Kickstart the 21st-Century Learning Process
Integrating technology into the learning process has become a necessary skill for teachers, trainers, and leaders of all organizations. Saint Mary's University of Minnesota's online Teaching, Training, and Leading with Technology graduate certificate will equip you with the tools to facilitate the learning process through a variety of collaborative and dynamic technological tools. This interactive certificate is a part of Saint Mary’s Accelerators carefully crafted series of master's-level graduate certificates. Designed to advance your career to help you meet personal and professional goals, the online teaching, training, and leading with technology certificate can be applied to the Master of Education in Learning Design and Technology degree program.
Guide Learning through Technology
Through the online Teaching, Training, and Leading with Technology certificate from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, you will have the opportunity to explore and apply a wide breadth of technology tools to improve your students' learning experiences. As you analyze and employ different technological tools in the classroom, you will enhance the engagement, collaboration, and concept development to address learners' needs.
When students engage with technology as a learning tool, they are better prepared to solve 21st-century problems. Schools, public and private organizations, and businesses have realized the need for teachers, leaders, and trainers who can communicate and facilitate effective instruction with the help of technological resources. Amplifying learning through technology will only increase in importance in the future, which is why a dedicated workforce of forward-thinking educators is necessary.
One of the hallmarks of our “accelerators” is that they are stackable into or onto full degree programs. Students can pursue a graduate certificate and then decide to continue into a full degree program in the same or a different discipline.
-Michelle Wieser, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Business and Technology
To learn more about Saint Mary's graduate certificates check out this interview with Michelle Wieser.
Curriculum
All of the courses explored in the online Teaching, Training, and Leading with Technology certificate are designed to give students the ability to integrate technology into the learning process. Structured in a cohesive, focused model, the core curriculum centers on preparing students to employ technological tools that are optimal for an array of learning environments and outcomes.
Certificate Courses
LDT 610 Dispositions & Mindsets (3 credits)
In this course, students examine the changing role of the teacher, student and teacher engagement, and the dispositions required for continual learning and discovery. Students develop creative processes for play, exploration, reflection, and design thinking, especially around how technology transforms learning.
Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
- Use reflective practices to advance personal awareness and professional development.
- Evaluate personal experiences and background which have shaped current mindsets.
- Illustrate a personal philosophy regarding the 21st-century teacher’s role.
- Create strategies to develop key teaching and learning dispositions, mindsets, and habits.
- Identify critical friends for regular feedback.
- Integrate culturally relevant educational awareness into practices and plans.
- Apply a design thinking process to a learning-through-technology problem.
LDT 612 How Learning Occurs (3 credits)
In this course, students examine the social, physical, and psychological conditions to optimize learning and ignite creativity. Students explore ideas and contexts to create and sustain deep learning while exploring theories and practices to bring meaning to learning via collaboration, intention, and the use of technology as a mind tool to enable learning that could not happen in any other way.
Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the educational psychology theory underpinning developmental appropriateness for learning.
- Demonstrate the ability to use culture as a conduit for learning.
- Define what understanding means for the diverse range of learners and how mindset affects the capacity to learn.
- Identify conditions to optimize learning and creative processes.
- Apply synthesized learning theories to classroom practices.
- Evaluate the role of collaboration and relationships in learning and creating processes along with other factors to foster engagement and motivation.
LDT 620 Designs for Learning (3 credits)
In this course, students meld an understanding of how learning occurs with content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, and design principles to create meaningful learning opportunities for students. Students use a design process to integrate and optimize enduring and conceptual understandings, assessment practices, and instructional strategies.
Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
- Design concept-based units that demonstrate mastery of how knowledge is constructed to enable deep understanding.
- Utilize data and assessment strategies to inform instruction and advance learning.
- Align instructional activities and assessment practices with state and national standards.
- Research best practices in teaching and learning in a specific content discipline as well as other core areas including literacy and technology.
LDT 622 Personalizing Learning With Digital Technology (3 credits)
In this course, students combine culturally relevant awareness and adapted or created digital applications for personalizing learning and promoting self-directed learning. Assessment data and learning analytics are used to refine and tailor instruction. Trends in online social networking, game-based learning, and other technological advances challenge students to transform their practices and achieve new levels of media literacy.
Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
- Evaluate principles of ethics and digital literacy as factors in the teaching, learning, and design process.
- Integrate technology, including the use of social media, to enhance the learning process.
- Apply the principles of culturally responsive teaching to emerging technology learning trends.
- Analyze and implement informal and do-it-yourself activities as a part of learning design to personalize the learning process.
- Use formal and informal assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of design and instruction.
LDT 632 The Networked Global Community (3 credits)
In this course, students seek and use global resources and international examples of innovative teaching and learning approaches. Students utilize technologies and electronic resources to broaden their understanding of the global community, contribute to academic idea exchange internationally, and develop global competencies to analyze the opportunity gap and benefit preK-12 learners. Students analyze cultural contexts to discover ideas transferable to student achievement in their own classrooms and schools as they continue to develop an annotated bibliography.
Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
- Connect and compare global education teaching and learning approaches to local situations.
- Integrate concepts of global citizenship and interdependence of individuals and systems into the curriculum.
- Analyze solutions for access to education.
- Use social media and interactive technology to engage in a national and international dialogue on education.
- Contribute to national and international resources on education.
- Synthesize ideas from a breadth of literature related to networked global communities and cultural contexts to discover ideas transferable to student achievement.
Current Certificate Requirements
For current certificate requirements, visit the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota course catalog.
Program Outcomes
- Design technology-enhanced learning that fully leverages the science of how learning occurs.
- Evaluate and grow your own disposition, mindset, skills, and capacity as a learner and leader.
- Employ technology tools that are optimal for the learning environment and learning outcomes.
- Create learning systems or solutions that tap into the collective wisdom and the power of collaboration.
Design the Future of Learning
After completing the certificate program, graduates will have an important credential to find employment or career advancement opportunities as a primary or secondary teacher or administrator, corporate trainer, instructor in a higher education setting, digital coach, or technology integrationist.
For those considering ways to alter and modernize the curriculum in different educational environments, the Teaching, Training, and Leading with Technology certificate could open the door to an increasingly important position: the instructional coordinator. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, instructional coordinators earn an average salary of $66,290 per year and positions in the field are expected to grow steadily at a 6% rate until 2028.1
Certification Requirements
The online Teaching, Training, and Leading with Technology certificate is an asynchronous and part-time program that typically takes students three semesters, or 12 months, to complete. Students can expedite this process by taking more courses each semester to finish the program in two semesters or eight months.
To be admitted into the program, students must have:
- An undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited university
- A 2.75 GPA on a 4.0 scale
- Transcripts
- An up-to-date resume including both your educational and professional experience
- A written statement: Your personal background and future goals all impact your success with Saint Mary's and inform your education. As you prepare your written statement, think about including previous experiences, education, and your personal strengths and interests. Share your motivations for entering the online Teaching, Training, and Learning with Technology certificate program and how it will contribute to your career.
- Application fee