The Technology Center for Teaching and Learning (TCTL) is the educational technology developer for the Illinois Resource Center (IRC) and The Center – Resources for Teaching and Learning. The not-for-profit IRC has been a primary professional development and program support organization for pre-K-12 education for more than 30 years.

A primary goal of TCTL is to permit teachers and administrators to improve academic outcomes and to do more with less through the use of standard PDA and Internet technology to automate data collection and reporting for a wide range of school and public agency needs.

All TCTL technology systems are developed by educators, for educators, always at a much lower cost than comparable commercial systems, always with high levels of built-in usability.

Here are some of the reasons why the TCTL approach to data collection and analysis makes sense for most education and government applications.

Our systems are flexible
Because we use standard computer code and readily available, Palm-OS based hardware, TCTL software applications are adaptable to a wide range of database, reporting, and analytical needs.

Our systems are standard – and customized
Every TCTL application is built around similar concepts of data collection, synchronization of data between personal digital assistants and a secure web database, and on-line reporting and analysis tools. That’s the standard part.

The customized part focuses on your specific data collection, reporting and analysis needs. The final product will look and act in familiar ways so that the learning curve is minimized.

Help is available as needed
TCTL systems include user manuals, extensive on-line help capacity, help information built into the PDA application, and a help desk where technicians can assist your staff with any aspect of the hardware or software.

We are exceedingly efficient
It doesn’t take a year to get your TCTL system up and running. Many applications have been developed and fully implemented in three or four months.

Our process is thorough
We begin by evaluating your data collection, reporting, and analysis needs. This includes extensive conversation with you and your staff, a complete review of your data collection and reporting forms, and other steps to help us understand your process, from end to end.

If we can’t help, we’ll tell you so. If we can, we’ll develop a first-level application, including the PDA software, synchronization software and web site, for your review and for preliminary piloting by a small number of your staff.

Pilot users and your designees will form a focus group to evaluate the pilot and recommend improvements to the system. A second, larger pilot will be conducted with the improved system. Once again, users and the focus group will tell us, in detail, about improvements they would like to see.

Only after those steps are completed and new revisions are made do we move the application into the hands of a broader user group.

Training is included!
We provide system training for a cadre of your own trainers, who will in turn be responsible for training most of your staff. We can also serve as primary trainers for all of your staff, if you prefer. Either way, we know the system is only as good as the comfort level and skills of your people.