RAYMOND – Hinds Community College is offering a Teacher Academy aimed at helping K-12 Mississippi teachers earn needed professional development courses, known as CEUs, to maintain their state licenses.
The three online courses begin on June 1 and end on July 23. There is no deadline to register, as long as the course is finished by July 23. The classes, offered through a partnership between academic instruction and workforce programs at Hinds Community College, are about 10 hours long and are self-paced.
The three courses are:
- Canvas Course Design Bootcamp
- Classroom Management for the Modern Educator
- Understanding Classroom Diversity and Creating a Sense of Belonging.
Teachers can enroll through the Hinds Community College Aquila catalog: https://hindscc.catalog.instructure.com/browse/workforce
Summer 2021 offerings are open to Mississippi residents, who are eligible for a Non-Credit Student Grant valued at $60 for these Hinds Teacher Academy offerings. Each course is worth 1.0 CEUs.
All the courses are taught by a credentialed Hinds instructor with master’s or doctorate degrees.
“These are experts in their fields. They are not just able to contribute to the credit side of the house but now they’re jumping outside their box and contributing to workforce. It’s our job to teach, whether it’s for credit or not for credit,” said Hinds Community College Vice President Dr. Keri Cole.
The courses were designed with the input of Hinds instructors and the type of courses they say are needed.
“It’s really what our teachers are saying they need now. The way we’re teaching has changed so much, not just in the past few years but really in the past year, because of the pandemic,” Cole said. “I think that this is the perfect response to what a community college is here for — to serve our community.”
Plans are to offer the courses again in the fall and to begin to build a catalogue of additional courses, Cole said.