Certificate in Educational Technology

The Michigan State University College of Education takes an active role in teaching in-service teachers how to use and, more importantly, foster learning with technology. For the past 12 years, the College of Education has offered a 3-course, 9-credit graduate program resulting in the receipt of an Educational Technology Certificate. Credits from the certificate program can be applied toward the Master of Arts degree in Educational Technology. The aim of the certificate program is not only to help individuals gain skills in using the hardware and software generally available in their institutions, but to help them use it in ways that result in observable gains in student learning. To date, more than 2,000 teachers and administrators have completed the program. 

The Michigan State University Model of Professional Development

Critical elements of this program are to understand the role of professional development, and how and why teachers learn new ways of teaching and of guiding their students in learning. A major emphasis of the certificate program is to take teachers beyond using technology for what they already do. The emphasis is on enabling teachers to change their practice of teaching in positive ways. To do so, teachers must learn new instructional and pedagogical strategies and learn ways that technology can enhance and support the learning process.

The program’s goal is for participants to become better teachers through the use of technology. The program works towards this goal by using the opportunity for change provided by the introduction of technology in the classroom to help participants re-think their own practice as teachers, evaluate their own beliefs about what helps students learn, and consider new ideas and perspectives that they might otherwise have overlooked or not encountered. When this happens, program managers believe that the end result is an increase in student learning and achievement.

Describing the Certificate Program Courses

The courses for this program are offered through MSU’s College of Education and are part of the Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education Department. The courses are numbered:

• CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Computers
  Teachers learn about software tools and innovative technology, such as the World Wide Web, and how they apply them to the educational environment. They begin to develop their own portfolio of podcasts and strategies showing how they use these tools with students and in educational settings.
  
  
• CEP 811: Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education
  Teachers learn to apply instructional principles and methods to educational problems and to develop hypermedia applications, including Web-based materials, for use in the educational setting.
  
  
• CEP 812: Applying Educational Technology to Problems of Practice
  Teachers define, implement, and evaluate technology-based solutions to educational problems and opportunities in school settings.

Building on the work completed in CEP 810 and 811, they again add to their portfolio of applications of technology to the educational setting.

To apply for the Certificate in Educational Technology program, please utilize the guest application at: http://admissions.msu.edu/application/dubaicertapplication.asp.