A message from our friends at Michigan State University:

As we all look for guidance on transitioning language courses online for summer and possibly the next academic year, I wanted to share a professional development opportunity available through the Center for Language Teaching advancement (CeLTA) and the English Language Center (ELC) at Michigan State University. 

Introduction to Online Language Teaching is a fully online, six-week course designed for experienced classroom instructors who want to make the transition to teaching languages online. The course is led by a master instructor with extensive online teaching experience. While each participant will bring their own pedagogical background, the course presupposes a task-based, proficiency-oriented view of language instruction. Course participants will gain an understanding of key criteria and conceptual frameworks used to describe online pedagogy, and will develop expertise in the areas of course quality and design, accessibility, and media. We are offering two sessions of this course this summer:

Summer Session 1: May 18th - June 26th

Summer Session 2: July 6th - August 14th

The online nature of the course exposes participants to all of the affordances and constraints of an online environment for language teaching and learning, allowing them to experience a student’s perspective firsthand. This includes engaging in a variety of tasks and discussions, which are meant to be a non-comprehensive sampling of the possibilities of online learning. Participants will receive feedback from the instructor and, by the end of the course, will have developed a principled plan for developing an online course at their own institution. For more information and instructions on how to sign up, please visit the course website at olt.cal.msu.edu.
Michigan State University

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if you have any questions. 

Luca Giupponi

Educational Technology Coordinator, English Language Center (ELC)
Educational Technology Specialist, Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA)