Collaborize and Courses4Teachers

Thank you for your interest in earning university graduate-level professional development credit through Courses4Teachers. We are pleased to help you earn university credit for the professional work you do in creating an online interactive classroom.

P EDU 9227 “Establishing an Online Collaborative Classroom”
Three graduate-level university semester credits for only $279 ($93 per unit).

Course Description:
This course supports teachers in successfully integrating an online learning platform into their curriculum to become more effective, efficient and innovative. Teachers will learn how to establish and maintain a safe space, build community, ask dynamic questions, motivate students to participate, and weave online conversations into their classroom. Teachers will develop an online learning platform that will facilitate student driven projects directly related to their subject areas. In addition to using online tutorial programs such as Collaborize Classroom™, teachers are encouraged to research further resources to continue to encourage higher levels of discussions.

Three Simple Steps For University Credit:

1. Familiarize yourself with the policies of your school district.
   Some districts require prior approval for these types of courses and some do not. Districts vary in policy regarding whether they require embossed transcripts. Districts also have different turn-in dates for credit applied to salary advancement. Courses4Teachers cannot know all of these differing policies and will claim no responsibility for their proper execution. There are no refunds.
2. Keep a log of 45 hours of professional work.
3. Email us your registration and professional log/explanation of work completed.
   You may use the link below to begin the process.

Register Now

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What information do I provide my school district should I need prior approval?
• Can you explain more fully about the University credit you grant?
• What, specifically, am I required to turn in for university graduate credit for P EDU 9227?
• Can you give me an example of the documentation format and content that is required?
• What are examples of acceptable activities I may document in my log?
• How do I send my registration and documentation?
• How do I earn additional university credit for continued professional work?

What information do I provide my school district should I need prior approval:

Generally districts ask for the name of the university, the course title and course number. They may request beginning and ending dates – which are up to you to determine. Additionally, they may want to know if the university is accredited. All University of Pacific courses are graduate courses accredited with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

Can you explain more fully about the University credit you grant:

We offer graduate-level semester credit through the University of Pacific, located in Stockton, California. States across the U.S. have different terminology to label this type of graduate-level credit. It can be referred to as “professional growth,” “professional development,” “post-bachelor’s credit,” or “continuing education.” Other terms are used, such as “graduate units,” “graduate hours,” or “graduate credits.” Regardless of the terminology, and in light of some confusion with semantics among different states, we want to make it clear that these self-designed courses offer only graduate-level professional development credit to teachers across the U.S. Our courses are for professional growth credit and will be listed on a University of the Pacific transcript. They are designed primarily for salary advancement and credential renewal requirements. The courses are not designed towards attainment of an advanced degree with The University of the Pacific. You are advised to check with your state board or attending university if you wish to apply these credits towards attainment of specialty credentials.

What, specifically, am I required to turn in for university graduate-level credit for P EDU 9227:

1.The registration form and payment.
2. The log of professional activities and written substantiation/elaboration.

To receive an “A” grade for P EDU 9227 you must document the steps you have taken to learn about and create an interactive online classroom. This may include any or all of the following: reading and research, active participation, practice with instructional webinars, development of lessons and rubrics to establish and maintain an online interactive classroom.

Your log and brief elaboration should be presented in this format:
Activity________ Hours_______ Elaboration________

Can you give me an example of the documentation format and content that is required:

1. Visited the Collaborize Classroom Website:“Intro to Collaborize Classroom” –3 hours
Elaboration: Visited the website, became familiar with the steps, and proceeded through the steps recommended; I posted my own bio and replied to other teacher’s bios to build relationships with them. Some topics posted were…
Other experiences / learnings….
2. Participated in Collaborize Classroom’s Blended learning Webinar and follow-up applications –2 hours
Elaboration: I learned about facilitation styles and I’m most comfortable with being a silent facilitator rather than a participant because….
3. Webinar participation /application: Create and maintain a safe space online– 2 hours
Elaboration: I learned dos and don’ts of online student communication. The dos and don’ts I found most important were…
I plan to introduce them to my students in this fashion…….
4. Created parent letter – 2 hours
Elaboration: I created a letter to parents that explained the value of creating an interactive online classroom and outlined my expectations for student involvement. Some key points in my letter were….

What are examples of acceptable activities I may document in my log:

Basically – any readings, research, webinars, lesson planning and content development counts. It the activity enhances your knowledge, skills, classroom curriculum or interactive classroom environment, it counts!

You may certainly count any webinars or research from any sources, and your reflections / findings / personal lesson development on any of the following topics:

• Facilitation styles.
• Strategies for creating and maintaining a safe space online.
• Creating a class code of respectful conduct.
• Creating a list of dos and don’ts for respectful online discussion.
• Building relationships online.
• Creating effective icebreakers, sentence starters.
• Strategies for gently correcting posting missteps online.
• Establishing clear expectations for student participation.
• The art of asking questions.
• Designing questions related to the units you are currently teaching.
• Designing questions that challenge high-achieving students as well as lower-achieving students.
• Designing some modeling lessons for strong questions.
• Perfecting a process of approving or denying questions students present.
• Creating assignments for students to design discussion questions in a particular subject area.
• Teaching students to say something substantial.
• Designing exercises that will help students practice skills in higher level thinking for higher-level discussions.
• Effective strategies for ending a posting.
• Establishing and conveying to students what constitutes an appropriate length of student response.
• Strategies on how to invite further discussion.
• Creating a schedule for postings.
• Online resources, the benefits of embedding media into a question.
• Widgets – How to download a widget.
• Visiting the Google Gadgets site and selecting a widget to include in your interactive classroom site.
• How to weave online discussions with in-classroom work.
• Flipped classroom teaching –maximizing in-class time.
• Creating and presenting student-driven project ideas/topics/themes.

How to send your registration and documentation:

• You may register for this course any time your documentation is complete.
• You may send your registration and log/documentation to Courses4Teachers by email or by regular mail.
• You will receive an email confirmation that your registration has been received.
• Your work will be reviewed and your grade will be emailed to you within two weeks from our Danville Office.
• Within six to eight weeks you will receive an unofficial transcript from the University of the Pacific Registrar, along with a form to request a formal, embossed, sealed transcript should you wish one.

Registration Form

Instructions to Complete and either Email or Mail your registration form are included in the PDF Registration Form.

How do I earn additional university credit for continued professional work:

As educators we understand the time commitment involved in establishing and maintaining an online interactive classroom. We know it takes at least three months to get an online program established to complete satisfaction.

We therefore have available a “Course Two”, should you wish to document additional work (another 45 hours) after this course is completed.

Information on how to register for course II, P EDU 9228 “Establishing an Online Collaborative Classroom II,” will be emailed to you upon completion of course I.

Also, if you are interested in exploring what else Courses4Teachers has to offer, click here, or click on our logo in the upper-left corner of the page.

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