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Online Courses

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WIDE World's online courses consist of a week-long orientation session before the course begins and six content sessions. Content sessions typically last two weeks to give participants opportunities to try out new strategies, post reflections in the online discussion, and receive feedback from their coach and peers.

Course Structure

Courses are led by an instructor and a group of experienced coaches. Instructors design and supervise the course. Coaches work with an online Study Group of about 10 individuals or small teams. Participants may enroll as a small team of 3-4 people who have similar goals and who work together during the online course, rotating responsibility for posting their team's responses each session. Study Groups are organized so that their members have common interests to support the most focused coaching and useful interaction amongst participants.

Course Sessions

Each session of the course includes several activities that promote active application of effective teaching strategies and development of a professional community:

1. thinking with, and learning through, readings, multimedia, websites, etc.
2. designing or revising lessons or strategies to use in your classroom/school
3. applying your lessons and strategies with your learners
4. interacting with your coach and Study Group and analyzing your work

The work takes about 7 hours per session and in each session there are approximately three to five assignments. The total course time is approximately 42 hours of work per course and another 2-3 hours for completing surveys. Coaches use explicit criteria to provide feedback for every member of their study group and to support self- and peer-assessments. Participants receive professional development credits for each hour they devote to the course (up to 45 points) and those who complete at least 35 hours receive a certificate from WIDE World.

Typical Work Cycle

A typical work cycle looks like this:

1st Tuesday: log in and start readings, review assignments; teams set up work roles if necessary
1st Wed to 2nd Tue: complete early assignments, start classroom application, post early responses in discussion
2nd Wed to 2nd Sat: review coach feedback and complete later assignments
2nd Sun and Mon: respond to peers and prepare for next session.