Online courses - UArts Professional & Continuing Education

Blended + Flipped Learning: What Is It All About?

Are you looking to expand your knowledge of- and ways to best facilitate- blended and flipped learning? We will explore multiple ways to optimize- and to comfortably and appropriately balance- classroom time and at-home time within blended and flipped formats. Begin to experiment with flipped classroom practices using free classroom resources. Learn how to flip learning in any environment, even with limited online access and/or limited devices. How might you use structures that are already in place, such as stations and clusters, to tailor the best learning experience for students in your classroom? Open to K-12 educators who have experience at all levels of blended learning and flipped classroom implementation.

September 30, 2019 to October 28, 2019, Online

Classroom Management for Inclusive Classrooms

This course provides strategies for managing individual student and group behavior in the classroom. Develop a framework for understanding why children behave as they do in a classroom setting. Major concepts such as the drive to belong, private logic, birth order, goals of misbehavior, logical consequences, reflective listening, questioning skills and class meetings are explored. Examine types of patterns in students' behaviors: attention getting, power struggles, revenge actions, and students who appear to be academically disabled but are not. Additionally, consider the links between the way adults respond to misbehaving children and how that response either feeds, extinguishes or has no effect on the target behavior. This course is a study of understanding for an inclusive classroom and examining adult response patterns to children's misbehavior. Techniques include discussion, lecture, self-reflection, and case study evaluation of real life classroom situations. Practical application for K-12 teachers in all subject areas.

February 24, 2020 to March 29, 2020, Online

Creating a Classroom Community Through the Arts

Creating a classroom community through music, dance and theater introduces strategies for educators to incorporate elements of arts-based thematic instruction. Educators will use guided discovery, movement, imagery, spatial concepts, choreography, musical and rhythmic accompaniment and group theater games to promote positive relationships and academic achievement. This course will be facilitated by the instructor within a collaborative and cooperative framework, building upon current educational philosophies and practices, including Responsive Classroom. Instruction will be transparent, in that educators will be engaged in learning activities, which they may choose to adapt to meet the needs and developmental levels of their own students. Each class session will begin with a Circle of Power and Respect, interactive activities, and processing techniques derived from Restorative Practices. Application of learning from previous courses will be integrated into daily reflections and into the final project. Educators will collaboratively prepare projects in class and will be expected to continue this creative process outside of class, refining their thematic unit/'work of art' and reflecting on classroom experience. Educators will be encouraged to actively participate in theater games and activities, experiment with various theater techniques, and design theater, dance or music-based thematic units integrating standards-based curriculum and IEP goals.

January 20, 2020 to February 14, 2020, Online

Digital Communication in the Classroom

Digital communication, the exchange of information using diverse media, is central to today's schools and classrooms. Students and teachers interact using blogs, wikis, fora, discussion boards, and much more. This course explores the opportunities that digital communication can present in the classroom setting, and how digital communication strategies can effectively support and enhance the curriculum.

November 5, 2019 to December 8, 2019, Online

Digital Writing Workshop: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres

The course is an introduction to digital writing, designed for 5th-12th grade educators. Educators will explore and implement instructional strategies around digital writing through diverse digital expressions that engage educators in writing grounded within highly digital lives. You will focus on in-depth guidance and feedback to help your students craft digital writing, replete with technology resources and tools for creating a wide range of digital writing activities, units, and assessments.

This course contains no sessions
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Engagement Matters: Formative Assessment Using Web-Based Technology

Frequent feedback is central to learning. Frequent feedback as part of a formative assessment strategy supports students to do work that they are proud of, and motivates students to meet challenges. This course focuses on relevant, real-time, personal, practical feedback to inform different stages of the learning process. In what ways can you provide feedback that students will build on, understand, and use? You will test a host of free technologies that support formative assessment and help to create a classroom culture of feedback grounded in student interests, passions, and authentic response.

This course contains no sessions
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Google Apps for Education

Does your school use Google Apps for Education, but you are unsure as to how to best use it to serve your classroom needs? Do you have a basic understanding of Google Apps. but would love to know more? Would you benefit from exploring Google Apps' formative assessment features and terrific assignment feedback functions? How about the ease of data collection, analysis and interpretation? Creating and building educator communities? This course will serve as a jumping off point as to how Google Apps will integrate seamlessly into the classroom experience for you and your students.

September 24, 2019 to October 27, 2019, Online

Integrating Technology into the Curriculum

This course shows how a single computer can be the essential resource in a teacher's repertoire. Use it as a learning tool by building a daily rotation of student activities on the computer. Use it as a personal productivity tool by developing databases, spreadsheets and mail merges. Use it as a presentation tool to display slide shows created in Apple iWorks' presentation feature, and use the Internet to explore a whole world of information.

This course contains no sessions
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Leadership in Educational Technology

Have you ever been approached by your colleagues as a technology resource in the classroom? Have you ever been asked to deliver a technology training session? Do you see yourself as the technology lead at your school? You will leave this course with the ability to design and deliver technology direction and optimize digital learning environments both within the classroom and across your school or District. We will explore the history of modern-day educational technology, the psychology of media, and the relationship of each to your role as an ed tech leader and advocate. Our final project will be a research-based technology plan for your school or District.

November 4, 2019 to December 2, 2019, Online

Online Tools + Collaboration in Education

Educators can now empower their students to connect, create, and collaborate online. Explore the use of technology as a tool to engage students in constructive critical thinking about the subjects they study. User-friendly Web 2.0 tools, tools provide opportunities for educators and students to communicate and interact in new, collaborative ways. Lesson guides provide practical examples of techniques to integrate these online tools into the curriculum.

January 14, 2020 to February 16, 2020, Online

Special Topics-Current Trends + Issues In Special Education

The course focus is on current trends and issues in special education as related to both high and low incidence disabilities. Students will have the opportunity to complete individual projects of interest and at the same time strengthens their ability to advocate for positive change across multiple areas of special education and related services. The course uses a collaborative and cooperative framework built upon current educational philosophies and practice, including Responsive Classroom and Circle of Power and Respect. Students will have time and space to prepare projects in class with peer and instructor assistance, and will be expected to extend research and synthesis outside of class, refining practice and reflecting on classroom experiences. Active participation is encouraged through lively discussions and activities in which students will take on multiple perspectives in order to connect with each other, develop empathy, and brainstorm ideas to create and support a more inclusive classroom.

This course contains no sessions
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Special Topics-Incorporating Growth Mindset Principles Into the Classroom

Growth Mindset, a concept originated by Carol Dweck of Stanford University, encourages students to: embrace challenge, surround yourself with others who will challenge you to grow and get out of the comfort zone. Growth mindset is built around reflective practice- What did I do? What did I learn? What can I do next? In this course, educators will learn about and apply to their own classrooms the process of taking informed risks and learning from the results. Educators will walk away with at least three concrete strategies to help their own students stick with problems, seek out different solutions, use feedback as an opportunity for growth, and build confidence for exuberant discovery.

This course contains no sessions
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STEAM for Integrated Learning

Creativity saturates science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM). Integrated learning is a powerful means of facilitating meaningful learning. The artistic process and the scientific method are more complementary than one might imagine- both facilitate the exploration of ideas and possibilities. Both involve "process" and "product." Both require students to engage in creative and critical thinking that supports collaborative learning. This course will explore STEAM integration models, in which you will test lessons and tools to facilitate a STEAM-inspired curriculum. You will have the flexibility to select specific areas of STEAM that are most relevant to your own classroom and teaching style. You will emerge with the confidence and skill to authentically integrate across STEAM content.

February 4, 2020 to March 10, 2020, Online

Understanding How to Teach Diverse Student Populations

This course is designed to enhance instructional skills and expand strategies essential to working with racial diversity, gender and sexual diversity, religious diversity, and diverse learning needs and styles. The course will examine varying cultures and unique student populations based on a diverse society. Structured to present the learner with a foundational knowledge base and accompanying skills related to Economically Disadvantaged students, Gender Issues, Racial Diversity, Religious Diversity, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity/Expression, Special Education, and English Language Learners, the course will be grounded in political and programmatic history as each relates to today's classroom. Case studies and practical application of course understandings will be used.

September 23, 2019 to October 27, 2019, Online

Using BYOD as Mindtools

Does your school or District have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, but you would like to know more about how to optimize this policy in your own classroom or school? Regardless of whether your school or District has a 1:1 initiative, this course will immerse educators in collaborative lesson design using a multitude of devices students bring to and explore in class. We will evaluate a range of BYOD mindtools that, when routinely implemented, will enable you and your students to construct your own media-rich understandings of class materials. We will develop strategies and in-class practices around the design of learning environments in the age of BYOD.

This course contains no sessions
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Web-Based Lessons + Resources for Teachers

Learn how and where to find the most effective educational resources on the web, including lesson plans, model education sites, and presentation tools. This course enables novices and advanced users to explore web-based active learning and consider methods to incorporate skills into lessons. Learn web page/simple website creation skills as well as the latest presentation techniques using multi-media tools, slide shows, and concept mapping.

February 3, 2020 to March 2, 2020, Online

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