The WEA Professional Development Academy’s online learning series offers educators the opportunity to participate in high quality professional development that is flexible, comprehensive and convenient. Most courses are designed to provide interaction with an instructor as well as other students.

Shown below is a listing of the current and planned offerings in the online learning series. All courses can be accessed by going to pdalearning.org.

Basic Skills Tutorial for Paraeducators

This program covers the content areas of reading, writing and math. Each section consists of an instructional or “how-to” portion followed by problems or questions to solve. Actual writing samples will be submitted electronically to an online instructor for review and feedback.

The tutorial should assist paraeducators with not only upgrading skills and knowledge, but also meeting the requirements for ESEA (No Child Left Behind) and IDEA (Individuals With Disabilities in Education Act).

This program is a joint venture between the Academy and Lakeshore Technical College.

Classroom Management

This course covers overall classroom management, ranging from the establishment of a positive learning environment to dealing with student discipline. Each lesson includes readings and activities, interaction with other students, and practical resources and tips. Some lessons are enhanced with video clips.

An instructor interacts with students, and the course can be taken for graduate credit through Cardinal Stritch University.

Substitute Teacher Training

This course has been in operation since October of 2002, and is appropriate for potential and current substitutes. It satisfies the training requirement for non-certified (college graduates without a teaching license) substitutes in Wisconsin, and can be a valuable resource for substitutes in most other states as well.

The course provides a comprehensive background to substitute teaching. Each student is assigned an instructor, participates in forum discussions with other students, and is required to observe a classroom in action.

Soon the course can be taken in its basic form or for graduate credit through Cardinal Stritch University