Our Management Team and Trainers

Management Team:

Our management team and trainers bring a wealth of educational, training, management and Tablet PC experience to each training engagement.

Dr. James Polzin, Partner

Jim has distinguished himself over the years both locally and across the country in his 34-year career serving in public education.  Throughout his various positions as teacher and administrator, Jim has committed his professional life to researching the strategies that support effective instruction and creating staff development models that reinforce these concepts in the classroom.

While in his last official school position, serving as Assistant Superintendent in Hinsdale, Illinois, Jim led the two high schools to full implementation of a Tablet PC initiative for all certified staff.  From the early stages of decision-making, to orchestrating ongoing professional development, Jim was committed to maximizing the power of the Tablet PC as a tool to compliment effective classroom instruction. 

During his career Jim was named the NASSP Assistant Principal of the Year, chaired the NAASP National Committee on Assistant Principalship, and has presented nationally for NASSP, ASCD, NSCD, and NSBA.  In addition to his role at LearnTech Solutions, Jim is currently involved with many school districts across the country facilitating workshops on learning and teaching styles.

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Jay E. Pietig, Partner

Jay has served as a corporate attorney for over 12 years, with a legal focus on Science and Technology Law.  As a partner in his firm, Jay has a proven track record of identifying and meeting the unique needs of his technology clients, and establishing ongoing collaborative business relationships.  In addition, Jay has worked with other companies that have provided educational solutions to schools, teachers, and students, and understands the unique and significant role technology plays in an engaged and effective classroom. 

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Rebecca O'Connor

Rebecca has used Tablet PCs in her classroom learning activities for the past four years with classes ranging from one to 30 students. She teaches Beginning and Advanced ESL as well as Spanish. Rebecca enjoys using Tablet PCs in class because they minimize the amount of paper usage and filing, eliminate the need to organize overheads, reduce the amount of materials she and her students need to carry home, and allows her and her students to prepare for classes conveniently wherever they are. Rebecca has a B.A. in Spanish and Biology from Valparaiso University, an M.A.T. in Secondary Education from Concordia University and E.S.L./Bilingual Approval from National Louis University.

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Stefny Heeley

Stefny is a middle school language arts teacher at The Avery Coonley School. She has been using the Tablet PC in her classroom since 2005. Since then, Stefny has used the Tablet in 1-to-1, 1-16, and 1-32 classrooms. Additionally, she has moved to making her writing courses completely paperless with the help of the Tablet PC. She likes using the Tablet PC because it eliminates some of the paperwork, allows the user to be more organized, is mobile, and can help students learn in the style that works best for them. Stefny has a B.A. in English from North Central College and a M.A. in English Education from Northern Illinois University.

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Erin Hitchcock

Erin Hitchcock is a high school mathematics teacher at Lemont High School in Lemont, IL. Erin has been using a single Tablet PC in a 30-student classroom for the past two years, and she is looking forward to using them in cooperative teams in her classroom this school year. Mobility is Erin's favorite benefit that the Tablet PC brings to her classroom. Organization, student participation, and student engagement have all increased in Erin's classroom with the use of her Tablet PC. Erin has a B.S. in Mathematics Education from Illinois State University and a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Northern Illinois University. Erin has been teaching with a Tablet PC in her mathematics classroom every day since 2005.

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John Brunsting

After thirty-five years at Hinsdale Central High School as a mathematics teacher, department chair, and then assistant principal, Johns professional energies now focus purely on staff development. A tablet laptop enthusiast, John leads mathematics workshops, evaluates school district mathematics programs, and directs Advanced Placement Institutes. He is a frequent presenter of mathematics learning styles at NCTM and ASCD national conferences, and recently an invited speaker at the ASCD conference in Tokyo, Japan. John is co-author of Math Tools, Grades 3  12: 64 Ways to Differentiate Instruction and Increase Student Engagement, published by Corwin Press.

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Gayla was an economics and history teacher at Hinsdale South High School. She was in the first group of teachers in the district to use a single Tablet PC in her classroom at the end of the 2003-2004 school year. During the next two school years, Gayla used her own Tablet PC and wireless projector for instruction everyday, as well as incorporated the use of Tablets (set of 16) for the students into her curriculum. Gayla used the set of Tablet PCs in a 1 to 28 and 1 to 16 classroom. Gayla enjoyed the benefits of organization, better defined lessons, more student engagement, easier facilitated cooperative learning, and always available technology by using the tablets in the classroom for her instruction and students' use. Gayla has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and a M.S. Ed. in Secondary Education from Northwestern University.

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Jennifer Garetto

Jennifer worked on the team which led the Tablet PC evaluation and implementation program at The Avery Coonley School in 2005 and has been using them in 1:1, 1:16, and 1:32 environments with her fourth-graders ever since. She has also integrated handheld devices (e.g. Palm Pilots) in a 1:1 environment for the past five years, trained schools on handheld-curriculum implementation and alignment, presented at national conferences on handhelds and classroom technology integration, and published her experiences with technology. She believes that todays technologically literate students should be equipped with digital tools that enable them to become more motivated, organized, and efficient, thus becoming more positive, productive, and successful members of society. She believes that the Tablet PCs are an effective tool for helping students develop these traits. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Martin Luther College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from National-Louis University. She is currently pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Teaching in Gifted Education from Northwestern University.

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