Fostering a culture of kindness in educational settings has far-reaching benefits, as underscored by science. Kindness triggers the release of hormones that enhance happiness, boost energy, and alleviate pain, depression, and even high blood pressure. This course provides educators and students with techniques to integrate more kindness into their school environments, a process that is pivotal to creating a supportive and inclusive atmosphere.

Access to free resources and a carefully designed curriculum is provided, equipping participants with tools they need to cultivate kindness in their respective roles. Course activities range from examining concrete kindness curriculums, maintaining a kindness-focused journal, practicing acts of kindness and experiencing their direct benefits, to devising a plan for implementing kindness on a wider scale.

By cultivating kindness in schools, educators can enhance student wellbeing, promote positive behavior, and inspire more empathetic, caring learning communities.

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Define the concept of kindness in both personal and professional contexts.
• Describe the benefits that kindness brings to individuals, students, and the entire school community.
• Evaluate effective, evidence-based resources and learning materials that create positive outcomes for educators and students.
• Design a unique kindness plan to ensure the integration of these ideas into personal and professional contexts.
• Deliver effective lessons on kindness to students.

This comprehensive, interdisciplinary graduate-level course dives deep into the world of artificial intelligence (AI), with a specific focus on the use of generational conversational AI in educational contexts. Students will explore the historical and theoretical foundations of AI, analyze the ethical challenges presented by AI in education including data privacy, algorithm bias, fairness, and the potential misuse in cheating. Students will then investigate the creative possibilities unlocked by AI integration in the classroom. The course provides a platform to learn, evaluate, and apply generative AI in various aspects of education, such as crafting resourceful lesson plans, innovative assessments, personalized feedback, and differentiated instruction. Hands-on activities and assignments will give students the opportunity to apply AI to the creation of resourceful lesson plans and teaching materials that inspire and engage.

The course progresses to explore how AI can revolutionize assessments and feedback in education, making them more personalized, efficient, and effective. This will involve both a theoretical understanding and practical application of AI in assessments to create a more inclusive and effective learning environment.  The final segment of the course focuses on teaching your own students how to use critical thinking and problem solving to leverage AI tools to adapt to the transformative potential of AI.

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Describe the history, evolution, and key principles of AI
• Formulate a thorough ethical analysis of AI use in education, with an emphasis on data privacy, fairness, and accessibility
• Design and deliver lessons using generative AI to monitor student progress, collect formative and summative data, and analyze outcomes to inform instructional decisions
• Develop, design, and implement innovative learning strategies and assessments using AI to create differentiated instruction strategies and promote personalized learning
• Teach students about the principles and responsible use of generative AI

This course focuses on applying the principles of neuroscience and positive psychology from Dr. Shawn Achor’s, Happiness Advantage. Through this course, educators will gain valuable insights into how these principles can improve students’ cognitive abilities, memory retention, concentration, focus, and creativity, while also promoting respect for diversity and establishing an environment for learning. The course will also provide educators with effective communication and conflict resolution skills that can reduce bullying, improve student engagement, and classroom behavior.  This course will also delve into different personality types.  Understanding Myers-Briggs personalities can help educators create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment and work culture. Educators will learn to manage their classrooms better, enhance communication, promote professional collaboration, and engage in reflective practices.

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Identify evidence-based practices for promoting a positive brain and develop strategies for implementing these practices in both personal and professional environments.
• Analyze the drama triangle and cultivate skills to avoid workplace gossip and negative communication patterns.
• Explain the principles of effective conversation and develop habits that foster improved listening and inquiry skills.
• Describe the characteristics of different personality types according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, identify the strengths of each personality, and acknowledge the learning preferences of each type. Develop strategies for meeting the needs of diverse learners.
• Analyze the three major root causes of conflict and implement the Reflect-Empathize-Logic framework to solve workplace and classroom conflicts.
• Identify strategies and collaborate with peers to build better connections with students, including active listening, building rapport, and providing meaningful feedback.

This course is designed to provide teachers with the knowledge, skills, and practical strategies necessary to lead in today’s diverse and dynamic educational environment. It aims to cultivate leadership potential in every educator.  Designed for teachers, counselors, and administrators, this course empowers individuals to demonstrate exemplary leadership in various domains, including instruction, policy, professional development, and association.  Through engaging in a personally meaningful project or initiative within their own school, organization, state, or national level, participants will develop and refine their leadership capabilities while making a tangible impact on the educational community.  Participants benefit from deep discussions about culture, social justice, culturally responsive teaching, and positive management in the classroom.

Not sure what kind of leadership work you would like to do? Here is a list of possible options:

• Create, research, update, or align curriculum.
• Independent study to learn new instructional technology tools.
• Teach a professional development course to colleagues or educators.
• Take courses in either content area, education, leadership, diversity, equity, literacy, or health.
• Organize field trips or travel for students or teachers.
• Create a mentorship program.
• Host a student teacher.
• Research educational policies and advocate for change.
• Lead your school, district, state, or nation to implement policies for education.
• Contact local, state, or national leaders to implement policies in education.
• Assist getting a referendum, bond, or levy passed.
• Engage with a union or association to advocate for policies or change.
• Become a representative in your local association.

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Explore and develop leadership capacities in the context of education, understanding that effective leadership takes diverse forms based on the individual strengths and the unique needs of each educational institution.
• Investigate ways to influence policy at the classroom, school, district, state, or national level
• Engage in a personally relevant and meaningful project or initiative that aligns with personal and professional goals and addresses a specific challenge or opportunity within the educational landscape. The leadership project will positively impact education.
• Create a comprehensive log of all project-related activities, including time spent, accomplishments, challenges encountered, and key insights gained during the course of the project.
• Write a comprehensive reflection paper that analyzes and synthesizes the leadership experience, highlighting personal growth, insights gained, and strategies for further leadership development.

Are you searching for a dynamic learning platform that enables students to effectively demonstrate their knowledge? Do you need a resource that allows students to publish their compositions digitally? Book Creator goes beyond merely producing conventional “books”. In this course, you will design a template that empowers students to showcase their understanding in an engaging and innovative manner. We will cover purposeful technology, planning a book, creating a new book, adding media, interactive elements, accessibility features, and publishing books online for diverse audiences. This 30 hour course is hands-on and differentiated to allow you to walk away with a template and example for students to show their learning in a way that works best for them.

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Create a book in Book Creator based on your plan and content alignment, exploring templates and choosing the best layout
• Explore different types of interactive and accessibility features available in Book Creator to meet the needs of diverse learners 
• Contemplate the many uses for Book Creator in the school setting
• Reflect on the process and outcome of your book creation, and provide positive feedback to a classmate’s final product.

Building Financial Literacy for Educators and Students offers educators a concise exploration of essential personal finance concepts that include budgeting, saving, managing debt, and setting financial goals. Analysis assignments, technology tools, assessments, and discussions will aid teachers in deepening their understanding of these concepts and enable them to confidently impart this knowledge to their students so that their students may make informed financial choices for a lifetime of financial well-being.

Course assignments include creation of a personal budget that will ensure monetary needs and goals, fiscal self-confidence, and peace of mind. Course activities and topics will culminate in a lesson plan that educators may implement in their classrooms. Educators will leave this course with increased confidence in their own financial management skills and, thus, the ability to integrate personal financial literacy into their instructional practice. 

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Describe how knowledge of and communication about personal finance empowers teachers and students to make informed decisions about how they manage their money.   
• Develop strategies that incorporate personal finance into teaching to support healthy behavior and communication about money.
• Analyze personal and cultural financial behaviors concerning debt, credit, spending, and saving habits and its impact on social and emotional health.
• Organize and prioritize financial needs and goals using opportunity cost. 
• Identify and describe the core elements and practices of successful personal money planning.
• Utilize technology tools and budget methods to construct a personal money plan and teach this skill to students.