New Professional Development Program Helps Educators Improve Their Online Teaching Skills

By Patricia Cook, Office of Continuing and Professional Education
June 10, 2020
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Subject: New Professional Development Program Helps Educators Improve Their Online Teaching Skills
Date: Jun 10, 2020

Schools, colleges and universities across the country are announcing their reopening plans. Some will offer in-person classes, some will stay fully online, and others are offering hybrid options – partly online and partly in person.  

For those educators who will teach online in the fall (or may need to switch to teaching online if local conditions change), the office of Continuing & Professional Education has collaborated with the Department of English to launch the TEACH ON Certificate Program.

TEACH ON is an online non-credit professional development certificate that provides a foundation for approaching teaching and learning in digitally mediated environments, including:

  • Best practices for teaching online.
  • Empowering participants to create high-quality, engaging online learning experiences for their students.
  • Hands-on practice using a variety of digital teaching tools.

The TEACH ON Certificate includes three classes: a one-week introductory class, plus participants' choice of any two additional TEACH ON classes. Class topics range from designing for student interaction to using mobile devices to providing feedback.

Participants can also choose to take individual classes if they just want to learn specific skills.

Schedule: New classes will be offered weekly from June 16-Aug. 4.

Certificate cost: $199 for K-12 educators and for University of Arizona faculty/staff (regular price $349)

The TEACH ON program is designed and taught by University of Arizona faculty: 

Rochelle (Shelley) Rodrigo, Interim Director of the Writing Program; Associate Professor in the Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English (RCTE); and Associate Writing Specialist (continuing status) in the Department of English

Catrina Mitchum, Interim Assistant Director of the Online Writing Program, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, and an affiliate faculty member of Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English (RCTE).

Susan Miller-Cochran, Professor of English and Executive Director of the General Education Refresh Initiative at the University of Arizona, where her research focuses on instructional technology, writing program administration, labor in writing programs and multilingual writing. 

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