2020 News Stories

FCIT launches free online course series to support K-12 teachers through virtual instruction

teacher with students on a computer

TAMPA, Fla. (April 23, 2020) 鈥 The Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT), in partnership with USF Corporate Training and Professional Education, has launched the first in a series of fully-online professional development courses to help support K-12 teachers in virtual teaching environments.
 
The first course, 鈥,鈥 launched this week and explores techniques teachers can use to effectively leverage the support of student assistants in an online setting. Consisting of short sessions of approximately 30 minutes to one hour, the course is self-paced and can be completed at a time that fits best into teachers鈥 busy schedules.
 
Nate Wolkenhauer, assistant director for FCIT, said this course is the first of many free or low cost courses the center will launch to support K-12 teachers and their students. The vision for the project is to help educators better navigate online learning environments and empower them to effectively use strategies that work for themselves and their students.
 
鈥淥ur goal in creating these professional development offerings is to keep teachers in mind at every phase of development,鈥 Wolkenhauer said. 鈥淎s a teacher, I have sat through so many professional development sessions that are extremely time-consuming and attempt to cram in more information than possible in the time provided. Our courses are meant to make teachers experts in one specific skill as opposed to providing a little bit of information on a bunch of different, loosely connected strategies.鈥
 
Housed in the USF College of Education, the provides professional learning, digital content, and technology integration evaluation services to schools and districts worldwide. The Center鈥檚 free resource websites average over two million hits per school day from nearly 200 countries and territories. FCIT hosts a variety of resources such as courses, the suite of technology integration evaluation tools and the College of Education鈥檚 iTeach Lounge.


For more information and to register for the course, visit USF Corporate Training and Professional Education鈥檚 .