AACTE Online Seminars Transition to Robust FutureLearn Platform
I am excited to announce AACTE’s plans to enhance the online professional seminars offered through our Quality Support Center. Thanks to a new partnership with FutureLearn, a global leader in online learning, our short courses on quality assurance topics will relaunch in 2017 with clearer presentations, better graphics, and a broader peer community.
AACTE originally developed the series of six courses in 2015 in response to your request for affordable and widely accessible training on how to use data wisely, build evidence for state and national program reviews, and address other quality concerns. Hundreds of you have already taken at least one of these courses, and your enthusiasm and valuable feedback informed our decision to ramp up the offerings. In short, we are engaging in our own continuous improvement!
Under the FutureLearn model, all of the courses are free, but participants may opt to purchase a completion certificate. You can take just one seminar or all of them – whatever meets your needs – and they can be completed in any order, although they’re designed to provide a sequential learning experience for those who are interested in the full program. Successful completion of the entire program, including purchase of completion certificates, is required to qualify for training as an AACTE consultant.
The first two courses, which run 3 weeks each and require about 3 hours per week to complete, are now open for registration. These two in particular are appropriate for any educator (we all need to know about designing good assessments and interpreting data!), so I encourage you to have your candidates and PK-12 partners sign up as well:
Designing Assessments to Measure Student Outcomes – STARTS JANUARY 30
Learn about key assessment principles such as validity, reliability, and fairness and how to design and use rubrics and surveys. Learn more
Using Data to Improve Student Outcomes – STARTS MARCH 20
Identify and interpret data sources, determine their implications, and establish actions for improvement. Learn more
Subsequent courses will be rolled out later in 2017 with a more in-depth focus on quality assurance systems and accreditation needs. We’ll also be adding more dates for the two introductory seminars.
AACTE’s courses are taught by our very own Linda McKee, who brings many years of experience in higher education as well as state program approval and national accreditation work. The courses were developed in close collaboration with members of AACTE’s Committee on Professional Preparation and Accountability and others in the field.
You can read about FutureLearn’s social-learning platform here and view AACTE’s partner page here. For more information about AACTE’s Quality Support Center, visit http://aacte.org/programs-and-services/quality-support-center or contact Linda McKee at lmckee@aacte.org.
Tags: accreditation, assessment, data, program improvement
