Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education Online

This course is designed to equip students with essential skills and knowledge for collaborating with families, professionals, and community members with the goal of working together to foster students’ healthy development and learning. As part of a focus on professionalism, candidates study and practice interviewing, resumé, and networking skills. After self-assessing, analyzing, and reflecting on professional and teaching skills, the course concludes with creating a comprehensive professional development plan that includes individualized short- and long-term goals, incorporating skill enhancement, active learning, collaboration, self-care, and support and coaching. By the end of the course, students will have delved into the critical role effective collaboration, meaningful family and community engagement, enhanced communication skills, and individualized roadmaps for professional development play in their success in and contribution to the field of education.

This course explores current thinking on the role of technology in today’s elementary school classrooms. Teacher candidates study evidence-based practice for integrating technology with elementary curriculum to enhance learning through engaging, meaningful, and effective classroom experiences. Designed for aspiring elementary educators, the course emphasizes the role of technology in teacher efficiencies along and professional growth as well as how technology can support students’ diverse learning strengths and needs, foster collaboration, and promote creativity. Teacher candidates gain hands-on experience with a variety of digital tools, applications, and resources aligned to key content areas such as social studies, science, math, literacy, and the arts. Through practical applications, candidates have opportunities to enhance lessons by adding technology elements that encourage critical thinking and build digital literacy skills. The course also addresses ethical considerations and strategies for creating safe, equitable, and inclusive digital learning environments. By the end of the course, participants will have had multiple opportunities to develop a robust understanding of how to leverage technology to enhance student engagement and prepare learners for success in a rapidly evolving digital world. This course emphasizes the integration of pedagogy, content knowledge, and technology for a transformative impact on elementary education.

This course equips teacher-candidates with essential knowledge and skills in fostering literacy development among diverse student populations. Through evidence-based instructional strategies, candidates practice developing engaging learning experiences tailored to students’ individual strengths and needs. Emphasis is placed on the 5 Pillars of Reading - fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, and vocabulary development. Topics include culturally and linguistically responsive teaching methods, collaborating with professionals, differentiation strategies, and techniques for fostering oral and written language development. Special attention is given to cultivating a love or reading through immersive and inclusive environments. Teacher candidates are involved in exploring the latest research in literacy instruction, practice, and assessment and examining its implications for effective teaching practices. Case studies and field experience applications support growth in understanding how to adapt instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners and well as students with varying abilities including those students with dyslexia.

What do effective teachers have to know and practice in order to provide meaningful, engaging culturally and individually responsive learning experiences for every student? Beginning with studying the foundations of effective instruction including how to align standards with meaningful objectives, outcomes, and learning experiences, this course involves students in developing culturally responsive lesson plans, supporting the unique learning inclinations of every student, designing differentiated learning experiences, and providing ongoing, quality, nondiscriminatory assessments that address specific learning goals and individual differences. In addition, teacher candidates focus on the power of positive, descriptive feedback in helping students understand and identify quality work and engaging students in analyzing their own assessment results and setting goals for their own learning. Effective planning, instruction, and assessment are key to quality teaching and just as important, critical to promoting engaged and successful learning experiences.

This course is designed to equip teacher candidates with the foundational skills necessary to teach basic math concepts effectively. Through a blend of theoretical knowledge and practical application, teacher candidates will explore various pedagogical strategies, instructional methods, and assessment techniques tailored to young learners. Topics covered include number theory, number relationships, mathematical tools and vocabulary, numeracy, arithmetic operations, geometry and measurement, and their application to the real world. Emphasis is placed on developing students’ conceptual understanding, problem-solving abilities, fostering mathematical reasoning, and promoting student engagement in diverse classroom settings.