This professional certificate prepares participants with knowledge related to online course design, online instruction, and other issues related to online teaching and learning. These competencies make a master online teacher.

In order to earn the Master Online Teaching professional certificate, a student must successfully complete:

• Three core courses
• One of the core choice courses
• One elective course
• The Master Online Teacher Practicum

Take all courses before the Practicum, although the elective course may be taken concurrently. All courses in the Master Online Teacher professional certificate are 8-week courses.

In order to earn the professional certificate, participants must have completed the required course work and demonstrated knowledge in the following areas related to online teaching and learning:

• Roles of faculty in online courses
• Roles of students in online courses
• Communications in online courses
• Collaborative nature of online courses
• Available technologies for delivering online courses
• Methods of assessment for online courses
• Learning outcomes in online courses
• Learning activities in online courses
• Evaluation of online courses

The projects required to complete each course provide an electronic portfolio that demonstrates knowledge in the areas identified as most important to quality online teaching.

Required Courses

Each participant must complete the following courses to be eligible for the Master Online Teacher professional certificate.

Must successfully complete allof the following:

• Overview of Online Instruction
• Instructional Design for Online Course Development
• Student Assessment in Online Courses
• Practicum

Must successfully complete two of the following electives:

• Hybrid, Blended, and HyFlex Course Design
• Technology Tools for Online Learning
• Universal Design Principles for Online Learning
• Interactive & Immersive Technologies in Online Learning
• Encouraging Communication in Online Course
• Cultural Responsiveness for the Online Classroom

Suggested Paths

These are suggested paths, but not required. Required courses are in bold.

Instruction

• Overview of Online Instruction
• Instructional Design for Online Course Development
• Student Assessment in Online Courses
• Hybrid, Blended, and HyFlex Course Design, Technology Tools for Online Learning, or Universal Design
• Cultural Responsiveness for the Online Classroom or Encouraging Communication in Online Course
• Practicum

Technology

• Overview of Online Instruction
• Instructional Design for Online Course Development
• Student Assessment in Online Courses
• Hybrid, Blended and HyFlex Design and Delivery Approaches
• Interactive & Immersive Technologies In Online Learning
• Practicum

Support Professional

• Overview of Online Instruction
• Instructional Design for Online Course Development
• Student Assessment in Online Courses
• Hybrid, Blended and HyFlex Design and Delivery Approaches
• Universal Design or Technology Tools
• Practicum

This professional certificate program prepares online leaders, aspiring leaders, and administrators to lead online.

It is a comprehensive professional development program based on the Hallmarks of Excellence in the Online Leadership from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association and provides researched best practices and practical insights from recognized leaders. The courses vary in length from 4 to 8 weeks.

In order to earn the professional certificate, participants must have completed the required course work and demonstrated knowledge in the following areas related to online teaching and learning:

• Roles of online leaders as advocates
• Roles of online leaders as facilitators of change
• Communications as an online leader
• Collaboration with internal and external audiences
• Knowledge of available technologies for faculty and student support
• Understanding quality assurance as a provider of online learning
• An online leader’s role as professionals

The projects required to complete each course provide an electronic portfolio that demonstrates knowledge in the areas identified as most important to quality online leadership.

Required Courses

4 Week Courses

• Internal Advocacy for Online Leaders
• Digital Technology for Online Leaders

8 Week Courses

• Faculty and Student Support for Online Leaders
• Quality Assurance and Accountability for Online Leaders
• External Advocacy and Professionalism for Online Leaders

When the newly developed Master Online Leader and Administrator professional certificate was implemented, it replaced the ION Certified Online Learning Administrator program that ran from 2011 to Summer 2018.

The OER professional certificate prepares participants to harness the power of high-quality, free educational resources to support student learning. This professional development certificate is offered completely online and is comprised of three four-week courses and one eight-week course.   

Required Courses

Each participant must complete the following courses to be eligible for the OER professional certificate.

Must successfully complete all of the following core courses:

• Foundations of Open Education Resources
• Using Open Education Resources to Support Instruction
• Creating and Sharing OERs for Online Learning

Must successfully complete one of the following elective courses:

• Universal Design Principles for Online Learning
• Instructional Design for Online Course Development

This professional certificate program focuses on foundational information and specific skills for educators, instructional designers, and other staff who develop digital resources for courses.

The courses provide skills that satisfy the current WCAG standards upon which U.S., Canadian, and European Union accessibility guidelines, policies, and laws are based.

Those who complete the professional certificate will:

• Understand the legal and historical background of accessibility, universal design for learning, and applying these to course design.
• Develop accessible Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and PDF files
• Create accessible videos

The courses were developed with educators in mind. The courses explain why and how to make common course materials accessible with free or inexpensive software that is commonly available at many institutions. Technical IT jargon is not used.

For U.S. Institutions

An important question to ask is why do our digital materials need to be accessible? The answer is two-fold.

Four federal laws require accessibility of all digital resources. Some states, including Illinois, also have laws mandating the accessibility of digital resources for institutions of higher education.

• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
• 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) (2010)
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (2018)
• Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA 2.0) (2018)

Secondly, courses that are made accessible to students with disabilities also prove useful students without any document disabilities. For instance, video captioning helps students who are English language learners or consume content in noisy (or quiet) locations.

Required Courses

4-Week Courses

• Foundations of Accessibility for Educators
• Creating Accessible Documents in Education
• Creating Accessible Videos in Education

8-Week Course

• Universal Design

This professional certificate introduces the legal landscape of accessibility and universal design to businesses and agencies. All courses are online and instructor led.

Required Courses

Creating Accessible Documents for Business and Agencies (CAD) 4 weeks

Understand the fundamentals of document accessibility, including formatting, image use, color use, and more.

• Create accessible word processing documents.
• Create accessible slide decks.
• Create accessible PDFs, including fillable forms.
• Create accessible spreadsheets or HTML pages.

Creating Accessible Videos for Business and Agencies (CAV) 4 weeks

• Produce and share a video on a topic within their field using hardware and software of their choosing.
• Evaluate their video and produce a storyboard to better layout a video and incorporate audio descriptions.
• Caption an existing video using available captioning tools.
• Produce a video based on a storyboard and ensure accessibility of the video, including accurate closed-captions and appropriate audio descriptions.

Legal Landscape of Digital Accessibility (LLA) 8 weeks

• Understand the federal laws governing digital accessibility, including the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act.
• Understand the specific state laws (Illinois) governing digital accessibility.
• Analyze the current legal landscape, including recent lawsuits and legislation related to digital accessibility.
• Draft a digital accessibility policy for your business, agency, or unit to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Understand disability, disability activism, and the laws, rulings, and policies that govern accessibility.
• Explain the importance of web accessibility and understand the history behind it.
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic web accessibility supports, such as alt text, keyboard navigation, captions, etc.
• Create a plan for implementing accessibility and other inclusive practices in your customer service strategies.

These learning outcomes will guide the participants in acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in the field of digital accessibility for businesses and agencies.

Participants will discover and discuss issues regarding accessibility and the gains that can be made from a universal design for learning approach.

Outcomes:

As a result of completing course activities and interacting in discussion forums, participants will be able to:

• Discuss disability, disability activism, and the laws, rulings, and policies that govern accessibility.
• Explain the importance of web accessibility and understand the history behind it.
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic web accessibility supports, such as alt text, keyboard navigation, captions, etc.
• Create a plan for implementing accessibility, universal design, and other inclusive teaching strategies in future courses.

Enroll Now

Propel your career in online learning with our professional micro certificates, badges, and CEUs. Micro certificates are short, focused credentials that validate specific skills or knowledge. 

Micro Certificate Options

Foundations in Online Teaching

• Overview of online instruction
• Student assessment in online courses
• Instructional design in online courses

Building an Inclusive Classroom

• Cultural responsiveness in the online classroom
• Encouraging communication in online learning
• Universal design principles for online learning

Building an Online Classroom

• Foundations of education resources
• Foundations of accessibility
• Technology tools for online learning
• Universal design principles for online learning

Building an Interactive Learning Environment

• Blended learning design and instruction
• Sims, labs, and multimedia for online learning
• Universal design principles for online learning

Reach out to ion@uis.edu to learn more about stacking these micro certificates to earn the full Master Online Teacher Certificate (MOT)!