While COVID has made us all online instructors, it has not given us the time, support, or guidance necessary to teach effectively and confidently in online spaces. The Global Society of Online Literacy Educators (GSOLE), a community of experts in online literacy practices, is offering a Basic Online Literacy Instruction (OLI) Certificate to help teachers and tutors new to online learning implement research-based practices in online courses and online writing centers and make connections with other online literacy instructors.
The course balances theory and practice and is designed to support the instructional work of anyone teaching reading and writing, such as instructors teaching composition, professional writing, literature, creative writing, writing-intensive courses in majors across the disciplines, as well as writing center tutors and English teachers in middle and high schools. The rigor and labor associated with this course can be compared to a graduate-level course with an ePortfolio being the final deliverable that will be assessed for certification. We estimate participants will spend approximately five hours per monthly module over 9 months.
Individuals who enroll in the Basic OLI Certificate will…
- Connect with a community of online literacy instructors and tutors as well as online literacy mentors
- Learn principles in effective online literacy education
- Read scholarship in online literacy instruction (OLI)
- Receive guidance from OLI experts on assignment and activity design for online literacy courses and online writing center consultations
- Develop strategies for adapting instruction to different online modalities (e.g., synchronous and asynchronous learning)
- Develop strategies for assessing online learning
- Be able to communicate their approach to OLI to others through the creation of an OLI theory and ePortfolio
We ask that administrators, teachers, or tutors new to online learning consider enrolling for our Basic OLI Certificate, which occurs throughout the 2021–2022 academic year and begins August 15th. To enroll, please visit https://gsole.org/certification.
Registration cost:
- For contingent faculty and graduate students: $100
- Full-time faculty/staff making under $50,000 annually: $125
- Full-time faculty/staff making over $50,000 and up to $75,000 annually: $150
- Full-time faculty/staff making over $75,000 annually: $200
Enrollment for this certification is used to fund an honorarium to the OLI facilitator-mentors. Participants must be GSOLE members if they are not so already.
If we can help you advocate to institutional stakeholders for funds related to course registration, please let us know. We encourage institutions who are enrolling multiple participants to contact us as they register these individuals so that we can group them in the same learning pod. In our experience, these institutional cohorts have greater chances for completion and success.
If you have any questions about the certificate program or GSOLE generally, please contact Amy Cicchino, amycicchino@auburn.edu.
