Education

K-12 Online Instruction Endorsement Program Course Descriptions

EDU 601

Emerging Trends and Professional Responsibilities for Online Instructors

This course prepares students for staying abreast of emerging trends in online education, while maintaining the professional responsibilities associated with online instruction. Topics include digital citizenship, legal issues with online education, confidentiality, FERPA and emerging learning technologies. Students will research an emerging trend in online education, a new learning technology, or online education law and provide recommendations and implications for the field of online education.

EDU 602

Designing and Developing K-12 Online and Blended Content

This course serves to introduce and provide students experience with designing and delivering quality online courses, guided by national standards of iNACOL and Quality Matters, and through the lens of Universal Design for Learning. The first half of the course will focus on course design, while the second half of the course will focus on developing online content. Students will research a variety of theories related to instructional design. Topics that will be covered include, structuring effective online instruction, aligning course objectives with the actual design of the course structure, using a range of Web 2.0 learning technologies during the design and development phase, creating learning experiences that enables student success, and making online content accessible for a diverse range of student learners. Students will complete a field experience focused on designing and delivering online content.

EDU 603

Effective Teaching in K-12 Online Settings

This course prepares students to deliver high quality instruction in fully online and blended K-12 learning settings. Navigating various learning management systems (LMS) currently used in K-12 online schools will be explored, as well as a focus on utilizing collaboration, assessment, and instructional tools within the learning management systems. Students will be guided to incorporate multi-media instruction through the use of video, sound, text, graphics, animation, and navigation features. Topics that will be covered include facilitating active learning, encouraging student to student and student to faculty interactions, building teacher presence, providing student feedback, and differentiating instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners. Students will complete a field experience focused on providing instruction in online and blended environments.

EDU 604

Authentic Online Assessment Practices for the 21st Century Learner

This course focuses on effectively utilizing authentic assessments to evaluate online learning. Students will research and explore how to design assessments appropriate for online learning, while ensuring that academic integrity is maintained through the iNACOL and Quality Matters national standards. This course will also provide students with instruction on aligning assessments with learning objectives and learning activities. Topics include creating and delivering multiple forms of assessments, measuring student success, and effectively utilizing assessment data to modify and guide student learning. Students will complete a field experience focused on creating and evaluating multiple forms of online assessments, and demonstrate their ability to align web 2.0 assessment tools with deliverables.