personnel, and new processes.

Presenters: Michele Mapes and Jen Furness

Description of Presentation: What is motivation? It’s what makes you spring out of bed in the morning or smile when you see who’s calling. It makes you willing to put in a long day to ensure the staff meeting runs smoothly. In short, motivation is the reason you do what you do. Motivation comes from internal and external forces—and those forces are unique to every person. This session will teach you how you can impact the motivation of yourself and your team.

Presenters: Joe Giebel and Colby Yoder

Description of Presentation: We will explore basic computer use skills, like logging into different services with different IU accounts, basic computer terminology, and basic troubleshooting. We will also cover the educational licenses we offer: Canva, ChatGPT, Adobe online services, etc.

Presenters: Denise Shugarts and Betsy Cox

Description of Presentation: This focused professional learning session equips educators with practical strategies to strengthen executive functioning skills and support their own effectiveness in the workplace. Participants will explore key executive functioning areas, including organization, time management, planning, task initiation, self-monitoring, and cognitive flexibility, while learning evidence-based techniques that can be immediately applied in educational settings. Through engaging examples and actionable tools, educators will leave with increased understanding of how executive functioning impacts performance, productivity, and well-being, along with ready-to-use strategies to enhance success for themselves.

Presenters:  James Palmer and YFC#3 Staff

Description of Presentation: Join us for an interactive session designed to break down barriers, enhance daily workplace communication, and celebrate our collective strengths!

Presenters: Rachel Baron, Jonathan Edwards and Amanda Ruth

Description of Session: Come learn about the HiSET and GED tests, which are two ways that Pennsylvanians can earn their high school equivalency diplomas. You can try out sample questions, learn about testing logistics, including accommodations, and ask questions. This might be relevant for you if you work with (or know) a high schooler at risk of dropping out of school or if you work with adults who might not have a high school diploma.

Presenter: Joshua Wakefield

Description of Presentation: Join IU11's I.T. Operations Director for an engaging session on protecting yourself, our organization, and your family from common cybercrimes, scams and threats. We’ll explore email security and phishing, common scams, social engineering tactics used by attackers, password and account security, and ways to recognize suspicious activity before it becomes a problem. Walk away from this session with straightforward, actionable advice you can use both personally and professionally.

Presenter: Highmark Representative

Description of Presentation: A representative from Highmark will be available to share the offerings through Highmark you are granted as an employee. This will include sharing the website, which benefits apply to you and how to get the most out of the Highmark offerings.

Presenters: Eric Yoder and Jigar Patel

Description of Presentation: Your IU-provided, LinkedIn Learning subscription puts thousands of expert-led courses at your fingertips. In this session, you'll learn how to find exactly what you need, whether that's a 5-minute refresher on an Excel formula, a deep dive into a new software tool, or a course on leadership, communication, or time management. We'll cover searching effectively, saving courses for later, earning certificates, and building your own learning path. Supervisors will also see how to assign and track learning for their teams. Bring a skill you've been meaning to build.