Great Online Courses over Holiday Break for Education Majors

Education majors can get ahead over the holiday break by taking an online course from Westminster – earn 3 credit hours in 3 weeks!

Sign up online. Classes are open to non-Westminster students.

EDU 230 O Child and Adolescent Growth & Development (Instructor: Dr. Sue Serota)

This course explores current theory and knowledge in the field of childhood growth, cognitive and psychosocial development from ages pre-birth through adolescence. Major learning theories will be interrelated with information on physical, psychosocial, cognitive and language development. The goals and methods of childhood education will be studied and important contributions from social and behavioral scientists will be analyzed and evaluated for those planning to work with children and/or adolescents.

EDU 350 O Digital Literacy for the 21^st Century Classroom (Instructor: Dr. Barri Bumgarner)

This course is geared toward today’s digital citizens who plan to teach in the current technology-infused classrooms. Future educators are entering schools that are 1:1, so we must prepare these future educators to work in a technology-rich environment. Forbes 500 now lists digital literacy as a required skill when applying for every position. This class will integrate digital literacy across the curriculum, motivate students to embrace technology as both a consumer and a producer, and require they participate in the course as both a student AND an educator.

EDU 385 O Diversity in Education (Instructor: Dr. Sue Serota)

This course will introduce both education and non-education majors with the role of the 21^st century school in a diverse society. Students in this course will study important issues, approaches, and strategies in working with and forming connections with a population that is ethnically and culturally diverse. In addition, an emphasis of this course is to promote teaching tolerance and anti-bias in a land where discrimination and sexism still exist. To live as an informed and tolerant adult in an increasingly pluralistic America is a major focus of this course. Specific topics to be explored include: understanding ourselves and others’ values and belief systems, learning the language of prejudice, and creating unity in a diverse America.

EDU 392 O Teaching Reading in the Content Areas (Instructor: Dr. Barri Bumgarner)

This course allows future teachers the opportunity to explore methods that facilitate students’ reading comprehension of content area materials (all types of texts, including books, digital, and infographic). It is based on the recognition that reading in the content areas (non-fiction/informational) requires explicit strategies that are best taught in the context of the content area. It is also recognized that the most effective teacher of content area reading strategies is the teacher of the content area.

Feature photo above, Claire Vatterott Jackson (left) graduated from Westminster in 2010 with a degree in Elementary Education. She received her Master’s in Special Education – Learning Disabilities from UMSL, and she currently is an Academic Enrichment Specialist at Andrews Academy in St. Louis.