Learning Circles Professional Development Online Course

Using the six phases of a Learning Circle integrate a collaborative project into your classroom

iEARN equips educators to help students understand how historical and geographic conditions interact to shape their lives. The sharing and exchange of information gives children a deeper understanding of themselves, their family, their community, and their world. Recent events around the world, have shown that we have plenty of reason to teach our children how to get along better by emphasizing similarities, not differences!

Learning Circles are about communicating and sharing information. In this online course, you will be guided through the six phases of a Learning Circle. Assignments will correspond to the work you would normally do during a Learning Circle experience.

Most of the work and assignments during this course and a Learning circle are student centered. As part of this course you and your students will

• Join a small group (a Circle), share cultural information,
• Choose a collaborative project in which to participate.
• Develop this topic with your students and make plans to research and share student work via the Internet.
• Develop ways to teach your students to gather and organize information for publication in print and on the Internet.
• Solicit information for your project from other schools in your circle
• Edit and publish a final publication featuring student work

• Basic word processing, Internet and e-mailing skills
• Reliable access to a computer and Internet
• Availability to commit at least 5 hours a week to course activities
• A classroom/students whom you will be working with throughout the course period
• Working knowledge of English Language

How does an iEARN online course work? Using the Learning Circles model you will select an iEARN project to integrate into your teaching

The course is asynchronous. This means you work in your own time( from home, school or another location with Internet access) to complete weekly assignments. However, this does not mean you are working alone!

This course has 25-30 participants from around the world and two facilitators. You will communicate with one another through the iEARN discussion forums to discuss assignments and readings. You can expect frequent feedback from your facilitators and participants throughout the course period. The course will be very interactive and you are expected to communicate with the other members in the course and facilitators frequently.

The course begins with an orientation so you can learn more about what you will be doing over the seven weeks. Then the course is divided into seven modules (one lesson per week) with readings, discussions, individual and group assignments. Lessons and assignments take participants step-by-step through the process of integrating an online collaborative project into their classroom. 

Time Commitment

You can expect to commit and average of 4-5 hours a week for a course.

Completion of the course

Participants who successfully complete all the course requirements will receive a certificate from iEARN with recognition as an iEARN Master Teacher

Certification

* Participants must complete the course in order to receive certification

** US Teacher Certification

• New York City Department of Education teachers earn 3P credits per course.
• Rhode Island Department of Education teachers earn 40-45 contact hours for completing this course
• Washington State Department of Education teachers earn 45 clock hours for this course
• Wyoming State Department of Education teachers earn 3 hours of in-service
• Delaware State teachers who take an iEARN course through participation in approved International Education Cluster will earn a 2% Professional Development Cluster Credit

Teacher Continuing Education Units (CEU's)
The University of Illinois' Center for Global Studies offers Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for participants of the iEARN Online Professional Development Courses.

• Continuing Education Units is a non-credit option, but it is often counted by school districts for district professional development requirements and incentives.
• Participation in the iEARN professional development program through the Center for Global Studies is $50.
• *Illinois International High School Initiative Pilot School and Consortia teachers are not assessed a $50 participation fee.

* Illinois teachers will receive a total of 8 ISBE-approved CEU's (1 ISBE CEU equals 5 CPDU contact hours)
* Non-Illinois teachers will receive a total of 4 University CEU's (1 University CEU equals 10 contact hours)

To register

1. Register for the course on this page
2. Fax a copy of the iEARN registration form to the Center for Global Studies at 217-265-7519 or fill out CGS Registration form http://www.cgs.uiuc.edu/resources/for_K-12/iearn_cpdu.html
3. 3 Send a check for $50.00 to the Center for Global Studies : Center for Global Studies302 E. John Street, Suite 1705
   Champaign, IL 61820

Course fees

US Teachers

iEARN’s cost per course is $600; however, with grant support we are able to offer the courses at the following reduced rates:

• $360 fee for non-members
  $260 fee for members
• + Additional $100 for New York City Teachers seeking P credit.

International Teachers

iEARN’s cost per course is $600; however, with grant support we are able to offer the courses at the reduced rate of

• $100 per course

Scholarships for International Participants

A limited number of course scholarships are available for non-US participants. Participants must complete the course. We reserve scholarship spaces to have diversity from different regions of the world. Please inquire upon registration.
Scholarship Requirements:

The cost per course is USD $600 but due to grant support we are been able to offer full scholarships to many teachers.

To receive a scholarship you

• Must commit to complete the course for certification as an iEARN Master Teacher
  • Assist country coordinators with trainings where possible and share knowledge learnt in the course with educators in your school or region where possible.

Refund/Cancellation policy
iEARN will issue a 50% refund for cancelled course registrations up until the end of the first week of course instruction.

By actually implementing a Learning Circle project, you will see first-hand how you can use it in your classroom every year.