The Educational Communication and Technology Program of Steinhardt’s Department of Administration, Leadership and Technology is initiating an innovation in doctoral education in recognition of the increasing importance of online teaching as has been highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis.

This is a limited 6 credit-hour certificate for doctoral students in other fields who aspire to use educational technology and media creatively in their teaching and to signal to potential academic employers that they take both teaching and technology seriously. We believe that in an increasingly competitive academic marketplace, this option will be well received by those graduate students in the sciences, social sciences and humanities at NYU who anticipate academic careers.

It is frequently observed that after many years of doctoral study many, perhaps most of those applying for assistant professorships have given very little thought to and likely pursued no formal study of teaching and learning in higher education. Such an apparently workable tradition which emphasizes on-the-job training, however, may not be optimal especially given the complexities of technologically enhanced instruction.

With the recent flurry of attention to online instruction, faculty have been experimenting with new ways to enhance student engagement when online modalities are appropriate or at times required. Whether online or hybrid courses are effective depends in part, on how technology is used. Simple camera-in-the-back-of-the-classroom lecture capture does not work well. It is demonstrably less effective than in-person instruction. But advanced techniques utilizing interactivity, video components, active learning and fora for communication among student peers have proven to be quite successful.

We have initiated a two-course/ six-credit certificate in online pedagogy for doctoral students at Steinhardt and for other schools at NYU. The first course addresses the special challenges of instruction in higher education in a seminar format to review the key scientific literature and examine their significance for the student’s field of study. The second course is a hands-on studio course where students are given the opportunity to put their ideas to work and develop a familiarity with the instructional design tools available, and the promise and limitations of these tools in their own academic field. Students who complete the program receive certification for their curriculum vitae and as appropriate an online portfolio of specialized materials they have developed.