For educators, career development and continuing education is important to stay up-to-date with your teaching skills and innovations. Instead of spending your summer break on-campus or at a workshop, enroll in an online class from USD. We offers quality courses at affordable rates that make it possible to advance your career.
Some programs are funded externally by non-university partnerships as projects or classes. You may earn college credits for the courses, however, the funding to offer the course is provided by the external source or organization.
If you are interested in offering a course for educators through partnership with USD, please contact us.
Inquire About Offering Course(s)
SPED 592: Childhood Mental Health and Diagnoses
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Instructor: Aimee Deliramich
Dates: January 23, 2025 - April 22, 2025
Credits: 3
Tuition: $120
* Please Note: This is a synchronous course, and your LIVE attendance at each session is mandatory. Please note that you must register through Eventbright first before you can enroll for USD graduate credits.
Course Description: The purpose of this course is to provide training and assistance to South Dakota educators, administrators, other related professionals, and graduate students who are interested in learning more about childhood mental health and psychopathology. The focus of this course will be to promote a better understanding of childhood mental health, diagnostic criteria, as well as commonly occurring social, emotional, and behavioral problems which may present in children and adolescents. Course participants will engage in lectures, case studies, active participant responding, small group discussions, video presentations and hands-on learning opportunities which will be directly applicable to their work settings. These trainings aim to positively influence how participants instruct, interact with, and support children and adolescents in their respective settings. Every effort will be made to encourage application to their work environment. This is an introductory course and is intended for those wanting to gain broad knowledge related to mental health diagnoses which can impact children and adolescents.
EDFN 592: Cooperating Teacher Experience
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Course: EDFN 592 Cooperating Teacher Experience
Instructor: Mary McCorkle
Dates: January 13, 2025 - May 2, 2025
Credits: 1
Tuition: $40/Credit (Additional $75 fee payable to SDEA for non-SDEA members)
* Please Note: This course requires dual enrollment. After registering for USD credit and paying the tuition fee, you must also register here through the SDEA Portal to access the course content.
Course Description: This course is designed for mentors of current student teachers in SD and surrounding states. Students will learn, apply, and mentoring competencies. Course delivery will be through Learn Upon in cooperation with the South Dakota Education Association. There is an additional course fee for those who are not members of the South Dakota Education Association or its state affiliates. This course can be found at: https://sdeaportal.learnupon.com.
SPED 592: Educating Autistic Students
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Instructor: Brittany Schmidt
Dates: January 16, 2025 - May 2, 2025
Credits: 3
Tuition: $120.00
Location: Online
*Please Note: You must register above through Eventbright first before you can enroll for USD graduate credits.
Course Description: This course will introduce students to the primary areas that must be considered and focused on when planning educational programs for autistic students. Topics will include core characteristics and impact on education, family collaboration, structured teaching, functional and spontaneous communication, classroom management, social instruction, and strategies for dealing with challenging or problem behaviors. Unique to this class is that it is being offered concurrently as SPED 737 as a course offered through the Special Education Department at USD. There will be overlapping classes for learning opportunities between and within for both sets of registered students. The overlapping class times for SPED 592 and SPED 737 students are indicated in the course schedule.
SPED 592: From Law to Learner: Developing Compliant & Student-Centered IEPs
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Instructor: Heidi Aderhold
Dates: January 22, 2025 - April 16, 2025
Location: Online
Credits: 1
Fees: $40/ Credit
Course Description: This course aims to provide training and assistance to South Dakota educators, administrators, other related professionals, and graduate students interested in learning more about the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The IEP provides the foundation for promoting progress for students with disabilities and must contain the essential components outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that must be implemented to ensure Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for each child. The focus of this course will be to help participants better understand the essential components of an IEP and develop a legally sound IEP that meets the individual needs of each student. Dr. Mitchell Yell will be a guest lecturer at each class session. Dr. Mitchell L. Yell, PhD, is the Fred and Francis Lester Palmetto Chair of teacher education and a professor in Programs in Special Education at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Yell is a nationally recognized expert in special education law and IEP development. His textbook entitled The Law and Special Education, published by Pearson, is now in its fifth edition. He is the editor and writer of a special issue of Teaching Exceptional Children titled IEPs: Policy and Practice, and co-author of a forthcoming book on developing IEPs. Dr. Yell has published 130 articles and 36 book chapters.
AHED 790: LERN Recruiting and Retaining Adult Students
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Instructor: William Draves
Dates: February 3, 2025 - May 2, 2025
Location: Online
Credit Hours: 3
Fees: $120/ Credit
*Please Note: Participants must also register with LERN at: https://lern,org
Course Description:
To provide key principles that underly proven best recruitment strategies.
To deliver advanced and practical strategies that work across customer audiences and products.
To outline the work of some of the most successful recruitment and retention practitioners.
To illustrate advanced concepts with practical situations, objectives, and methods.
To provide learners with a basis for improving their recruitment and retention efforts by employing some of the least understood and most overlooked concepts that work.
