Sometimes the best way to learn is to be taught by a likeminded peer, which is the idea of the Pandemic Pivot Project, which introduces free courses for educators at the University of New Mexico.
Dean Hansel Burley told KOB4 last week that the Pandemic Pivot Project involves four courses at the UNM College of Education and Human Sciences aimed at professional development. He said it will help educators meet the needs of students based upon their backgrounds.
“It will be teachers teaching teachers,” Burley told KOB4. “We’ve had some interest from college professors who are working with a variety of groups, and also healthcare professionals who are also working with a variety of cultural backgrounds and they want to get some tips and some strategies on how they can be more effective in the work they do also.”
The courses go quickly, at less than 20 hours for completion. It has garnered the attention of all educators, and those who are not a K-12 teacher are still encouraged to apply. The plan for the courses to involve different content each month. Currently on at continuing.unm.edu there are four classes listed that include: Assessment in the K-12 Classroom, Classroom Management: Teaching with Love and Logic, Innovate Teaching and Learning in a LMS and Introduction to Cultural Responsiveness in Higher Education.
The program is currently free but Burley anticipates a cost in the future, he told KOB4. This is to bring in educators and other experts and be able to compensate them. He says that the hope is for UNM to offer college credits for the courses in the future.
For more information about the courses and to enroll, visit the UNM website.
