Thank you for your interest in TEACH ON. Registration for 2020 summer classes is now closed.

When teaching and learning goes online, especially in a crisis situation, it raises a myriad of pedagogical, ethical, technological, and professional challenges for both students and teachers.

To support educators who have suddenly transitioned to teaching online and may continue to teach online in the fall, the University of Arizona is proud to offer the TEACH ON Certificate Program.

Become a Better (Online) Teacher

This fully online non-credit professional development certificate will provide a foundation for approaching teaching and learning in digitally mediated environments, including:

• Best practices for teaching online.
• Empowering participants to create high-quality, engaging online learning experiences for their students.
• Hands-on practice using a variety of digital teaching tools.

How Does TEACH ON Work?

We know educators have different levels of skill and experience. That's why TEACH ON was designed to be flexible. Participants with less training or experience in teaching online can choose to enroll in the full certificate program (three classes total). Those with more experience can choose to take individual classes to improve their knowledge and skills in specific areas.

TEACH ON classes include:

• FOCUS (introductory) Unit: Participants will FOCUS on core best practices for online teaching and develop a plan for designing an online course and/or project. This week-long asynchronous class will focus on core considerations when teaching in digitally mediated environments, including first-week considerations, time management, curricular alignment, legalities (privacy and accessibility), and scaffolding. Participants can work at their own pace, but there will be there will be recommended deadlines for completing course work each day to help participants stay on track to complete the course.
• Mini-Units: Each week-long class will prompt participants to complete activities that both deliver and model the content being covered while introducing them to different technologies. Participants will then attend a live online session where they have the opportunity to debrief and discuss adopting and adapting activities for their own courses. Live online sessions will be held at 10:00 a.m. PT on Mondays, the last day of each class. Live sessions will also be recorded and available for participants to view at a later time.
• Bonus Mini-Unit: The "Managing Synchronous activities" mini-unit will be offered for free.

To earn the TEACH ON Certificate, participants will need to complete the "FOCUS" unit, plus two (2) of nine (9) week-long mini-units. Participants who enroll in the certificate program may also enroll in additional mini-units at a discounted rate.

How Much Does TEACH ON Cost?

Discounted pricing is available for K-12 educators nationwide, as well as for University of Arizona faculty and staff members. Additional discounts are available for groups of 25 or more educators. Contact us to learn more.

When Can I Start?

Registration for 2020 summer classes is now closed.

The FOCUS unit will be offered three times. Participants can choose to enroll in a June 16-22, July 7-13 or July 28-August 3 session. Content will be the same in all sessions. 

Mini-units will be offered:

• Developing Major Projects/Assignments (6/23-6/29)
• Designing for Student-Student Interaction (6/30-7/6)
• Facilitating Discussions (6/30-7/6)
• Assigning Reading & Notetaking (7/7-7/13)
• Managing Synchronous Activities (7/14-7/20) *
• Checking-in (7/14-7/20)
• Fostering Student-Teacher Interaction (7/21-7/27)
• Engaging Mobile Devices (7/28-8/3)
• Providing Feedback (8/4-8/10)

* Managing Synchronous Activities will be free.

Who's Behind TEACH ON?

TEACH ON was designed by and for educators who teach online:

Rochelle (Shelley) Rodrigo is the Interim Director of the Writing Program; Associate Professor in the Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English (RCTE); and Associate Writing Specialist (Continuing Status) in the Department of English at the University of Arizona. She researches how “newer” technologies better facilitate communicative interactions, specifically teaching and learning. As well as co-authoring three editions of The Wadsworth/Cengage Guide to Research, Shelley also co-edited Rhetorically Rethinking Usability (Hampton Press). Her scholarly work has appeared in Computers and Composition, C&C Online, Technical Communication Quarterly, Teaching English in the Two-Year College, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy, Enculturation¸ as well as various edited collections. In 2018 she became an Adobe Education Leader, in 2014 she was awarded Old Dominion University’s annual Teaching with Technology Award, in 2012 the Digital Humanities High Powered Computing Fellowship, and, in 2010 she became a Google Certified Teacher/Innovator.

Catrina Mitchum is Interim Assistant Director of Online-Writing Program, a Career-Track Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, and an Affiliate faculty member of Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English (RCTE). She has been teaching online since 2009, and online only since 2010. Her research interests are in retention and online course design and delivery of online writing classes. She has scholarly work published in The Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, MediaCommons, and Enculturation, and she was awarded, with other scholars, the CCCC Research Initiative Grant in 2017-2018. In 2019, she was awarded the Professional and Technical Writing Teaching Award. She teaches first-year writing courses as well as upper level undergraduate courses in Professional and Technical Writing, entirely online.

Susan Miller-Cochran is professor of English and Executive Director of the General Education Refresh Initiative at the University of Arizona, where her research focuses on instructional technology, writing program administration, labor in writing programs, and multilingual writing. She formerly served as Director of the Writing Program at UA. Her work has appeared in over 40 journal articles and book chapters, and she is a co-editor of Composition, Rhetoric, and Disciplinarity (Utah State, 2018); Rhetorically Rethinking Usability (Hampton, 2009); and Strategies for Teaching First-Year Composition (NCTE, 2002). She is also a co-author of An Insider’s Guide to Academic Writing (Macmillan, 2019), The Cengage Guide to Research (Cengage, 2017), and Keys for Writers (Cengage, 2016). She formerly served as a faculty member at North Carolina State University (2006-2015) and Mesa Community College (AZ, 2000-2006), and she is a past president of the Council of Writing Program Administrators.