21st Century Skills Online

Available courses

• 21st Century Education: Classroom Management ~ Getting2WinWin

  21st Century Education: Classroom Management ~ Getting2WinWin is designed to introduce participants to the concepts necessary for effective classroom management. Participants will be introduced to online learning fundamentals and a sense of community and sharing will be developed as a result of regular opportunities for rich collegial interaction. Participants will explore various strategies to add to their “toolboxes” to positively impact student behavior and will benefit from the shared experiences of their colleagues.

  

• 21st Century Education: Creating and Teaching with Podcasts

  21st Century Education: Creating and Teaching with Podcasts introduces educators to podcasting as a means for engaging students in the learning process as well as for streamlining teacher tasks. Participants examine the role of podcasting in education as a 21^st century tool that enhances motivation and engagement and thus increases comprehension and learning. Podcasts can be utilized to create collaborative learning activities and authentic assessments as well as teacher-created teaching tools. Further, they can assist with teacher responsibilities such as communicating with parents, students, and repetitive tasks or ongoing projects. In a Final Project, participants will create podcasts for use in their classrooms with students which can serve a variety of functions, from providing interactive, collaborative activities or learning stations for students to participate in meaningful learning activities to teacher professional tools (newsletters, calendars, homework posting, and the like). Participants share ideas through discussion forums and then share their final projects with one another on a wiki for this course so they can learn from the creativity and efforts of their peers.

  

• 21st Century Education: Google Docs 4 Collaboration

  21st Century Education: Google Docs 4 Collaboration is designed to introduce educators to the concept of cloud computing and to Google Docs and the resources it offers them for collaborative teaching and learning. The basic features of Google Docs will be explained, and the participants will learn how to apply the specific tools to enrich their curriculum as well as to facilitate teacher tasks such as recordkeeping, communicating with parents, and the like. For the Final Project, participants will create a collaborative document, spreadsheet, and presentation using templates provided in Google Docs or they can choose to create their own. They will then collaborate with a professional colleague and with the instructor on each of those documents. Finally, they will publish all of their collaborative documents and post them to a course wiki so that all course participants can gain from their ideas and efforts.

   

  

• 21st Century Education: Google Earth

  21st Century Education: Google Earth is designed to introduce educators to Google Earth and the myriad of ways it can be used to facilitate teaching and learning. Participants will examine a wide variety of online resources to gain ideas for integrating Google Earth in the curriculum. The collaborative nature of Google Earth in instruction will be examined. They will learn about its many features, including Google Oceans and Google Sky. Participants will also explore sources of ready-made Google Earth field trips as well as identify resources for learning how to create their own Google Earth field trips. For their Final Project, participants utilize Google Earth and the ASSURE Model for lesson planning to develop a collaborative lesson plan. They post all parts of the Final Project to a course wiki so that all course participants can gain from their ideas and efforts.

   

  

• 21st Century Education: Integrating Podcasts in Curriculum

  21st Century Education: Integrating Podcasts in Curriculum is designed to introduce educators to podcasts and ways to integrate pre-recorded podcasts in instruction. Participants learn to utilize iTunes effectively to search for and download relevant podcasts for instructional purposes. Guided activities enable participants to become familiar with all the rich resources available to them and their students. As the concluding activity, each participant converts an existing lesson/unit to a 21st Century Skills lesson/unit by adding the rich content of one or more podcasts as an instructional strategy.

  

• 21st Century Education: Technology4Teachers

  21st Century Education: Tech4Teachers ... Enter the NO FEAR ZONE! An Introduction to the Internet Individualized Opportunities to Integrate Internet Resources in Instruction This course is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to explore the myriad of resources the Internet has to offer educators to enrich their instruction. Participants will learn how to evaluate websites, use search engines and tools, and explore web resources that can be utilized in instruction. The course is designed by a former teacher for teachers, paced appropriately with realistic expectations and goals. Exercises are intentionally designed to support the creation of the final project, which is the development of a lesson or series of lessons using online resources for use with each participant’s students. All assignments are purposeful, supporting development of the final project/lesson development. Support is provided for participants through sharing of ideas and contact with the instructor. Final projects will be shared to enable to participants to gain from the efforts of their peers.

  

• 21st Century Education: TricksNTips4MSOffice

  21^st Century Education: TricksNTips4MSOffice is designed to introduce educators to MS Office programs (2003, 2007 and 2010) and provide them with helpful hints, tricks, and tips. Participants are introduced to the basics of Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint and are provided with guided activities to improve their skills. Mock school district documents are used to give participants familiarity with such forms as they relate to educators’ professional functions and duties.  Ways in which these Office tools can be integrated in the curriculum to enrich student learning are explored. Participants of all skill levels are encouraged to participate, as the course is self-paced and those with more experience will not be “held back” by those who need additional time and assistance.

  

• 21st Century Education: Virtual Field Trips

  21st Century Education: Virtual Field Trips is a practical, hands-on course designed to give participants experience in online activities as well as a deeper understanding of the importance of 21^st Century Skills to their students’ futures. Each participant will develop a classroom-ready Virtual Field Trip and related activities, providing a unique opportunity to expand their students’ academic experiences beyond the classroom. Further, the Virtual Field Trip (VFT) plan will give these digital learners opportunities to create something meaningful (a poster, PowerPoint, letter, journal, postcard, brochure, or some other product) enabling them to utilize information from VFT in a technology-based activity. The process of creating makes learning personal and meaningful for digital learners.