[LM_NET] TARGET: Alternative Certification Routes?

[Catherine O Brown <kbrown@BREVISCONSULT.COM>]

Greetings -- 

 

Does anyone know if there a state out there where you do not have take
courses at a college or university and/or pay another couple of thousand
dollars to certify as a Technology Integration Specialist?  

 

Massachusetts's state colleges and universities have programs @ 12-15
credits and approximately $5,000 min. that lead to a Certificate in
Educational Technology and/or Educational Technology Integration.  However,
it appears that albeit these Certificates are awarded by Massachusetts's own
institutions of higher education, they "do not ensure teacher certification"
in the area of study.  

 

I have taken non-credit courses through the ALA Divisions' offerings, Atomic
Learning <http://www-x.atomiclearning.com/k12/en/collections> , and
WebJunction for example, that would certainly qualify me as "competent" to
handle our state's curriculum frameworks (which seem to be the target
standards on which certification standards are based).  My hope is this:
that there is an enlightened state somewhere that recognizes that not
everything a teacher needs to know necessarily comes from the mouth of a
college or university professor, and that sometimes, nay many times, there
is no substitute for authentic learning under the guidance of able,
qualified practitioners of the art.  

 

I ask this question for one simple reason.  Two tough masters' degrees, plus
a goodly number of years of teaching technology integration, going to
conferences, workshops, seminars, and professional events galore, and
reading a small library of library/technology journals, papers, and books
should buy me something, shouldn't it?  I guess that I resent having to go
back to school like a newbie, and paying all those dollars, when I am going
to be "learning" at night what it is that I teach all day (or maybe less).
In the end, what do I get?  I will receive the certification to do what it
is I am already doing.  But that's the name of the game, isn't it?  I have
to have that certification to move on to another school these days, move to
another state with a warmer climate, or whatever.  

 

I am up-to-date; I am knowledgeable in my field; I can guide the learners
entrusted to me through the program of instruction and often well beyond it;
heck, I have to be these things and more, or I couldn't do what I do every
day!  

 

If anyone knows of states with non-college or university routes for
certification, would you please let me know?  I will post a HIT if there is
sufficient response.  

 

Catherine O. Brown

kbrown@brevisconsult.com 

Mattapoisett, MA

Looking for the next spot . . . 

 


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