Welcome to the Certification Course in Online Teaching and Learning!
To sign up for the certification course, please download and complete the registration form and send it via email to Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, at mahfood@kenrick.edu. The cost for the course is $500, and participants will have up to six months to complete all 4 modules for certification.
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"The internet, with its capacity to overcome distances and place people in mutual contact, presents great possibilities also for the church and its mission. With the necessary discernment for its intelligent and prudent use, it is an instrument that can serve not just studies, but likewise the pastoral action of future priests in the various ecclesial fields, like evangelization, missionary action, catechesis, educational works, the administration of institutions. In this field, too, it is of extreme importance to be able to count upon formators who are adequately prepared, that they might be faithful and always well-updated guides to the end of accompanying candidates for the priesthood toward a correct and positive use of these means of information." |
| --Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the Plenary of the Congregation for Catholic Education (for Seminaries and Institutes of Study) - The Vatican - 7 February 2011 | |
The modules for this course, developed by Dr. Mary Beckmann, program director for the CDLN, with the assistance of Mr. Raul Lozada, instructional designer at Holy Apostles College & Seminary, are made freely available to everyone for the purpose of demonstrating the essential elements involved in creating an online teaching and learning environment.
| Module 1 | the differences between online and classroom teaching and learning, associated basic terminology, transactive vs. transmissive pedagogies, basic course templates, converting documents to PDF, and learning theories and learning styles and their relativity to online courses |
| Module 2 | electronic communication, podcasts, how to encourage students to participate, taxonomies, PowerPoint, screen shots, copyright issues, intellectual property rights, fair use and ethical issues, grading scales, create a quiz/survey, and create a rubric, Skype and video conferencing. |
| Module 3 | synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning methods and ways in which to establish effective practices within them and the connection between taxonomies and online discussion groups; web cams, virtual reality field trips, audio - alternative activities using various types of multimedia, using online resources to obtain reading material and terminology associated with locating online readings and ebooks, and more on iTunes; difficult students and difficult situations, more on podcasts, video casts, applications for smartphones, iTunes, Android, how to track student online use, establishing authenticity of a website, and dissecting an URL. |
| Module 4 | transactive assessment and evaluation and theory, explore surveys and questionnaires, discuss goals and objectives, examine Brookfield’s Critical Inquiry Questionnaire, discuss eportfolios, and using a template to create a syllabus. |
Those of you taking this course for credit will also have access to the online course template through Fishersnet Blackboard. Successful completion of the certificate in online teaching and learning requires only the following:
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creating a syllabus designed for online teaching of your chosen content area
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engaging in the course activities (assignments and Blackboard participation)
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understanding the general maintenance of the course management system you will use
The standards that will govern this course come from the general standards for accreditation of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) which may be found online at http://www.ats.edu/Accrediting/documents/standards/DegreeStandards.pdf and http://www.ats.edu/Accrediting/Pages/HandbookofAccreditation.aspx The ATS general standards are reviewed within the course as they apply. Since this is a technology for good pedagogy course the International Society for Technology in Education: National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers 2008, which may be found online at will also apply. While the ISTE standards were developed for primary and secondary education, they also serve as guidelines for graduate-level educational technology departments and will be useful to us in graduate level theological education as we study technology based teaching and learning.
In the summer of 2007, a series of short instructional design tips was created for the faculty cohorts and remain useful in 2011.
Certification in Online Teaching and Learning is conferred through the Seminary Department of the National Catholic Educational Association by one of our certified program directors. These persons include the following:
- Dr. Mary Beckmann*
- Mr. David Harrison
- Mr. Raul Lozada
- Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP
- Mr. Michael Porterfield, OP
- Mr. Jim Rafferty
- Dr. Daniel Van Slyke
*While special thanks is given to David Harrison, Jim Rafferty, Raul Lozada, and Sebastian Mahfood for their work in developing sections of the certification modules, the core design currently in use was created by Mary Beckmann, who continues to update and develop the materials.