E-Learning Certificate: What It Is and How It Can Advance Your Career
E-Learning Certificates are short, graduate credit-bearing programs for teachers who want to build formal skills in creating and delivering effective online, remote, and hybrid learning. These programs prepare teachers to deliver effective learning in settings beyond traditional classrooms. They can be completed in far less time than a full degree, while still earning the same academic credit and value toward a related degree. National Louis University’s E-Learning Certificate is delivered through National College of Education’s 12 fully online programs for degree, endorsement, and certificate credit.
What Is an E-Learning Certificate?
The training and/or coursework in a program like this can differ greatly from classroom-based instruction. Teachers in these programs learn skills such as designing a quality online learning environment, using technology for effective learning, keeping students engaged, and assessing learning in a virtual environment.
National Louis University’s E-Learning Certificate program is part of the National College of Education’s (NCE) 12 fully online programs for degree, endorsement, and certificate study. Online courses can be completed as a single certificate program or as the basis for subsequent graduate degree study, with all credits (3 per course for a total of 9) counting as graduate-level and generally transferable.
Why Pursue an E-Learning Certificate?
Teachers can benefit by acquiring effective online teaching skills. By becoming effective online teachers, teachers can teach virtual courses. They can also support their districts’ blended learning programs. They can also become more effective by incorporating more technology into their existing classrooms.
The certificate is also short and sweet, designed to help teachers build skills in specific areas without completing a full graduate degree program that may be far removed from what they need to improve their effectiveness in the classroom.
Key Questions About This Certificate
Does this certificate apply toward a graduate degree?
Many programs that offer these types of certificates allow participants to use their new skills while working toward a graduate degree. Often, teachers can receive graduate credit for the courses that they take as part of a certificate program. Later, teachers can apply these same credits toward their graduate degree. For example, the E-Learning Certificate that National Louis University currently offers as part of its National College of Education gives teachers the chance to earn 3-6 graduate credits in online teaching and learning as part of the certificate. You can later apply these same graduate credits to a related graduate degree at National Louis University.
Do I need to be a licensed teacher to enroll?
These programs are geared to practicing teachers. So, you must already be a licensed teacher to enroll in this program. The program is not intended to provide a route to initial licensure.
Is this the same as a technology integration or instructional technology endorsement?
This program is very related to a Technology Integration or Instructional Technology Endorsement. The primary focus of this E-Learning Certificate is to give practicing educators the knowledge and skills needed to design and deliver effective online and hybrid courses. A Technology Specialist Endorsement would focus on ways to integrate technology to enhance teaching and learning within a face-to-face setting, for example.
How long does it take to complete an E-Learning Certificate?
E-Learning Certificates are typically shorter than degree programs and can be completed in less than a year by a part-time student. The time it takes a teacher to complete the required number of courses depends on how many programs they register for and how many courses they register for each term.
Career Impact
Teachers who have completed an E-Learning Certificate can effectively teach virtual or hybrid courses, support a school or district’s efforts to develop online and blended learning programs, and create technology-integrated instructional designs for their own classrooms. As more districts make online and blended learning a permanent part of their K-12 offerings, formal training in this area is becoming increasingly important for teachers who want to lead or support these programs.
Beyond the classroom, teachers who have earned an E-Learning Certificate can support their district’s efforts around instructional technology. This could mean serving as a teacher leader to support their colleagues as they transition to online or blended learning environments. With additional experience, teachers could then move into roles such as an instructional designer or e-learning coordinator.
E-Learning Certificate at National Louis University
National Louis University’s National College of Education now offers an E-Learning Certificate through 12 degree, endorsement, and certificate programs, all delivered fully online. Currently, 10 programs of study can be completed within one year for part-time students. A 5-course (15-credit) program for those seeking to support other teaching roles within a school or district, now working to teach in a remote or hybrid learning environment, launched in the fall of 2020.
