Online Courses
The ION Professional eLearning programs are a series of online courses for faculty, staff, and administrators aimed at developing an understanding of online pedagogies and technologies. Certificate programs in online teaching, online learning leadership, and digital accessibility are available. Participants may also take individual courses. Courses may be taken for academic graduate credit or CEU credit.
Details can be viewed at ION Professional eLearning grading system.
The Scope of ION Professional eLearning
Our courses and program structure provide higher education professionals with effective skills and practices. The courses undergo continuous review. The courses are designed to provide an intellectually stimulating environment, promote innovation, and networking.
4 Week Courses [4 CEUs per course]
Instructor-led, Fully online continuing education courses. 4 continuing education units (CEUs) are awarded to students who successfully complete these courses with a grade of 80% or better.
Creating Accessible Documents
Description
The purpose of this course is to introduce the steps to making documents, presentations, and workbooks accessible. Participants will make their own materials accessible and interact with classmates making their materials accessible.
Prerequisite: It is recommended, though not required, that participants complete the Foundations of Accessibility course prior to completing Creating Accessible Documents.
DAE Required Course
Creating Accessible Videos
Description
The purpose of this course is to introduce storyboarding, video production, and video accessibility. Participants will discover and discuss issues in accessibility, as well as learn how to caption external videos and create accessible videos.
Prerequisite: Foundations of Accessibility. Certificate Series: Digital Accessibility for Educators (DAE) Professional Certificate required course.
Digital Technology for Online Leaders
Description
The purpose of this course is to explore a variety of technology tools used to develop current and dependable infrastructures that manage and support the online work of students, faculty, and administrators. The main emphasis of this course will be to introduce participants to issues concerning the use of technology and how to enrich the experiences of those using technology to deliver online programs. The economic, technological, and pedagogical pros and cons of technologies will be discussed.
Prerequisite: None
MOLA Certificate Required Course
Foundations of Accessibility for Educators
Description
The purpose of this course is to introduce the legal landscape of accessibility, universal design for learning, and course design principles. Participants will discover and discuss issues regarding accessibility and the gains which can be made from a universal design for learning approach.
Prerequisite: None
DAE Certificate Required Course
MOLA Certificate Required Course
Internal Advocacy for Online Leaders
Description
The purpose of this course is for the participants to learn how to engage stakeholders through an articulated vision inside their organizations. The students will explore how to advocate for pedagogically driven approaches, establish structures that integrate online learning with the traditional campus, and learn how to establish a mission and vision that support the institution and how to establish a communication plan for internal audiences.
Prerequisite: None
MOLA Certificate Required Course
Foundations of Open Educational Resources
Description
This course provides an overview and insights into the key issues of Open Educational Resources. Participants will engage with peers by exploring, evaluating, and identifying resources. The student-to-student and instructor-to-student interactions are designed to benefit the students, teaching, and leadership experiences in understanding the use of OERs.
Prerequisite: None
Master Online Facilitator Course for Professionals
Description
This course explores the basics of online facilitation, delivering training or information through online/virtual methods. It also includes the basics of instructional design components, communication, assessment, and technology which are valuable in online training, virtual instruction, presentations, or meetings. Each module provides information about creating objectives and aligning courses to business and training goals that will help you learn to develop a course, meeting plan, training or virtual presentation effectively.
Who should participate? Trainers, instructors, facilitators, and virtual meeting leaders who have had minimal exposure to course design or virtual presentation techniques.
Creating and Sharing Open Educational Resources
Description
This course is focused on the application of Open Educational Resources in online learning. The participants will either develop a new, remix, reuse or redistribute an OER for the online setting. The participants will walk through this process step by step with their instructor. Throughout the process, the participants will be receiving peer and instructor support and feedback.
Prerequisite: Foundations of Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources to Support Student Instruction
Description
The purpose of the course is for participants to plan for and incorporate Open Educational Resources into their classrooms. Participants will also discuss topics and research related to the adoption of OER in the higher-education classroom.
Participants will learn:
- Ideas for designing or redesigning a unit of instruction by integrating OER.
- Use OER repositories, OER collections, and online advanced searches to find OER resources for a specific course.
- Identify and evaluate OER for possible adoption or adaptation in the course using specific criteria and standards.
- Discuss the topics and research on the impact of OER adoption in higher-education classrooms.
- Learn current practices to increase the use of OER and develop and implement an OER Unit.
Prerequisite: None. Foundations of OER is suggested as a course option before this course.
8 Week Courses [8 CEUs per course]
Instructor-led, Fully Online Continuing Education Courses. 8 continuing education units (CEUs) are awarded to students who successfully complete these courses with a grade of 80% or better.
Blended Learning Design & Instruction
Description
This course is an overview of blended learning, a strategy that combines online and traditional instruction. Participants will actively discuss topics related to blended learning and will collaborate with peers in research, analysis, and assessment of blended course design elements and technologies. There are opportunities for practice with the blended techniques as well as exercises in planning the curriculum for including the blended modalities.
Prerequisite: None
MOT Elective Course
Cultural Responsiveness for the Online Classroom
Description
The new Cultural Responsiveness for the Classroom in Online Courses is designed to assist faculty in finding ways to implement cultural responsiveness into the online environment. Content and conversations will explore ways to empower students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural exercises and explore ways to establish inclusion, authentic assessment and assess bias.
Prerequisite: None.
MOT Certificate Elective course.
External Advocacy and Professionalism for Online Leaders
Description
The purpose of this course is to recognize the emerging global, national, and local entity policies and guidelines that push online leaders to be a driving force to external communities as they represent their institutions. This course will discuss policy updates, strategies for budgeting and acquisition of resources, becoming the voice to external audiences, and how to be actively engaged within the field of online learning.
Prerequisite: None.
Encouraging Communication in Online Courses
Description
This course provides insight into the methods for structuring an online course to maximize the quality of interactions among students, and between the instructor and students.
Prerequisite: None
Faculty Support for Online Leaders
Description
This is an overview for online leaders to learn best practices in the topics of support staff expertise, and personal compensation and recognition. Resources and onboarding for faculty will be discussed. The participants will discuss tools for online faculty development, implementing new technology, and fostering accountability within the framework of current guidelines, regulations, and laws. The participants will learn best practices when communicating to their faculty.
Prerequisite: None
MOLA Certificate Required Course
Instructional Design for Online Course Development
Description
Participants will discover and discuss concepts, ideas, and strategies that lead to the effective design of an online course. Participants should strongly consider taking this course alone, without a concurrent course.
Prerequisite: None. Overview of Online Instruction is recommended to be completed prior to or concurrently with this course.
MOT Core Course
Overview of Online Instruction
Description
This course is an introduction to online learning and instruction in which key aspects of adaptation to the online environment, course facilitation, and relevant designs are previewed. Participants will actively discuss topics related to online learning and collaborate with peers in projects that analyze and assess online course design elements and technologies.
Prerequisite: None
MOT Core Class
Practicum (For Master Online Teacher Certificate)
Description
The Practicum is the final course in the Master Online Teacher (MOT) certificate program. The course is instructor-led, eight-weeks long, and fully-online. Practicum participants will work with a small group of peers and one instructor to develop or improve an online course.
Prerequisite: This course requires prior completion of core courses in the MOT and one MOT elective course.
Quality Assurance for Online Leaders
Description
This course will provide an examination of quality assurance strategies and issues in online programs. A review of processes, philosophies, and strategies for building appropriate accountability processes into online learning programs toward the successful accreditation of online degrees and integration of online programs into the mainstream institutional catalog. Participants will examine institutional, state, national, and global policies that demand greater accountability and regulatory compliance.
Prerequisite: None
MOLA Certificate Required Course
Sims, Labs, and Multimedia in Online Learning
Description
In this 8-week course, the focus is on the use of multimedia, educational simulations, games, and their use in online courses. Topics include a theoretical framework for using these tools in educational environments, types and selection of multimedia, simulations, and games, and instructor and student roles, evaluation and assessment, and strategic considerations.
Prerequisite: Requires Overview of Online Instruction or its equivalent
MOT Elective Course
Student Assessment in Online Courses
Description
Assessment theory is explored, focusing on the applications of online education and the necessary adjustments needed when evaluating students in online courses. The course is designed to provide students with opportunities to apply online student assessment concepts to their particular areas of interest in online course development.
Prerequisite: None. Overview of Online Instruction is recommended to be completed prior to this course.
MOT Core Course
Student Support for Online Leaders
Description
This is an overview of approaches to holistically support online students through a high-touch/high-tech approach. Participants will learn the scope of online student services and the importance of developing effective remotely delivered services to improve student success and retention rates. The participants will learn best practices in the early development of online programs, preparing students, ongoing support, and support after graduation or program completion.
Prerequisite: None
MOLA Certificate Required Course
Technology Tools for Online Learning
Description
This instructor-led, eight-week, fully-online course explores some of the technology tools used to build and deliver online courses. The main emphasis of this course will be to introduce students to issues concerning the use of technology and the many tools that are available. The economic, technological, and pedagogical pros and cons of each technology will be discussed. Participants will learn how to choose what technologies to integrate into their online course based on sound pedagogical decisions.
Prerequisite: None
MOT Core Choice Course
Universal Design Principles for Online Learning
Description
In this hands-on course, you will discover how the principles of universal design can help you create course content that can be accessed and used by anyone, including people with disabilities. By the end of the course, participants will have a good understanding of universal design principles for online learning, know potential accessibility/usability issues that need to be considered in course design, and be able to create more accessible/usable course content.
Prerequisite: Participants should have familiarity with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF programs.
MOT Core Choice Course
UIS Graduate Credit Hours
ION Courses Offered for UIS Graduate Credit
Anyone with a Master’s degree or other terminal professional degree is eligible to enroll in ION courses by this method. The following ION Courses are commonly offered through UIS. Learn how to Enroll in ION Courses for Graduate Credit.
Please note: ION courses previously taken for CEU hours must be retaken to earn UIS graduate credit hours.
If you need to request a transcript for UIS courses taken for graduate credit, please order your transcript through the UIS registrar.
Course Name | Course Number | Credit Hours |
---|---|---|
Overview of Online Instruction | TEP 501 | 2 |
Technology Tools for Online Learning | TEP 502 | 2 |
Instructional Design for Online Course Development | TEP 503 | 2 |
Universal Design Principles for Online Learning | TEP 504 | 2 |
Student Assessment in Online Courses | TEP 505 | 2 |
Encouraging Communications in Online Courses | TEP 506 | 2 |
Blended Learning Design & Instruction | TEP 507 | 2 |
Practicum for Master Online Teacher Certificate | TEP 508 | 4 |
Overview of Online Instruction TEP 501
2 credit hours
Description
This course is an introduction to online learning and instruction in which key aspects of adaptation to the online environment, course facilitation, and relevant designs are previewed. Participants will actively discuss topics related to online learning and collaborate with peers in projects that analyze and assess online course design elements and technologies.
Prerequisite: None
MOT Core Course
Technology Tools for Online Learning TEP 502
2 credit hours
Description
This instructor-led, eight-week, fully-online course explores some of the technology tools used to build and deliver online courses. The main emphasis of this course will be to introduce students to issues concerning the use of technology and the many tools that are available. The economical, technological, and pedagogical pros and cons of each technology will be discussed. Participants will learn how to choose what technologies to integrate into their online course based on sound pedagogical decisions.
Prerequisite: None
MOT Core Choice Course
Instructional Design for Online Course Development TEP 503
2 credit hours
Description
Participants will discover and discuss concepts, ideas and strategies that lead to the effective design of an online course. Participants should strongly consider taking this course alone, without a concurrent course.
Prerequisite: This course requires Overview of Online Instruction or its equivalent as a prerequisite.
MOT Core Course
Universal Design Principles for Online Learning TEP 504
2 Hours.
Description
Discover how principles of Universal Design can help you create course content that can be accessed and used by anyone, including people with disabilities. Topics covered include: universal design principles for online learning, potential accessibility/usability issues to consider in course development, and creating more accessible/usable course content. Course Information: Restricted to graduate students; contact ion@uis.edu to enroll.
Prerequisite: None.
MOT Core Choice Course
Student Assessment in Online Courses TEP 505 or EDL 512
2 credit hours
Description
Assessment theory is explored, focusing on the applications to online education and the necessary adjustments needed when evaluating students in online courses. The course is designed to provide students with opportunities to apply online student assessment concepts to their particular areas of interest in online course development.
Prerequisite: Overview of Online Instruction
MOT Core Course
Encouraging Communication in Online Courses TEP 506
2 credit hours
Description
This course provides insight into the methods for structuring an online course to maximize the quality of interactions among students, and between the instructor and students.
Prerequisite: Overview of Online Instruction
Blended Learning Design & Instruction TEP 507
2 credit hours
Description
This course is an overview of blended learning, a strategy that combines online and traditional instruction. Participants will actively discuss topics related to blended learning and will collaborate with peers in research, analysis, and assessment of blended course design elements and technologies. There are opportunities for practice with the blended techniques as well as exercises in planning the curriculum for including the blended modalities.
Prerequisite: None
MOT Elective Course
Practicum TEP 508
4 credit hours
Description
The Practicum is the final course in the certificate program. The course is instructor-led, eight weeks long, and fully online. Practicum participants will work with a small group of peers and one instructor to develop or improve an online course.
Prerequisite: This course requires prior completion of core courses in the MOT and one MOT elective course.
Webinars
ION webinars feature focused presentations on timely topics in online learning and higher education. Each webinar lasts one hour with time built-in for robust discussions after the presentation. Once a webinar is complete, registrants have access to a Moodle site with webinar resources and a post-test that is required for earning a badge on the topic.