Distance Education Professional Development (DEPD)

Details

The Professional Certificate in Online Education (PCOE), offered three times per year (January, May, and September), will help you apply proven strategies to enhance your knowledge, skill, and credibility in teaching online.

Key topics

• Contextual factors of online education
• Essential teaching and learning principles for online environments
• Effects of technology on education at a distance
• Writing learning objectives, creating online activities and designing online assessments

The certificate culminates in an ePortfolio in which you will demonstrate your skills in planning online learning and making sound instructional design decisions.

Why earn the PCOE?

Practical: This totally online, flexible certificate prepares you with foundational knowledge, understandings and skills that are essential for any instructor or designer working in online environments. You can begin applying new knowledge and skills immediately.

High quality: The certificate models a principles-to-practice approach. Course content reflects reliable, research-based knowledge in the field of online education, which is then translated into practical strategies for instructors and designers.

Personalized: In course-based assignments, you will apply new knowledge and skills to your own teaching or design needs, reflecting your unique students, subject area, and context. You will create several tangible products that can be immediately applied within your professional context.

Marketable: Your certificate ePortfolio serves as a demonstration of your knowledge and skills in online education, which can be shared with current or potential employers or supervisors.

Expert feedback: DEPD instructional staff, experts in online education, provide feedback on your ePortfolio and are available for consultation during your certificate program coursework.

Professional community: Collaborative courses provide a way of making connections with other professionals in the field.

Frequently Asked Questions

How firm is the program deadline?

To earn the PCOE, all required courses and assignments, including the PCOE ePortfolio, must be completed and submitted on or before 11:59 pm CST on the program deadline. A petition to extend the deadline requires consultation with our staff.

What technologies are used? How tech-savvy do I need to be to enroll in this certificate program?

You do not need to have sophisticated computer skills to enroll in the PCOE. You will be performing what are now considered to be basic tasks, such as email, uploading and downloading documents, using the Internet, and installing software. Rather than any particular technological skill set, you should bring to the program a willingness to experiment with new technologies and learn new skills, since you will undoubtedly need to teach yourself a few things along the way. You will learn by doing, which is a necessary and exciting part of the life of an online educator—continually learning new things, technological and pedagogical alike—so that you can continue to provide high quality educational experiences for students. This PCOE is a safe place in which you can choose to learn a new technology in the service of improving your teaching.

PCOE courses are offered in the Canvas learning management system. Some of the tutorials are Flash-based, and our web-conferencing platform, Blackboard Collaborate, requires Java. Some media files require RealPlayer or Windows MediaPlayer.

You will be guided through setting up your computer during PCOE Certificate Orientation, which also includes explanations and guidance for getting started with your ePortfolio.

Can I do the PCOE on my tablet or phone?

You can do much of this program on your tablet or phone, but you can’t do all of it. Some of the Flash-based tutorials do not work well on tablets, especially iPads. Also, while you can perform most of the tasks from Canvas on a tablet or phone, you may find that the computer-based interface is more visually appealing and easy to navigate. We do not recommend relying solely on your tablet or phone in this program.

How do you assess my performance in the certificate?

A member of DEPD’s instructional staff will review and provide feedback on your ePortfolio in accordance with a rubric. In order to complete the PCOE successfully, you must complete all of the required element and place them in your ePortfolio. If your first submission does not include all of the required elements, you will have another chance to revise, improve, and resubmit your ePortfolio to address the gaps identified by your ePortfolio reviewer.

What is an ePortfolio, exactly?

An ePortfolio is a collection of learning artifacts that, collectively, demonstrate your knowledge and skills. ePortfolios are used increasingly in online and professional learning contexts because they are a flexible, personalized, practical, and authentic form of assessment. ePortfolios allow you to demonstrate skills in context, to both show and tell what you have learned, and to share your knowledge with potential employers, colleagues, supervisors, and even students!

You will receive guidance on constructing your PCOE ePortfolio through course-based assignments. Depending on how you choose to complete some of those assignments, your ePortfolio may include text documents, images, multimedia, or other artifacts that illustrate how you are applying your knowledge of online education to your own students and subject area. Your PCOE ePortfolio will also include reflections in which you articulate the rationale for your choices.

By participating in this class you will earn: