Upcoming Courses

Online learning (OL) courses help faculty improve skills for online teaching and service. The courses are open to all current Penn State faculty, staff, and graduate students and are offered in a self-directed or instructor-led format. Self-directed courses can be completed at your own pace. Instructor-led courses are facilitated by Penn State faculty and simulate the online student experience.

Courses begin on the first Monday of the designated month. If that date falls on a national or university holiday, participants will be notified of the start date.

Course registration closes two weeks before the start date for instructor-led courses. All course work should be completed within the designated course timeline.

OL 2600.01 Accessible Online Course Authoring, 2024

Starts: 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024
Self-guided

This course equips course authors and instructors with knowledge about accessible web practices and course design that can be applied when creating and adding content in Canvas. Beyond teaching standard accessibility best practices for authoring in Canvas, this course also aims to provide a broader perspective on World Campus students and why implementing these practices matters for them.

OL 3000.01 Supporting Accommodations for Online Learners, 2024

Starts: 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024
Self-guided

At some point in your teaching, you’ll be notified that a student needs an accommodation. Often, this may confront you with a question or dilemma requiring action from you, perhaps well before you fully understand all of the issues, protocols, or possible solutions. To simulate such situations and prepare you to handle them, this course forgoes the standard online course framework and instead presents a scenario that situates you in an accommodation-related problem at the beginning of each module.

OL 3100.01 Teaching the Adult Learner, 2024

Starts: 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024
Self-guided

According to the American Council on Education, more than 50 percent of students are adult learners. These numbers continue to grow as these individuals seek to advance in their career, obtain a degree to stay…

OL 3200.01 Serving the Military and Veteran Student, 2024

Starts: 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024
Self-guided

Most World Campus instructors will encounter students with a connection to the U.S. Armed Forces: currently serving members, former members, retirees, or dependents of a service member. This course will introduce you to military-connected students…

OL 3600.01 Universal Design for Learning, 2024

Starts: 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024
Self-guided

In this introductory course on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), you will be presented with rationales and research that support designing learning experiences with UDL in mind, read scenarios about applications of UDL, and reflect…

OL 3800.01 Excellence in Academic Advising, 2024

Starts: 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024
Self-guided

This course examines the foundations of academic advising as essential components of student success and retention in higher education. Topics include the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of academic advising; the Penn State curriculum and student…

OL 3875.01 Excellence in Academic Advising: Career Advising, 2024

Starts: 01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024
Self-guided

Although career advising isn’t the primary role of an academic adviser, holistic academic advising involves more than just course selection. Students routinely ask academic advisers career-related questions. The purpose of this course is to inform the career conversations you have with students and support you in identifying suitable referrals to career professionals and resources at Penn State.

OL 2000.01 Essentials of Online Teaching, Mar2024

Starts: 03/04/2024 - 04/08/2024
Instructor Led

OL 2000 covers techniques and theories designed to help you feel more comfortable and confident in the online classroom. Even if you don’t have online teaching experience, you probably have teaching experiences you can transfer…

OL 2150.01 Canvas Hands On, Mar2024

Starts: 03/04/2024 - 04/01/2024
Instructor Led

In this course you will complete important operations needed to prepare a Canvas course, add content to it, manage interactions within it, and use some advanced features. By the end of the course, you will…

OL 2300.01 Teamwork in Online Teaching and Learning, Mar2024

Starts: 03/04/2024 - 04/01/2024
Instructor Led

This course is designed to help you create a team assignment for your class. You and other participants will learn from each other through discussions, and you’ll create your own team assessments and receive feedback…

OL 2000.01 Essentials of Online Teaching, April 2024

Starts: 04/01/2024 - 05/06/2024
Instructor-Led

OL 2000 covers techniques and theories designed to help you feel more comfortable and confident in the online classroom. Even if you don’t have online teaching experience, you probably have teaching experiences you can transfer…

OL 3400.01 Online Course Design, May2024

Starts: 05/06/2024 - 06/03/2024
Instructor Led

This course was designed for instructors with minimal learning design experience. It will help you to develop an approach to online course design that employs Penn State Quality Assurance e-Learning Design Standards and Quality Matters…

OL 2000.01 Essentials of Online Teaching, Jun2024

Starts: 06/03/2024 - 07/08/2024
Instructor Led

OL 2000 covers techniques and theories designed to help you feel more comfortable and confident in the online classroom. Even if you don’t have online teaching experience, you probably have teaching experiences you can transfer…

OL 2200.01: Assessment of Online Learners, Jun2024

Starts: 06/03/2024 - 07/01/2024
Instructor Led

This course goes deeper into the topic of assessing student learning than OL 2000 did. The higher education community is increasingly committed to creating learning-centered environments in which faculty are actively involved in helping students…

OL 2300.01 Teamwork in Online Teaching and Learning, Jun2024

Starts: 06/03/2024 - 07/01/2024
Instructor Led

This course is designed to help you create a team assignment for your class. You and other participants will learn from each other through discussions, and you’ll create your own team assessments and receive feedback…

OL 2450.01: Integrating Open Educational Resources into Your Course, Jun2024

Starts: 06/03/2024 - 07/01/2024
Instructor Led

OL2450 provides participants with the tools, resources, and background knowledge needed to integrate open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy practices into their courses. In this instructor-led course you will articulate the values and strengths…

OL 2000.01 Essentials of Online Teaching, Aug2024

Starts: 08/05/2024 - 09/09/2024
Instructor Led

OL 2000 covers techniques and theories designed to help you feel more comfortable and confident in the online classroom. Even if you don’t have online teaching experience, you probably have teaching experiences you can transfer…

OL 2150.01 Canvas Hands On, Aug2024

Starts: 08/05/2024 - 09/02/2024
Instructor Led

In this course you will complete important operations needed to prepare a Canvas course, add content to it, manage interactions within it, and use some advanced features. By the end of the course, you will…

OL 3400.01 Online Course Design, Sep2024

Starts: 09/02/2024 - 09/30/2024
Instructor Led

This course was designed for instructors with minimal learning design experience. It will help you to develop an approach to online course design that employs Penn State Quality Assurance e-Learning Design Standards and Quality Matters…

OL 2000.01 Essentials of Online Teaching, Oct2024

Starts: 10/07/2024 - 11/11/2024
Instructor Led

OL 2000 covers techniques and theories designed to help you feel more comfortable and confident in the online classroom. Even if you don’t have online teaching experience, you probably have teaching experiences you can transfer…

OL 2150.01 Canvas Hands On, Oct2024

Starts: 10/07/2024 - 11/04/2024
Instructor Led

In this course you will complete important operations needed to prepare a Canvas course, add content to it, manage interactions within it, and use some advanced features. By the end of the course, you will…

OL 2450.01: Integrating Open Educational Resources into Your Course, Oct2024

Starts: 10/07/2024 - 11/04/2024
Instructor Led

OL2450 provides participants with the tools, resources, and background knowledge needed to integrate open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy practices into their courses. In this instructor-led course you will articulate the values and strengths…