Eastern Kentucky University understands the new realities of learning for students, communities, business and industry partners.  

Along with partner MindEdge, EKU’s Workforce Development and Community Engagement are offering six free classes in response to the new realities of learning as an essential economic partner of our community and the Commonwealth. As an added plus, EKU is offering an additional 10 percent discount on EKU Workforce Development and Community Engagement select MindEdge online courses: https://workforce.eku.edu/online-courses. Please use Code EKU10

Creativity and Innovation Certificate Program:

Introduction to Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an intellectual model for reasoning through issues to reach well-founded conclusions. It may be the single-most valuable skill that one can bring to any job, profession, or life challenge. Being able to ask the right questions, critique an argument, and logically dissect an issue occur constantly in the workplace and our lives. This introductory-level course is designed to help learners define and identify critical thinking and reasoning skills and develop those skills.

Personal Creativity

This course addresses Personal Creativity. Through tools and exercises drawn from Adrian Brown’s book, Creativity & Innovation, it seeks to help unlock the creativity within individuals. By stimulating creativity through various techniques (mind-mapping, DO-IT, SCAMPER, right and left brain thinking) participants learn to tap into their personal creativity and apply it to organizational challenges. Chapters of the book are included in the course as PDF downloads. No additional purchase is necessary.

Creativity in Teams and Organizations

Innovation can make or break an organization in terms of its ability to win and keep customers. This course looks at innovation in corporations and the public sector. It reviews the latest academic thinking on innovation, including Clay Christensen’s seminal thinking on disruptive technology and the proper response to the disruption. Further, it explores some of the internal responses to the need for creativity, including idea champions, idea incubators, new venture teams and skunk works, and the process of moving from innovation to commercialization. This course also covers some of the more successful corporate innovators as a way of illustrating the principles of effective innovation in large organizations.

The material can be accessed through our user-friendly delivery platform, which employs best-practice implementations around integration and accessibility practices crucial to the long-term sustainability of online learning efforts.

Sign-up is available through this link: https://workforce.eku.edu/certificate-creativity-and-innovation

In addition, EKU is offering:  

Practical Guide to Online Teaching and Learning

Teaching Online:  Even the most experienced teachers often need help transitioning into the world of teaching online. When you don’t meet your students face-to-face teachers must adjust their tactics and strategies to help them identify struggling students and to ensure students are engaging and learning the material. This course offers a brief survey of the major models, tools, and techniques in teaching online.

Introduction to Online Learning:  Learners who are engaging in online coursework have high expectations for their learning experience. And many institutions try to develop online coursework as a way to reduce cost and control the content of the training, but without regard for the complexities of the technology. This course introduces the major models, tools, and techniques for creating and delivering online learning. It reviews the fundamentals of general learning theory and how it can be applied in practice to online design and instruction.

Online Learning Accessibility: In developing any online learning material, federal regulations require adherence to specific accessibility standards. Students with disabilities must be given equal access to learn the content. This can be a major road block to an organization trying to develop online coursework. This course covers the basics of online learning accessibility standards and reviews best practices for accessibility.

Sign-up is available through this link: https://www.mindedge.com/practical_guidance_for_online_teaching/

For more information please feel free to contact: Susan Cornelius: susan.cornelius@eku.edu or Shari.VanHoose: shari.vanhoose@eku.edu.