eLearning Design & Development
Empowering faculty with updated strategies and tools to meet the needs of our diverse learners.
Revised and updated to support teaching in the Pandemic: Four focused online courses that include COVID considerations and equity concerns.
This fully online four-course certificate prepares you to design and teach eLearning courses. Both new and experienced faculty will benefit from these practical courses essential for successful teaching in the online environment, from eLearning design principles, alignment principles, building community, and creating media and incorporating technology. The culminating project will be a sample portion of a course in online or hybrid format and will be peer-reviewed. Coursework will align with both Quality Matters and Department of Education Standards.
Renton Technical College’s Certificate in eLearning Design & Development has forged a partnership with City University of Seattle that allows eLearning Certificate graduates to transfer the courses in as direct equivalencies of graduate-level coursework in the M.ED. in Adult Education or the Ed.D. in Leadership. What this means is that the eLearning certificate will dramatically reduce your master’s or doctoral degree time-to-completion, saving you time and money. For more information on this unique opportunity, please contact Dr. Pressley Rankin for the M.Ed. in Adult Education program and Dr. Joel Domingo for the Ed.D. in Leadership Program. See a blog post featuring a graduate of our program who then earned her master’s at City University: Student upgrades her technical college certificate to a master’s degree.
“This was the best professional development experience I’ve had in my 17 years of teaching.” – Graduate, eLearning Design and Development Program
Cost: 175.00 per course.
Questions? Contact the RTC Faculty Learning Express: eLearning@RTC.edu
WINTER: January 19, 2022 – March 1, 2022 (6 weeks)
- W001: Course Design and Implementation: This class will focus on creating course design for student success. From navigational concerns to alignment of course and unit objectives, students will begin the process of course layout.
- W002: Reaching Every Learner: This course will explore ways to keep our diverse and busy adult students engaged and motivated by creating pathways to success. Utilizing a variety of readings and activities, students will discover methods for creating an effective and relevant online class.
SPRING: April 20, 2022 – May 31, 2022 (6 weeks)
- W003: OER and Information Literacy: This course covers how to find and evaluate information, Open Educational Resources, and understanding copyright law.
- W004: Media Creation and Final Project: This class will focus on ways to make use of current technology tools, apps, and websites for your subject. Students will also create their own personalized videos for the flipped, hybrid or online class. The Culminating project will be a sample section of an online or hybrid class made available in the Canvas format. Each final project will reflect the main components of the certificate courses. The projects will be peer-reviewed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Do I have to be a community college teacher to enroll?
No. The program focuses on teachers of diverse adult student learners, but it is open to anyone interested in this subject. It is a basic course in elearning that could be useful for any educator. -
Do I have to be a US citizen to take this?
This course is open to anyone, and we welcome participants from other countries. -
How much time commitment is expected for the courses?
Each course is worth about 4 hours of classwork time a week. -
What if I need to miss some time during a course?
The courses are set up so that participants move through weekly activities together, but some flexibility is provided to people who need it, provided that assignments are completed by the end of each course. -
What if I don't have a Canvas account for the final project?
You will be provided with a Canvas account to use throughout the program. It will be kept open for your use for another year after you have completed the certificate. -
How are the courses graded?
These are all pass-fail courses, and 85% of the activities should be completed. There are no tests, but each participant should take part in the discussions and activities. In addition, each participant will be building their own online course as their culminating project.
Program Outcomes
At the completion of the Program, you will be able to
- Design and build an eLearning Course (hybrid or online format)
- Articulate and carry out best practices in eLearning
- Be a connected eLearning educator and ongoing learner; actively use Personal Learning Networks and online tools
Course Design and Implementation
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Write and align unit and course objectives in an eLearning course
- Explore course navigation options in order to build an eLearning course
- Write assignment rubrics and create assessments
Reaching Every Learner
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Articulate different teaching methodologies related to student retention and success
- Explore pedagogical approaches for your subject to fit diverse student needs
- Demonstrate knowledge of various pathways to learning
OER and Information Literacy
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Navigate the web and locate OER materials and information related to your subject matter.
- Demonstrate knowledge of copyright law as it relates to eLearning
Media Creation and Final Project
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Create your own videos for an eLearning course
- Make use of current technology tools in an online course
YOUR FINAL PROJECT:
Each participant will have a Canvas shell to use to create their own final project course. Your final project will be the completion of an online or hybrid course in the Canvas format. These shells are Renton Technical College course shells made available to you and will remain active and usable by you one year after you have completed the certificate. If you would like to use them at your own institution or independently, you can easily import the course material into another course shell outside of Renton Technical College.
Instructor Information
Dr. Liz Falconer has been an educator for over 30 years, working in Japan and the US, and has taught in a wide variety of classroom environments, has facilitated three popular Canvas MOOCs on hybrid teaching, and has extensive online and classroom teaching experience. She is also a Quality Matters master reviewer and helps facilitate state-wide QM courses. Fascinated with the challenges and opportunities our internet world is providing, she encourages educators to tap into their personal creativity. Her teaching is informed by her work in storytelling and movie-making.
Liz holds an MA in Japanese Pedagogy and a doctorate in International Education from the University of Iowa. She is Director of Innovative Teaching and Learning at Renton Technical College and is the designer and coordinator of RTC's Continuing Education courses for faculty. In her spare time, she goes swing dancing with her husband John.
Mitzi Philpott, M.Ed. began her journey as a college instructor over 17 years ago teaching computer applications face2face courses at Renton Technical College. It was fall 2001 quarter when she enrolled in her first online class called WAOL Teaching Online: Planning for Success and was hooked. The following quarter, she developed and began teaching computer applications online course using Blackboard. She has taught business math, business writing, computer applications, human relations, job search and keyboarding as hybrid classes in Angel and currently in Canvas. Mitzi is a business technology instructor at Renton Technical College and Green River Community College. She successfully transformed the Office Assistant/Receptionist Program at RTC from the traditional face2face format into an interactive hybrid format with a student-focused environment in Canvas.
Mitzi Philpott is a graduate of the eLearning Design and Development Program and was one of the first to take advantage of the program's partnership with City University to earn her Master's degree in Adult Education. She also holds a BS in Business Administration from Northern Arizona University. Mitzi is a Quality Matters master reviewer. She is enthusiastic about fitness and is an ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor teaching basic power yoga, yoga-pilates and kickboxing. She enjoys activities such as boating, kayaking, river rafting, waterskiing, hiking, snow skiing, walking her dogs and walking for causes.
Yueh-Lin Chen has 20 years of professional experience as a librarian at public libraries, college libraries and special library settings. She is very familiar with the information retrieval behaviors and information needs of people with diverse cultural and educational backgrounds and is very interested in working with them to effectively retrieve useful results. She holds a Master in Library Science from Queens College, City University of New York; and a Master of Science in Information Management from iSchool at University of Washington.
Currently, she is employed at both Renton Technical College Library and McCaw Foundation Library at Asian Art Museum – Seattle Art Museum. When she is not at work, she likes to travel, cook, paint and learn new languages.
Jennie Vano (she/her/hers) has spent 12 years distributing point-of-need information to students, faculty and staff at technical colleges in Washington State as a librarian and college success instructor. Her favorite thing about being a librarian is having conversations with students and faculty that lead to learning, knowledge and connections. While teaching college success courses, Jennie had the opportunity to use Canvas and get to know the basics. Whether in the Library or on Canvas, she loves playing with technology tools to see how they work. Jennie works as an Adjunct Librarian and teaches college success at RTC.
