Advanced Professional Certificate in Instructional Technology
Online Program

Leads to endorsement in multiple states

Lesley University's online Advanced Professional Certificate in Instructional Technology, which meets endorsement requirements in multiple U.S. states, is designed for teachers who wish to enhance their skills with technology. The program consists of eight courses, four of which are required and four are chosen according to the student's needs and interests or to meet state endorsement/second license requirements. Courses focus on integrating technology into the curriculum and a school's teaching and learning communities in general. The hands-on approach exposes educators to the latest in multimedia, modeling, networking, and Internet activities. The program may be used on its own or as a specialization to fulfill some of the coursework requirements of the M.Ed. Individually Designed Program for Educators.

Please note: In certain states, a student may receive an endorsement/second license by completing the 24-credit program below. It is important to check with your teacher licensing office, as additional steps may be necessary in order to meet state requirements. For more information on this process, please visit the state pages at the National Center for Teachers, Counselors, and School Leaders.

Prerequisite: Initial teacher license or signed non-licensure agreement

This is a Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) approved program of study for Instructional Technology. It is generally appropriate for educators who are currently licensed as teachers in states outside of Massachusetts. If you are not currently licensed as a teacher, please contact your local Department of Education to determine if this program is recommended for you. This is a Massachusetts-approved program, with electives replacing a required practicum, and a psychology course.

Required Courses

ECOMP 5100 Computers, Technology, and Education
This course presents an overview of computers in education, including productivity tools such as word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and graphics. Students survey examples of educational software, explore the internet, conduct online learning, and practice APA writing style.

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ECOMP 5107 Evaluating Educational Technology for the Classroom
This course focuses on the assessment and selection of appropriate educational technology applications for use in instruction in a variety of school settings. The course includes an overview of evaluation techniques for software and other instructional technology resources. National and local standards for subject matter content, thinking processes, and technology, as well as pedagogical approach, will inform the evaluation process. Students will develop their own evaluation tools for their own contexts and uses.

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ECOMP 6106 Designing Curriculum That Integrates Technology
This course focuses on the integration of computers and other new technologies into the academic curriculum. Teachers at all levels of the educational system are under pressure to meet the dual demands of integrating new technologies into teaching and helping their students achieve high standards. Participants will use the TFU Framework to design curriculum that addresses state and national content standards. Participants will put theories of learning and teaching with technology into practice.

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Through discussions, readings, group work, and class activities, the course focuses on current social and political issues in educational technology, issues of effectiveness, and the process of leading change in educational institutions. Students analyze current practice and evolving issues with varied perspectives. Students lead a seminar on one of the course's controversial topics and develop a plan for change in their own classrooms, schools, or communities.

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Electives

ECOMP 5022 Technology and Social Studies
This course gives teachers a chance to explore a variety of ways that technology can be used to support and enhance the social studies curriculum, such as developing student-centered projects, inquiry, communication, and "virtual learning." Students in this course will investigate and evaluate existing standards-based social studies curriculum, build resources, use new tools, and create new curriculum materials for their own classrooms. They will learn and use the "transformative" power of technology in the social studies.

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ECOMP 6003 Using Technology to Integrate Mathematics Across the Curriculum
This course focuses on using technology to integrate mathematics with other subjects. Students will explore interdisciplinary activities, focusing on using data and a visual database as tools to engage students and enhance their understanding in math and other disciplines. In addition, we will look at collaborative web tools and video to support learning and productive collaboration. Free web resources, from high-stakes testing support to education-focused virtual reality games, will also be featured.

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ECOMP 6009 Website Design and HTML: Web Publishing for Educators
This course focuses on web site development by and for educators, students, and schools. Each participant creates an original site, a process that is supported by the class examination of technical issues (design, HTML scripting, digital imaging, web editors, Internet publication, and site maintenance) and real school examples of teacher and student web authoring. Issues of classroom pedagogy and management, student-centered web development, access, defining one's audience, and school-wide participation will be addressed.

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ECOMP 6019 Web 2.0 for Education
This project-based course introduces educators to Web 2.0 for their teaching practice. We identify, experience and evaluate selected web applications, and critically consider the implications for learning in and out of the classroom. Students are encouraged to apply Web 2.0 features, such as authentic communication, to address ELL and accessibility. Web 2.0 is integrated in our class assignments, rather than learn tools. We "work the web."

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ECOMP 6201 Online Teaching: An Introduction for K-12 Educators
This course is designed to introduce teaching online to K12 educators. Utilizing a constructivist learning approach, we will explore the advantages of online learning and features of online environments and online collaborative tools, and examine the best pedagogical practices for teaching and learning online. Expectations, characteristics, and needs of online learners will be examined and specific strategies to help students assess their readiness to learn online will be developed. Solutions for involving all of the K12 stakeholders and the challenge of keeping students motivated to produce quality work through online learning will be explored.

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ECOMP 6202 Online Teaching: Assessment and Evaluation
This course examines assessment and evaluation in an online learning environment from the perspective of teachers and students in K-12 environments. Assessment strategies are presented, including self-evaluation, authentic assessment, triangulation, continuous evaluation, pre- and post-testing, and use of observational data. Attention is paid to selecting the most appropriate and engaging assessment strategies for students, and content that addresses the needs of students, keeping in mind the need to apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.

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ECOMP 6203 Online Teaching: Building Communities and Facilitating Student Discussions
This course focuses on building the skills and understanding of what is needed to create a supportive and constructive online learning environment through appropriate facilitation techniques and strategies in the K-12 environment. Participants investigate various aspects of facilitating online discussions, including teacher and peer moderated communication, developing guidelines and modeling substantive discussions and the use of multiple technologies to enhance contact with and among students.

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ECOMP 7008 Research in Technology in Education
This course engages students in action research leading to development of an appropriate intervention in using technology. Through research, students are expected to more fully understand technology's role in education. Student research projects will include the development of meaningful research questions, a cultural-historical analysis of context, an appropriate research design, and the application of qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. Students will relate their findings to published research, and plan a research-based intervention using technology.

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ECOMP 7010 Emerging Technologies
Educators experiment with leading edge technologies such as streaming audio and video, GIS, hand-held devices, virtual reality environments, web-based technologies, and applets to determine their usefulness in teaching, learning, integration into curricula, and matching technologies to students' learning styles. They build knowledge, expertise, and experience in identifying the efficacy of future technologies in enhancing student learning and enabling students to learn new topics and ideas previously out of reach.

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Lesley University reserves the right to unilaterally add, withdraw, or revise any course offering in the above-mentioned program of study, including policies, provisions, requirements, and fees.

Lesley University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, handicap or disability in its education programs, employment, or in admissions to, access to or treatment in its programs or activities.