
Understanding that technology is a learning partner—a tool—used to enhance teaching and learning, she designed, developed and currently directs distributed online learning programs in education for Bemidji State, including Distributed Learning in Teacher Education, a K-8 licensure program referred to as DLiTE, and FasTrack Secondary Initiative, for those completing education courses toward secondary teacher licensure.
“The DLiTE program has provided me the opportunity to fulfill what would have otherwise been an elusive dream…the dream of becoming a certified teacher,” explains BSU student Karen Pikula. “As a mother, homemaker, and full-time paraprofessional, the ability to take classes online in the virtual environment has provided me with the skills to teach in a rapidly changing era.”
– BSU student Karen Pikula
Dr. Bridges’ relationship with teachers, students and schools began in Maine, when she started teaching art in 1976. She has accomplished a great deal in her 30-year career. Highlights include founding an art school in Maine; participating in numerous workshops, conferences and training seminars in the U.S. and abroad; writing for professional publications; exhibiting juried artwork; creating the online interactive curriculum site, artsnetmn.org, for Minnesota art museums; earning a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Minnesota; and being selected as 1998 Minnesota Art Higher Educator of the Year by Art Educators of Minnesota. She is currently authoring a teacher’s guide for McGraw-Hill, Children’s Art Education: A Practical Approach to Visual Culture.
For more information about the DLiTE K-8 licensure program, call 1-800-723-3567 or visit http://www.bemidjistate.edu/dlite
For more information about the FasTrack Secondary initiative, call 1-800-948-5904 or visit http://www.bemidjistate.edu/fastrack
Bemidji State University
1500 Birchmont Drive Northeast
Bemidji, MN 56601-2699
1-800-475-2001
www.bemidjistate.edu
DLiTE K-8 Licensure Program
1-800-723-3567
www.bemidjistate.edu/dlite
FasTrack Secondary Initiative
1-800-948-5904/ www.bemidjistate.edu/fastrack