A Refreshed EnGiNE: Maine’s Professional Learning Ecosystem Gets a New Look for the School Year

A redesigned homepage, a rebuilt course catalog, simpler navigation, and a new support center. More content arrives as the school year gets underway.

The Maine Department of Education has released a redesign of EnGiNE, the state’s professional learning ecosystem for school staff. The update reaches nearly every part of the platform: a new public homepage, a rebuilt course catalog, a redesigned dashboard, and a support center for anyone who needs help finding their way around.

The refresh arrives in time for the upcoming school year, and as new courses and community spaces continue to come online.

EnGiNE (Engaging Innovation in Education), connects Maine’s educational workforce through professional learning, collaboration, contact hours, and shared resources and it provides a shared learning space for education professionals regardless of their zip code A school nurse in Aroostook County can share ideas and best practices with one in Lewiston; a classroom teacher can earn contact hours without traveling a long distance, and educators separated by district lines can build and learn together. Literacy specialists, school nurses, principals, instructional coaches, and data coordinators all have a place here.

Professional learning on EnGiNE spans child nutrition, career and technical education, data, early learning, educator supports, extended learning, innovation and research, outdoor education, school health, school safety, special and inclusive education, technology and learning, and Wabanaki Studies, along with interdisciplinary content that intentionally crosses those lines. New content and courses are continuously being added.

 EnGiNE supports self-paced asynchronous courses, live virtual office hours, hybrid book studies and discussion groups, ongoing training series, and community forums for peer-to-peer exchange. Some experiences span others while others can fit into the fifteen minutes between classes. It is designed to provide high-quality professional learning opportunities in a variety of formats.

Currently, more than 4,300 educators and school staff are connected on the platform.

The newly released version enhances the EnGiNE experience in several ways:

• Visitors can now browse and search the course catalog at engine.maine.gov without need to create an account. 
• Previews of modules and training allow visibility into what EnGiNE has to offer. 
• Searching is faster, and the catalog can be narrowed by category, tag, or instructor. 
• The redesigned dashboard easily allows participants to jump back in where they left off or explore new content in the system. 
• Navigation is simpler, and the design throughout lends itself to a more logical and structured experience. 
• A newly launched support center assists users to easily find information they are looking for. 
• Enhanced accessibility across all areas of the platform.

“We’ve been building EnGiNE for years, and this is the largest upgrade we’ve released. EnGiNE is a community of practice across Maine’s schools not just a catalog of courses. The easier it is to move through, the more of that work happens. I’m looking forward to schools getting in and seeing what has changed.”

Elaine Bartley, Innovative Research & Design Director, Office of Innovation, and EnGiNE administrator

New courses, modules, and community spaces arrive throughout the school year. Educators can browse what is available now, and returning users will find their existing courses and communities where they left them.

Educators and school staff can sign in or create an account at engine.maine.gov.

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About EnGiNE

EnGiNE (Engaging Innovation in Education) is the Maine Department of Education’s statewide professional learning ecosystem for educators and school staff. From coastal islands to northern rural communities, it connects Maine’s educational workforce through asynchronous courses and modules that carry contact hours, community portals, collaboration groups, resource sharing and lending libraries, and statewide professional development. EnGiNE is maintained by a cross-departmental  team of Maine DOE professionals known as the Pit Crew. Its ongoing development and hosting are fully funded by the Maine Department of Education using state funds. Learn more at engine.maine.gov.