It seems so easy and obvious… throughout most of our professional lives, those who earn a certificate are ultimately certified in something. And if a professional is certified in something, then they are able to do something that other people cannot. The LDT Program receives many inquiries from prospective and current starts that ask questions like:
- When I’m certified in Educational Technology Integration will I be able to work as a technology coach in my district?
- As a certified e-Learning Designer will I be qualified to apply for instructional designer jobs?
- How much money can I expect to earn once I complete your certification program?
The word certified has a very specific meaning at Penn State University. The meaning used at our university is strongly influenced by the definition of “certification” that is used by the laws and policies that are overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). The purpose of this post is to explain, definitively, how the offerings of the Learning, Design, and Technology Online Programs (LDT Online) are related to certificates, certifications, endorsements, and licenses.
What We Offer
LDT Online offers one versatile, reconfigurable, and flexible degree program, the Master of Education in Learning, Design, and Technology, codenamed the “M.Ed. in LDT”. Every course that our program teaches online can be applied to the M.Ed. in LDT. Our students have great flexibility for creating a degree program that suits their professional goals.
We also offer three postbaccalaureate certificate programs. They are called “postbaccalaureate” certificates because they can only be pursued and earned by someone who has completed a bachelor’s degree from an accredited (or internationally recognized) college or university. These certificates are also sometimes labeled with other names, such as postbaccalaureate credit certificates or graduate credit certificates or certificate of advanced study, but postbaccalaureate certificate is the umbrella term that assumes other labels. These are sometimes abbreviated as “postbac certificates” or “PBC”. The PBC’s offered by LDT Online are in three areas of specialization:
- Educational Technology Integration (official university codename is EDTECH)
- e-Learning Design (codename ELEARN)
- Teaching and Learning Online in K-12 Settings (codename TLOK12)
All courses completed for any (and all) of our certificate programs transfer directly into our M.Ed. in LDT program. In fact, the majority of our M.Ed. in LDT students start by studying with us in one of our certificate programs. Students who complete one of our certificate programs are eligible for a GRE/MAT score submission waiver when applying to our M.Ed. program.
Credentials From Our Programs
What do you “get” when you complete our programs? Our students receive specialized education and training in critical contemporary topics within the fields of learning design and educational technology. All of our courses count toward one or more of our program offerings (see the table on our LDT Course Descriptions page for a visual representation).
Students who are certified (AKA licensed or certificated) educators by the PDE are eligible to receive the Commonwealth’s Online Instruction Endorsement when they complete the TLOK12 certificate program with us. We will mention more about the endorsement later.
But Am I “Certified”?
LDT Online does not offer any PDE-recognized certifications for state-licensed educators who complete our certificate programs. A certificate is not a certification. Also, possibly more importantly, the clientele of LDT Online is much broader than certified K-12 educators. Keeping up with the fields of educational technology and learning design requires curriculum adjustment and course content flexibility that is not matched by the pace at which state departments of education usually adjust their certification standards and other criteria. This is to say that our program and course content are often teaching topics that are ahead of the teacher certification standards in our faculty’s specialized areas of education.
What about the PDE’s Instructional Technology Specialist certification?
The PDE has a certification for Instructional Technology Specialists that prepares educators for technical roles in implementing and supporting educational technology use in public school districts. The PDE first launched this certification in the mid-1990s. A previous generation of our faculty at Penn State were highly involved with the initial setup and statewide rollout of this certification. However, in 2012 the demand for the certification had dwindled. When we surveyed school district superintendents we learned that relatively few were using the certification in their personnel structures. The districts that were using ITS’s were generally not offering additional compensation to educators who earned the ITS certification. With that data, we elected to deliver more advanced training opportunities for our students, and we did not renew as a provider. In sum, LDT Online is not a provider of the PDE’s ITS certification.
What is the Online Instruction Endorsement that you offer?
The PDE describes the Online Instruction Endorsement like this:
The Online Teaching Endorsement is designed for post-baccalaureate candidates that have an Instructional I or Instructional II Pennsylvania teaching certificate. This is a competency-based sequence of courses that consists of a maximum of 12 credit hours that are designed to prepare teachers in blended and online instruction…. The professional core courses, competencies, and experiences for the Online Instruction Endorsement Program [are] designed to address the specific set of issues, knowledge, and competencies that are relevant to teaching and learning in the online environment. [PDE source]
The endorsement is not a certification, but an add-on to an existing teacher certification. We are excited to provide this endorsement opportunity within our TLOK12 certificate, especially for our students who work as K-12 educators. It is an added value to the knowledge and skills that our students achieve as a part of their study in our programs. Any educator, or potential educator, from any state or country, is welcome and encouraged to complete our TLOK12 certificate, but the actual endorsement is only available to those who hold a PDE Instructional I or Instructional II certificate.
How do teachers complete certification requirements at Penn State?
Great question! Penn State University’s College of Education is a large college in and of itself. Our esteemed and internationally recognized colleagues in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction lead one of the most advanced educator certification programs in Pennsylvania. If you are interested in completing or upgrading your K-12 teaching credentials, we cannot recommend them enough.
Summary
In the end, LDT Online does not deliver any certification programs. We offer three postbaccalaureate certificate programs, and one master of education degree program.
Thank you for reading. Additional questions may be directed to Dr. Kirby.