Teachers have the chance to take seven free, open-licensed courses online this fall as part of a pilot program that aims to bring community-based, peer learning to professional development for K-12 teachers.
This fall’s courses, offered through the Peer 2 Peer University, focus on a variety of methods to encourage deeper learning among students. This will be modeled through professional development courses that focus on peer learning and hands-on, learner-driven tasks.
Course titles include: Differentiating Instruction, Student Engagement, OER in the K-12 Classroom, Using Web 2.0 and Social Media to Encourage Deeper Learning, Teaching in Blended and Online Classrooms, Multimedia and Graphics to Facilitate Deeper Learning, and Writing & Common Core: Deeper Learning for All.
The courses are designed and administered by educational experts and practitioners and include partnerships with the Education Development Center (EDC) and the National Writing Project (NWP). Funding for this pilot is provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Courses start this month and run through November. Registration is open at the following link: http://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-ed-pilot/.
Offering free, online courses for educators in Maine is a fabulous idea. I stumbled upon this while on the site to look for current information offered by the MDOE regarding the Common Core State Standards. As an educator in Maine, I like to keep abreast of what is going on with standards and assessment so I can assure I am ready to meet the challenge of providing my students with a curriculum that leads to success.
I am fortunate to work for a district that is currently providing master level courses for their teachers and am fully engaged in that study at this time. As such I am not able to follow or participate in this pilot offering. I do hope it proves successful and that this opportunity will be available again next year.
The course topics are interesting and relevent, the resources necessary to engage in the courses are free and readily accessible, and the choice to either follow or participate will appeal to more learners and their individual needs, situations, or goals.
Thank you to the Maine Department of Education for offering this resource to the educators of your state!
Karen Keneborus
Auburn School Department