Dive Brief:

• Pennsylvania State University's World Campus started offering an online teaching course last fall, expecting 30 doctoral students to sign up, and more than 300 did, reflecting an understanding among future professors that they’ll need to be able to master online teaching.
• Inside Higher Ed reports the university is planning to make the new certificate program, a four- to five-week online course, a part of its core curriculum for graduate students, many of whom will take those teaching lessons to other institutions.
• Students came from all disciplines, including postdoctoral fellows who are unlikely to ever teach, and many seemed driven by the extra credential that could make them more marketable in their job searches.

Dive Insight:

The Delphi Project at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education has studied the factors contributing to the current makeup of the professoriate, and co-director Adrianna Kezar has advocated realigning tenure with teaching, instead of its more common focus on research. One complaint of the growing adjunct teaching force is that they have little training in teaching and little time to dedicate to service aspects of the professor role. Greater teaching experience, whether it is for online programs or traditional ones, can only help graduates and their future students. And if doctoral students are clamoring for the extra training, universities might consider programs like it as a growth opportunity for their own offerings.