Texas OnCourse offers a variety of free workshops and trainings to support your college and career advising efforts. You can request these sessions for your campus, district, or organization based on your needs. A description of available trainings is included below. To request a session, please complete this form and a member of our staff will contact you within 3-5 business days. We require 3-4 weeks to prepare and schedule for the event and a minimum of 25 participants for our sessions. 

Available trainings and workshops:

Download a PDF of all available trainings

Get Your Students OnCourse to a Brighter Future: An Overview of Texas OnCourse 

Time: 60 minutes

This session will cover Texas OnCourse offerings that support successful postsecondary planning for students. Texas OnCourse staff will share who we are and what our mission is. Then we’ll describe our free online professional development tools, including the Texas OnCourse Academy and our monthly webinar series. We’ll also offer strategies for using our student-focused resources in your campus and district. These include our College and Career Readiness Curriculum, Future Focused TX, and ADVi.

Attendees will: 

  1. Gain a thorough understanding of how to use Texas OnCourse resources to support their practice. 
  2. Register for or log in to the Academy to view the Getting Started materials and begin their learning. 
  3. Receive supplemental infographics and resources to share directly with students and their families.  

Suitable for: New secondary educators (including counselors and teachers), career and/or transition specialists, grant facilitators, AVID staff, CTE teachers, directors of counseling and/or CCMR, college advisors

Format: Virtual or in-person

 

Improving College and Career Knowledge Using the Texas OnCourse Academy

Time: 60 minutes

Texas is invested in improving student college and career outcomes. Our online professional development for educators puts this goal front and center. Explore the Texas OnCourse Academy, a comprehensive competency-based learning platform. It aims to ensure that counselors and other educators can advise all students on planning for success after high school. 

Attendees will:

  1. Explore Academy learning topics and various learning paths in the Academy.
  2. Understand the structure of competency-based learning in the Academy and the learning objectives in the modules.
  3. Identify key components of quality college and career readiness professional development.

Suitable for: Counselors and advisors (middle school and high school), college and career teachers, instructional coaches, department chairs and district level department leaders 

Format: Virtual/In-person 

 

Building a Culture of College and Career Readiness

Time: 60 minutes

Preparing students for life after high school is a group effort. It takes building a culture of college and career readiness at your campus and district. This session will present practical frameworks for college and career readiness priorities. It will also cover associated communication and alignment strategies to improve student outcomes. 

Attendees will: 

  1. Define a plan to develop a culture of college and career readiness for your campus and district.
  2. Identify and align college and career readiness efforts at your district.
  3. Learn best practices from other districts on specific activities that contribute to building a culture of college and career readiness.
  4. Learn about Texas OnCourse resources to support building their district’s culture of college and career readiness.

Suitable for: Campus/district administrators, counselors, CTE teachers, grant facilitators, CCMR staff 

Format:  Virtual or in-person

 

Making an Impact Using the ApplyTexas Counselor Suite

Time: 60 minutes 

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board oversees ApplyTexas, the application used for admission to Texas public colleges and universities. The ApplyTexas Counselor Suite allows high school counselors and other authorized users to track admission applications for students attending their high school. It also lets them track those students’ FAFSA application status. Presenters will orient attendees to the Counselor Suite and strategies for using the tool to advance ApplyTexas and FAFSA application rates. 

Attendees will: 

  1. Gain an understanding of the capabilities of the ApplyTexas Counselor Suite.
  2. Learn how to view student-level application information and FAFSA filing status.
  3. Learn how to create reports on student applications.
  4. Explore comparative data for their high school or district and others.

Suitable for: High school counselors and advisers 

Format: Virtual or in-person

 

Meet ADVi: Texas’ Virtual Advisor

Time: 60 minutes

This session will highlight the benefits of virtual advising and introduce participants to ADVi. This virtual advising chatbot brings college advising to students' fingertips. Attendees will learn how ADVi can supplement college and career readiness initiatives in K–12 systems by providing text nudges and information to support the college and financial aid application process. 

Attendees will: 

  1. Recognize how AI and chatbot technology can improve college access for all students and help make colleges better listeners.
  2. Understand who can use ADVi.
  3. Understand how ADVi works and how users can get the most out of the technology.
  4. Identify opportunities to promote ADVi on campuses.

Suitable for: Campus/district administrators, counselors and advisers, CCMR staff

Format: Virtual or in-person

 

Financial Aid: Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) Updates 

Time: 60 minutes 

This professional development session will focus on supporting efforts to meet the statewide financial aid requirement, specifically the ins and outs of the TASFA application. We will cover important details on how students and families should complete the application, common mistakes made, and tips for working with institutions of higher education to maximize the state aid your students are awarded. 

Attendees will: 

  1. Understand the components of the TASFA application and availability of state financial aid programs. 
  2. Explain how to address common TASFA errors and misconceptions. 
  3. Describe best practices and gain access to key resources for successful financial aid completion. 

Suitable for: High school counselors/advisors, CCMR staff 

Format: Virtual or in-person

To request any of the sessions above, please complete this form and a member of our staff will contact you within 3-5 business days.

Previous Next