New Registration System!

We are pleased to introduce our new registration system, Canvas Catalog. This system will make registering for our courses and programs clearer, easier, and more flexible as we continue to leverage its capabilities to offer new opportunities. 

Accessing the Catalog 

There are a few ways to access the World Campus Online Faculty Development Catalog.

On our website, clicking on the Take a Course button at the top takes you directly to the Catalog, where you will see the course “cards” for registration. 

If you are not logged in to WebAccess, you will be prompted to log in with your Penn State account. You may also see a page prompting you to log in to see the course listings. Click the Login button on the top right of the page. 

main catalog page

On the website, click Upcoming Courses for a list of what is coming up in chronological order. This page looks and functions very much as it did before. Clicking on any of the links for the courses will bring you to a page in the Catalog with an extended course description, a list of course outcomes and/or goals, and the estimated time it will take you to complete that course. On this page, you can click an Enroll button to register for that course. You can enroll for courses one at a time or add them to a cart where you can enroll for multiple courses at once. 

website upcoming courses list

Our Catalog 

The course catalog displays all courses currently open for registration for at least the next calendar year. The courses are sorted in cards by course number and then by date. Each card displays this information with a short description. Clicking on a card brings you to the same course listing page that is linked from the Upcoming Courses page described above.

catalog course listing information

You can also sort courses by Certificate using the “Categories” menu if you are looking for a specific course in one of our Online Teaching Certificates. 

canvas catalog with certificates categories displayed

Courses are also designated as Instructor-Led, which have specific start and end dates, and Self-Guided, which have open enrollment. You can begin working on these Self-Guided courses immediately and at any time. You do not need to complete them in one sitting and can work on them at your own pace, but you do have a 30-day limit in which to complete them. For more information on the course schedule and course formats, please see “New Course Schedule, Certificate Structure, and Custom Pathways.”

After you submit your enrollment for a course, you will receive an email confirmation with the subject “Catalog Enrollment Confirmation” a few minutes later. This email will include a link to the Dashboard, which gives you a view of courses that are in progress, courses you have completed, and courses you have not completed.

registration confirmation email

Tracking Progress and Completion

The Dashboard lists courses you have in progress, courses you have completed, and courses that have ended that you have not completed. In your confirmation email, you will see a link that takes you to this page. From the Catalog, click on your name on the top right, and then click on “Student Dashboard.”

catalog dashboard

In your Completed courses tab, you will see an option to download your certificate for each course you have completed. If you have completed an Online Teaching Certificate program, please contact Cathy Schreckengast at cas75@psu.edu to confirm and send you that certificate. 

certificate sample

Finally, a useful feature for collecting a record of all your course completions is the PDF transcript. This is not related to Penn State transcripts linked to LionPATH. This is a transcript that is a record only of your course completions and progress for World Campus Online Faculty Development non-credit courses that are available for enrollment through Canvas Catalog.

catalog transcript sample

If you have any questions about this new registration system and process for World Campus Online Faculty Development courses and programs, please direct your inquiries to Cathy Schreckengast, program coordinator, at cas75@psu.edu