Helping Students to Cope with Traumatic Events: Online Education and Training for School Personnel

A Joint Online Course Offering from Columbia University School of Social Work and iEARN

Educators around the world are faced daily with incidents and issues causing significant trauma and loss on a daily basis. This is true, not only for nationally visible disasters, but it is also true for local school and neighborhood violence, assault, and traumatic loss of relatives and friends. This course is designed to provide you with the skills and tools for how to address the effects of,and responses to, youth trauma and bereavement.

You will learn these skills in a secure, supportive, collaborative and highly interactive online environment with educators in the United States and around the world

Enroll in this class and

• increase your knowledge about trauma;
• recognize the signs and symptoms of unresolved trauma;
• strengthen your ability to identify students at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder;
• provide yourself with the tools to be used in the classroom
• enable yourself to respond to students whose lives have been disrupted by trauma; and,
• inform yourself about self-care strategies
• join with your students in collaborative iEARN projects relevant to coping with trauma
• learn about iEARN's technology and pedagogy for global collaborative learning

On completion of this course, you will have acquired theoretical and practical knowledge of:

• factors that place students at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder;
• factors that minimize the risk that students will develop posttraumatic stress disorder;
• " common" and pathological responses to trauma;
• Appropriate responses to students during and after a traumatic event;
• the impact of trauma on school personnel; and
  when referral for professional evaluation is indicated;
• best practices for online collaboration using simple to advanced technology tools;
• how to help students to identify and analyze a relevant problem in their community that relate to the curriculum; and,
• how to share your results, conclusions and concerns with students and teachers worldwide and have continuous dialogue

What do you need to participate in the course

• 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 during the course period
• Working knowledge of English

How does the online course work?

The course is asynchronous. This means you will work in your own time from home or school to complete weekly assignments. You will sign onto a website to participate in the course.

The course is very interactive and communication is continuous during the course period. You will be 30 participants and two facilitators. You will communicate with one another in the iEARN discussion forums to discuss assignment and readings.

You can expect frequent feedback from your facilitators and participants throughout the course period.
The course is divided into eight modules (one lesson per week) with readings, discussions, individual and group assignments. Lessons and assignments take you step-by-step through the process of integrating a trauma related online collaborative project into your classroom.You will select a project that matches your state/national standards and begin integrating the project into your classroom during the course period.

How much time does this involve?
You can expect to commit 4-5 hours a week for a course.
Participants who successfully complete all the course requirements will receive a certificate from iEARN-USA with recognition as an iEARN Master Teacher

Course registration

The course is limited to 25 participants. Participants will be selected on a rolling basis as they met the criteria for the course.

** 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.

For more information write to onlinepd@us.iearn.org