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Practicum in Online Teaching - Carolina Online Teacher Program

This is the capstone course required for completion of the Carolina Online Teacher Program.

Developed by Adria Kempner

This course is part of LEARN NC's catalog of online courses for teachers. Please see the current offerings at the bottom of this page for information about when it may next be taught.

About this course

  • Audience: teachers (grades K–12)

Begin your online teaching career knowing LEARN NC is here to support you. An experienced online-learning mentor will guide you through typical problem areas, offering advice and encouragement when you need it. The Practicum in Online Teaching may be done in conjunction with your school or county, and even as part of your normal teaching load.

Mentoring

Based on the course you teach, LEARN NC will find you a mentor from the COLT faculty. Online mentoring will consist of structured conversations via phone and email. Your mentor will also spend time in the course itself to offer advice where appropriate.

Requirements

  • You may teach or adapt a shared course from the LEARN NC catalog, or you can create your own course.
  • Your course must run a minimum of five weeks, with a maximum length of one semester.
  • The course must be fully online. While we recognize the educational value of hybrid courses (courses where the class meets both online and offline), they are outside the focus of the COLT progam.
  • Though LEARN NC uses Moodle as its online learning management system, you are not required to conduct your Practicum experience on Moodle. We encourage you to use whatever LMS is favored by your school or LEA.

Admission

  • Admission is on a rolling basis
  • You must notify LEARN NC 30 days before your proposed start date
  • If you are creating your own course, it must be completed thirty days prior to scheduling your Practicum

CEU value

CEU value for your practicum experience will vary depending on the course content and the duration.

Practicum goals

By the end of the Practicum process participants should be able to demonstrate the following behaviors while teaching an online course:

  1. Create a warm and inviting atmosphere that promotes the development of a sense of community among participants
  2. Create a relationship of trust through effective communication, consistent and reliable expectations, and by encouraging independence and creativity
  3. Provide timely, constructive feedback to students about assignments and questions
  4. Establish and maintain ongoing and frequent teacher-student interaction using effective communication skills
  5. Facilitate and monitor appropriate interaction and cooperation among students and promote learning through group interaction
  6. Demonstrate effective strategies and techniques that actively engage students in the learning process –- active versus passive learning
  7. Guide and monitor students’ management of their time, monitor learner progress with available tools, and develop an intervention plan for unsuccessful learners
  8. Provide structure for students while allowing for flexibility and negotiation
  9. Provide extended resources and activities to increase achievement levels

Time commitment

Most teachers report work 7 to 10 hours per week on their online courses, though some may spend more, depending on the course and the comfort level of individual instructors.

Prerequisites

Current offerings

Begins January 5 — enroll by December 31.

This course is open for enrollment. Enroll in this course

Begins January 5 — enroll by December 31.

This course is open for enrollment. Enroll in this course