Build Confidence, Competence, and Capacity Through Online Seminars
The immediate value of taking part in AACTE’s Online Professional Seminars is obvious: You get to enhance your peer network while gaining knowledge on crucial issues in the field, from assessment and data use to quality assurance systems and the nuts-and-bolts of preparing for national or regional accreditation. But there are other, long-term advantages to participating in the seminars offered through AACTE’s Quality Support Initiative.
The OPSs provide a framework that allows you and your institution to focus on your faculty. The professional development offered through the seminars strengthens your performance in your current position and prepares you for future ones. By developing participants’ skills regarding assessment and accreditation, the OPS series builds individuals’ confidence and enhances their competence.
Moreover, the focus on faculty is not limited to just individuals. Enrolling a group or an entire department in an OPS is not only possible, but also highly encouraged as a means of instilling a culture of continuous improvement in your faculty. (And for the in-depth seminars, groups of more than 10 receive the best pricing!) With their new skills and improvement mindset, teams that complete the seminars will make it their priority to turn bad practices into good practices and good practices into best practices, equipped with the knowledge to support their innovative ideas.
Finally, the OPS offerings help close gaps between PK-12 and higher education. As the seminars are open to administrators, teachers, and others involved in all stages of education, they can spur important conversations about the impact of accreditation and assessment challenges on different institutions that nonetheless share common goals. Participants quickly recognize and identify with the continuum of teacher development. Communication among educators in different settings helps to both uncover challenges and provide a forum conducive to generating solutions.
Want to hear from your peers on their experience with AACTE’s online seminars? Watch this video of Debbie Rickey, associate dean of the College of Education at Grand Canyon University, speaking about the value of what she learned in OPS #3: Creating a Quality Assurance System.
To learn more about this exciting opportunity, you can find course descriptions, view the current schedule, and register here. The two introductory seminars are free, and new course sections start every few weeks!
Tags: AACTE online resources, accreditation, assessment, data, program evaluation
