Arizona Private School Association (APSA)

ED101 - Effective Teaching Strategies

Facilitator: Gary Meers, Ed.D.

This introductory course covers the essential roles of a teacher and the competencies required to be a successful instructor in the career college setting. Proven techniques and strategies for planning and preparation are presented and discussed. In addition, the course offers effective methods for conducting the first class meeting and delivering course content. This course provides a solid foundation for new instructors and serves as an excellent refresher for more experienced instructors.
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ED102 - Student Retention Methods

Facilitator: Gary Meers, Ed.D.

The instructor is the real key to student retention at career colleges. Instructors must keep focused on student motivation and retention each and every day of class. Developing strategies for retaining students throughout the entire training sequence is both complex and rewarding. All instructors should have the goal of seeing all of their students successfully complete their class. This course helps you reach that goal by helping you to understand your students and use proven motivation and retention techniques to keep them enrolled and engaged in the learning process.
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ED103 - Student Learning & Assessment

Facilitator: Susan Polick

Career educators work with students who want to learn specific skills that will lead to fulfilling careers. As career college instructors it is our job to help each student to achieve this goal. Just as you may have a particular style of teaching that you prefer, your students have preferred ways of learning. This course will help you to identify the different learning styles of your students so that you can adjust your instruction to better accommodate them. Good teachers also regularly monitor the effectiveness of their instruction by assessing their students’ learning. This course will examine several aspects of assessment including how to create good tests, how to ask effective questions and how to get your students to actively participate in their learning by asking questions themselves.
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ED104 - Class Management Strategies

Facilitator: Patricia Scales

This course provides methods and techniques for managing students and class activities. We start by reviewing the steps instructors need to follow as they introduce a class to new students. We then discuss strategies to effectively deal with unfocused and challenging students. The course ends by describing common mistakes made by instructors and ways to avoid them.
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ED105 - Instructional Planning for Student Success

Facilitator: Barry Westling

This course shows instructors how to develop a comprehensive approach to effective and efficient instruction. From preparation for the classroom to selection of instructional delivery methods, the course provides effective ways of planning instruction to help instructors keep the content focused and the students engaged. We also cover the steps to set up a complete evaluation system that will work in all settings.
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ED106 - Enhancing Student Learning

Facilitator: Ryan Meers, Ph.D.

This course provides methodologies and examples to help instructors increase content retention and application by students in need of support. The course starts by covering the skills needed by instructors to be clear communicators. We then discuss ways instructors can become effective in monitoring students and using student groups as learning tools. The course concludes by covering techniques and strategies to instruct diverse learners, including learners with disabilities.
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ED107 - Creating an Accelerated Learning Environment

Facilitator: Ryan Meers, Ph.D.

Retention is an issue, and what happens in the classroom is a critical factor influencing a student's decision to stay or go. The classroom environment may be hurting your students' view of the quality of your programs. In this course, you will learn tips and techniques to deal with environmental influences such as your role as the instructor, the classroom, the interactive activities, the support materials, and the sequence of instruction as well as other subtle influences. You will learn to view the environment from the student's perspective to increase your teaching effectiveness and student retention.
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ED108 - Learning Theory and Practice

Facilitator: Gary Meers, Ed.D.

This course covers the different ways individuals learn and apply new knowledge. We start by covering the steps the brain goes through as it processes new information, and how knowledge is stored and retrieved. We then discuss how intelligence is measured and how learners process information through the use of multiple intelligences. Moving from theory to practice, the course shows instructors how to use the learning needs of students to increase knowledge acquisition and retention. The course includes a number of easy to implement strategies to help students retain and use new content.
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ED109 - Preparing and Creating Lesson Plans

Facilitator: Tremayne Simpson

Preparing and Creating Lesson Plans will inform you how careful lesson planning can help to ensure increased student engagement. Proper lesson planning will enable you to teach effectively and efficiently, and ultimately help students meet learning objectives. The information in this course will provide the framework for instructional development enabling you to properly structure a detailed, well thought-out lesson plan.
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ED110 - Time & Stress Management for Instructors

Facilitator: Dr. Melissa Read

Outstanding teachers serve their students by guiding them through their coursework and motivating them to complete program requirements. Career college instructors are often faced with high stress resulting from heavy teaching loads and limited time. When teachers cannot manage their own time and stress, they cannot fully serve the needs of their students. This course will show career college instructors how to manage time and stress in their lives and teach some of these skills to their students.
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ED111 - Active Learning Methods

Facilitator: Patricia Scales

This course provides an introduction to the concept and philosophy of active learning, and describes a variety of methods to help instructors "activ-ate" their class. The course includes active learning examples that utilize both critical and analytical thinking skills. We also identify the risks that may discourage instructors from using active learning strategies and offer suggestions for managing them. A three-step method is suggested for developing an active lesson, and a compressive model is offered as a guide for creative active learning strategies.
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ED112 - Influencing Student Motivation

Facilitator: James Jackson

This course begins by identifying the two most significant issues that influence the motivation of adult students: security and autonomy. The course explains how increasing students' sense of security can enhance their motivation during instruction, questioning, activities, and evaluations. This is followed by a discussion of how motivation can be improved by enhancing students' sense of autonomy when making assignments, selecting instructional methods, implementing classroom procedures, and developing and planning evaluations. The course concludes by comparing and contrasting extrinsic and intrinsic motivators and by suggesting a variety of "miscellaneous motivators" for instructors to consider.
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ED113 - Managing the Adult Classroom

Facilitator: James Jackson

This course compares and contrasts four styles of classroom management. The course includes "virtual visits" to animated classrooms where participants observe four instructors who exhibit different management styles. The style that is preferred by most students is identified and described, and suggestions are offered on how instructors can modify their personal style to increase their effectiveness. A four-step model for developing successful classroom management strategies is presented and is followed by a discussion of a practical, behavioral approach to classroom management. Characteristics that foster good discipline in the school and in the classroom are listed and explained, and tips are offered that can improve both school-wide and classroom discipline. Finally, a number of scenarios involving common discipline problems are described.
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ED114 - Questioning in the Classroom

Facilitator: Judy Mohammed

Questioning can be one of the most effective classroom teaching strategies. However, many instructors are not familiar with the techniques and research findings associated with good questioning. This course begins by comparing and contrasting the major types of questions and their most appropriate uses. Some relevant statistics and research findings are presented, followed by a discussion of four effective questioning practices. The course concludes by offering a few tips and suggestions for instructors to consider.
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ED115 - Soft Skills for Instructors

Facilitator: Philip Campbell

The purpose of this course is to familiarize instructors with the concepts of soft skills and emotional intelligence (EQ) so they can use this information to improve their professional performance. The course provides a comparison of hard and soft skills, including people skills and workplace behaviors. Ten "most important" soft skills are discussed in detail and the relationship between EQ and soft skills is explained. The course concludes with tips and suggestions to help instructors enhance their soft skills and EQ.
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ED116 - Critical Thinking Processes and Applications

Facilitator: Gary Meers, Ed.D.

The majority of careers require the ability to think critically and problem solve at one level or another. Employers seek individuals who can think independently, propose solutions and solve problems. The content in this course provides the foundation for critical thinking and for how people with different interests, abilities and aptitudes approach problem solving. The course covers the different kinds of intelligence and how they impact critical thinking, for a broader understanding of how people process solutions to problems. It concludes with step-by-step instructions for helping students develop and refine their own critical thinking skills.
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ED117 - Teaching Gen Y Students

Facilitator: Ryan Meers, Ph.D.

Generation Y students are often associated with their use of technology. While technology is an essential part of their lives, there is much more to know about Gen Y learners. This course gives a profile of Generation Y learners and how they relate to other generational learners in career college classrooms. Strategies are given for engaging Gen Y students in the learning process while building on their abilities to use social networks, portable media and personal interaction. Instructors of Gen Y students are given methods that can be used to help them develop the critical thinking and interpersonal skills needed for many of today's careers.
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ED119 - Using Technology to Engage and Educate

Facilitator: Theresa Schmitt

This course is an overview of a variety of ways in which educators can infuse technology and web resources into every day curriculum, to engage learners and promote collaborative learning. A variety of resources and suggestions are contained within this course, allowing everyone from the novice to the technology expert to take away what is appropriate for them, their students, and the course, in order to integrate 21st century teaching resources and practices in a practical and beneficial manner.
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ED121 - Creating Service Learning Opportunities for Career College Students

Facilitator: Trent Bartholomew

Service learning as part of the curriculum is expanding to include more career colleges. These programs help students take their knowledge and skills out of classrooms and labs into community settings enabling them to use critical thinking and problem solving abilities. This course provides information about the advantages of using service learning as a teaching tool while enhancing the growth of students. Implementation steps are covered so participants will be able to make service learning a part of program offerings as well as providing career opportunities for students.
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ED201 - Students with Disabilities in the College Classroom

Facilitator: Dr. Jane Jarrow

This course introduces the participant to teaching students with disabilities in the career college environment. It provides descriptions of the physical, sensory, mental, psychological, and learning disabilities most likely to be encountered, as well as the effects these disabilities have on students and their learning. The course also introduces participants to accommodations and strategies that may help to support students with disabilities and foster their academic success.
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ED202 - Teaching English Language Learners

Facilitator: Arlene Muller

As previously homogenous communities become more diverse and the population of English language learners in career colleges increases, educators need to provide services that give such learners opportunities for academic success equal to those provided to native English speakers. This course provides information about teaching English language learners, including the legal and cultural considerations instructors must take into account and ways to show respect for cultural differences and diversity. The course will explore the factors affecting how English language learners learn, and will provide strategies and techniques for instruction and motivation. This course will also cover how best to assess students for content-area knowledge and language proficiency.
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ED203 - Technology Integration for Instructors

Facilitator: Antoine Lewis

Technology plays an important role in today's classroom experience. But technology must be used in a way that is useful and beneficial to learning, and will help you to meet your course objectives. This course will describe the features and benefits of using electronic equipment in the career college classroom and the pros and cons for the student and the instructor. Best practices for using electronic assessment and grading tools, as well as software and communications tools, are discussed. In addition, this course will explore strategies for using electronic teaching resources.
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ED204 - Tomorrow's Learning Environment Today

Facilitator: Philip Campbell

Instructional planning and delivery is undergoing dynamic changes with the availability of technology and expanded avenues through which information can be provided. Instructors need to be aware of how they can expand their instructional formats to include the latest technology and learning theories. This course provides information about the different forms of learning and how they can be implemented into classrooms and laboratories. Other topics covered in the course include different strategies for learning including transformative and cooperative methods as well as collaborative and experiential methods that help to engage learners.
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ED205 - Enhancing Students' Professional Skills

Facilitator: Shelly Crider

Awareness has grown in recent years that, to be effective today, learning must include more than knowledge and "hard skills," or technical ability. In a world where work is often team-based and project-driven, teaching needs also to encompass attitudes and social competencies. This course will describe ways students can enhance their professional skills across the curriculum. Strategies for teaching effective personal interaction and ways to support student professional growth and development will be discussed. This course will also explain how students can improve their writing skills and computer literacy across the curriculum.
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ED206 - Teaching in the Lab/Shop Environment

Facilitator: Ron Hansen, Ed. D.

The career college classroom is often more than just chairs, books, and a white board. Frequently the learning takes place in a lab or shop environment, where the traditional rules of classroom management and teaching may not always apply. This course covers the instructional techniques necessary for the non-traditional classroom, including strategies for teaching to each student's individual learning style. In addition, this course describes strategies for assessing student progress. Safety guidelines and considerations for specific lab and shop environments are identified.
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ED207 - Outside the Classroom: Experiential Learning

Facilitator: Dr. James Willis III

Experiential learning is intended to extend students' educational experience beyond the traditional classroom setting. It is a structured, student-centered way to integrate curriculum-based educational experiences utilizing practical applications and active involvement. This course discusses strategies for extending the curriculum into the workplace. Information is provided on how to educate the internship site and how to create useful forms and processes for documenting and implementing successful internships. This course describes the different roles of the school, the student, and the internship site. It will identify ways to supervise students, as well as ways to evaluate and assess student success at internship sites.
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ED208 - Adult Learning Theories

Facilitator: Jeffrey Schillinger

When designing instruction for adult learners, it’s important to consider a host of factors. This course describes the characteristics and motivations of adult learners, and the best practices and techniques for teaching them. It discusses the different theories of adult development and adult learning, and their relationships to the classroom experience. In addition, this course examines brain-based teaching strategies, the theory of multiple intelligences, and how the different parts of the brain are affected by new learning.
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ED209 - Students as Customers

Facilitator: Patricia Scales

As opportunities for education become more prevalent, career colleges must compete to increase, or even maintain, their student enrollment levels. More and more schools are adopting the strategy of treating students like customers in order to be successful. This course will review the characteristics of adult learners and determine the reasons adult students leave school. It will discuss the concept of interacting with students as though they are customers and how the students-as-customers concept relates to the instructor and the classroom. This course will also describe the methods and techniques of effective communication. Included are guidelines and techniques for advising and mentoring students.
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ED310 - Teaching Medical Terminology in Fun and Exciting Ways

Facilitator: Michele Deck

Have you ever seen your students falling asleep in class? Have they been less than excited to learn medical terminology? In this course you will discover ways to teach medical terminology that keep your students interested, attentive, and highly engaged in the critical concepts and applications they need to know. Learn to use these active methods, as well as the reasons behind them, and watch your student success rates increase as you adapt and apply new methods to your medical terminology classes.

Please note that ED310 presents learning activities that are applicable to the on-campus classroom or lab. It is not designed for instructors who teach Medical Terminology in the online environment.
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ED311 - Creative Teaching Tools in Clinical and Didactic Courses

Facilitator: Michele Deck

Have you ever wondered how to make your health classes more "real world?" In this course, you will learn ways to get students thinking in terms of successfully applying their skills in the workplace. Utilize instructional tools and actual sample methods for teaching critical thinking in both the clinical and didactic learning environments, and share ideas that have worked for you.
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ED312 - Teaching to the Learning Styles of Allied Health Students

Facilitator: Michele Deck

Have you been frustrated in your allied health classes when students don't "get it"? Have you tried repeatedly to teach a difficult student and it didn’t seem to work? Sometimes it is a difference in learning styles that creates this misunderstanding. In this themed course, you will learn the eight different learning styles of your health students as well as how to teach to them in a variety of practical ways that are fast, easy and effective. This course follows an interesting "fairy tale format," with several characters you will meet here and may see in your classroom.
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ED322 - Introduction to Culinary Instruction

Facilitator: Jae Gruber

This course covers the different roles that culinary arts instructors play in the instructional process. The content provides rationale, strategies and methodologies that beginning as well as experienced culinary arts instructors can use in their classes and kitchens. Instructional best practices are discussed and examples given that will expand the knowledge base of culinary arts instructors as they prepare lessons. This course covers student centered instruction and information about the impact of student learning preferences on instructional planning and delivery.
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EL101 - Designing and Developing Online Courses

Facilitator: Shelly Crider

This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to create successful online courses, whether for faculty-supported distance education delivery or as a supplement to classroom instruction. You will learn to design and develop online courses that have structural integrity and navigational simplicity with a focus on student-centered learning and intellectual interaction. The course covers various learning activities that are supported in an e-learning environment and describes the typical components of an online course. We will provide you with the media strategies and course design methodologies that will allow you to develop online courses in an effective and efficient manner.
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EL102 - Online Teaching Techniques

Facilitator: Herbert Brown III

Your degree of success as an online instructor relies heavily on several factors, among which are your level of preparedness before the date on which the course is launched; your ability to make a smooth transition into the roles and responsibilities associated with teaching in an online environment; and the effectiveness and efficiency with which you manage learners, instructional transactions embedded in the course as well as the learning environment. In this course, you will learn how to project your authority and presence into the e-learning environment, build a relationship with each learner, promote and nurture learner participation, provide informative and constructive feedback in a timely manner, minimize attrition, manage communications, manage unacceptable behavior and resolve disagreements.
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EL103 - Teaching Online: A Student-Centered Approach

Facilitator: Dr. Tena B. Crews

This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to author, teach, assess, and revise successful online courses. You will learn to develop a course framework with consistent modules. Constructing an online community and a dynamic syllabus are important in helping you communicate with students. You will also learn how to develop an assessment plan including self- and peer-assessment as you progress through the course. No online course is complete without a comprehensive revision cycle. This course will walk you through the process of "closing the loop" to create a complete revision and improvement plan for your online course. We will provide you with ideas for student-centered learning, with activities and intellectual interactions using a variety of technology tools.
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EL104 - Teaching and Organizing a Virtual Learning Environment

Facilitator: Dr. Kelly Wilkinson

This course will provide you with the knowledge to teach in a virtual learning environment and understand the importance of organizing course content. You will learn about the important role technology tools play in teaching and organizing an online course. You will also learn the difference between synchronous and asynchronous learning. As the components of each are discussed, you will further understand how to identify the appropriate methods, develop guidelines, organize content, and establish a pattern of teaching for each method.
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EL105 - Online Language: Communicating with Students

Facilitator: Dr. Tena B. Crews

This course will provide you with knowledge to effectively communicate with students and encourage communication among students in an online environment. You will learn the importance of facilitating instructor-to-student (I2S), student-to-instructor (S2I), and student-to-student (S2S) communication. Technology tools play a vital role in the communication process and several are discussed in this module. A discussion is also provided to help you further understand how to manage and measure communication in an online course and help students communicate effectively.
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EL106 - Evaluating Student Learning in Online Courses

Facilitator: Dr. Kelly Wilkinson

This course will provide you with the knowledge to effectively evaluate student learning in an online environment. Technology tools play a vital role in the evaluation process and several are discussed in this module. Discussion will also be provided to help you further understand how to complete formative and summative assessments, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of objective and subjective assessments. Value-added assessments are also discussed in light of how they can be completed and provide feedback for course revision.
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EL107 - Designing Dynamic and Technology-Rich Learning Environments

Facilitator: Dr. Ruth Reynard

This course outlines the main characteristics of "dynamic" course design for blended instruction and highlights effective teaching methods that facilitate the process. Participants in this course will have an opportunity to customize the design principles and methods presented to suit their individual professional context.
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EL108 - Preparing Students to Become Good Online Learners

Facilitator: Dr. Kelly Wilkinson

This course will provide you with strategies and techniques to help prepare students for the online environment. To do so, you must also assess your strengths and weaknesses as an online instructor. As you help students assess their readiness for online learning, you are also preparing them for the expectations and realities of the online environment. By identifying students' strengths and weaknesses, you can provide guidance to help them achieve learning outcomes. This course not only notes the technical skills necessary, it also discusses non-technical skills as well as techniques for successful learning and helping students develop their online persona.
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EL109 - Using Rubrics to Enhance Online Learning

Facilitator: Dr. Tena B. Crews

This course will inform you about the purpose of rubrics and will provide you with the techniques to develop rubrics as an assessment tool for student performance, processes and products. This course will explore types of rubrics, the role rubrics play in assessment, as well as the use of rubrics in evaluating elements of your online course to ensure your course is truly student-centered.
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EL110 - Effective Use of Social Media in Online Courses

Facilitator: Dr. Kelly Wilkinson

This course will provide you with strategies and techniques to help use social networking in the online environment. It provides an overview of social networking, media hosting and sharing, microblogging and blogging. An introduction to each will be provided, and content development, policy, facilitation and assessment will all be discussed. Suggested activities will also be provided.
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EL112 - Workload Management Strategies for Teaching Online

Facilitator: Dr. Tena B. Crews

This course will provide you with strategies and techniques to help you reduce your workload in the online environment. This course begins with an overview of good principles for education and established questions to consider prior to developing Workload Management Strategies (WLMS). This course also provides an overview of workload management strategies (WLMS) for teaching online, communicating and collaborating, and revising the course.
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RT101 - Improving Retention through Timely Intervention

Facilitator: Loren Kroh

How many times have we said “if we’d only known” as a student walks out the door? No one starts classes planning to fail, but unfortunately problems do arise that present barriers to success. Students are good at identifying these problems blocking their path to success, but they frequently don’t have adequate problem solving and communication skills needed to overcome these problems. This course looks at the effect of stress on attrition, the use of tools to identify and help students at risk, and how to develop an institutional culture that shares responsibility for student success across the entire organization.
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EDUCATION

Improve Student Learning with Effective Teaching Strategies