Announcing UMaine Graduate Certificate in Computing for Educators

The Graduate Certificate in Computing for Educators is now available for those desiring to teach computational thinking, computer coding, and computer science skills problem-solving courses primarily in grades 9-12. The program is completely online and most courses are taught simultaneously on campus and at a distance. The program is designed to educate teachers with little to no or moderate current computer science and programming skills. It should better prepare them to teach computer coding courses and methods for teaching computer science problem solving. Graduate students completing the program acquire the requisite knowledge and skills preparing them to teach both of the Computer Science Advanced Placement (AP) courses recommended to be taught in high schools. See https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses

The program curriculum is fully described at https://spatial.umaine.edu/graduate-certificates/ and will be posted soon in the official UMaine graduate catalog for 2020-2021.

Educational objectives include:
• Improve the computational and programming content knowledge of high school teachers throughout Maine and New England.
• Improve the computational and programming skills of Maine and New England high school graduates entering universities by educating high school teachers who can provide their students with strong educational experiences in computing subject matter.
• Provide graduate students with foundation knowledge enabling them to keep up-to-date in computer science content over time as programming languages and computational methods evolve.
• Provide a flexible educational path enabling graduate students to choose one or more electives in technical or pedagogic subject matter best meeting their specific needs and enabling successful students to continue pursuit of a full graduate degree extending from the graduate certificate.

To learn more, contact a UMaineOnline Advisor at 207.581.5858 or umaineonline@maine.edu  or contact Amanda Cupps directly at amanda.cupps@maine.edu or 207.581-3452For program-specific questions, contact the Graduate Programs Coordinator, Professor Harlan Onsrud at harlan.onsrud@maine.edu.

Students pursuing this Graduate Certificate may qualify for a jump-start tuition grant. See https://umaine.edu/scis/2020/06/23/jump-start-grants/