Are you a teacher looking for continuing education credits? Are you tired of driving 50 miles to a college, being away from your home and family, and having to work around your instructor’s schedule–not your own–to take a course?
Perhaps you should look at some online courses for teachers. There are literally thousands of courses offered online which can earn you continuing education credits to keep your teaching certificate current. In this article I will outline some of the benefits of taking a course online, as well as provide you with some things to look out for. Many teachers have found taking courses online as the perfect way to earn CEU’s without the hassle of traveling miles and miles and being away from home.
The best place to look for such courses is obviously online. Begin with the search term “online courses for teachers” and go through a few pages of results. There are so many such listings, however, that you will probably want to refine your search by adding one or two modifiers to your search term. You could add your specific discipline to your query such as “chemistry teaching”, “art teaching”, or music teaching”.
If you happen to know the name of a specific instructor you have heard about–and you want to see if they offer an online course–you could include their name in the search query. Following these tips should get your results down to a more manageable level.
You could also include the name of a college near you in your query if you wish to take a course specifically through that institution. But you should keep in mind that there are two distinct types of online courses offered for teachers.
Some courses are offered by instructors at a college or university through a platform hosted by that university itself. The other type consists of courses offered through a university, but actually hosted or presented through an outside provider. The advantage of the second type of course is that often times outside providers offer courses outside of the mainstream content associated with typical university courses. In other words, you can often find courses more laser targeted to your specific needs.
What should you look for in an online course for teachers? First, try to check out the instructor. While they may have a Ph.D. in the discipline, they may have no hands-on, real world experience in the subject they teach. Also, look for flexibility. Is sufficient time provided so that you can work at your own pace (within limits of course)?
Also, check to make sure that there is some type of interactivity involved in the course. Is there means for you to interact with both the instructor AND other students within the course? This is vital! Often other students may be able to help you with materials you get stuck on–and do it in a way you can easily relate to.
Make sure that the course offers some means to monitor your progress and understanding regularly. Some courses release content and expect you to study it, but there is only one exam–a final exam–to base your grade upon. If you fail the final exam, you get no credit for the course. An online course should provide you with a continual way to assess your progress.
Here is another thing to consider. Some online courses, especially those offered through platforms hosted by the individual universities, will require that you purchase textbooks to supplement the online content. This is ludicrous. A quality online course should be self-contained and provide you with all of the textual material you need to complete the course within your online experience.
If the course is hosted through the university itself, you will probably end up having to purchase a text that is likely written by the instructor themselves–this is simply a way for them to scam students out of money–“If you take my course, you must buy my book.” You’ve been there and experienced that many times I’m sure.
Another thing to look at is feedback from other teachers who have previously taken the course. Does the online catalog provide you with comments from teachers who have previously taken the course? This can be a valuable tool in analyzing whether the class provides teachers with valuable information or simply gives them rehashed material that is of no use to the registrants.
I hope this information has been helpful. Taking an online course can be a great way to earn continuing education credits you need, but look into the course and use my suggestions above to make sure you get a course that targets your specific needs.
