By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.


Even if you already have a college degree, you may find yourself taking a look at certificate programs at professional schools or at a college or university.  A certificate program often allows you to gain the skills, expertise, and specialized knowledge you need to advance in your career, or to embark on a new one.  Certificate programs can also prepare you to take and pass licensing exams.

If you are taking a look at professional schools, you may be surprised by the range of courses and competencies covered.  The range includes culinary institutes, construction technology, medical technology, information technology, real estate, financial services, and more.

It can be daunting to find yourself facing a rapidly-changing future where the only certainty is that careers will become obsolete and demand for services and skills will change.  One should be as diversified as possible.

You may feel fairly confident as you embark on courses in an online certificate program.  What you may not realize, however, is that you may need to develop a new skill set in order to succeed in these courses.  While some of the approaches may be the same as the ones used in general education courses at a typical college or university, some will not really prepare you to achieve the outcomes that have been strictly defined by the state licensing agency.

Here are a few tips to help you succeed in an online certificate program.

Licensing Exam.
 
You may not be able to practice your profession until you pass an examination that is administered by the state regulatory agency in charge of licensing and licensures.  Because they are charged with the oversight of the profession and must maintain standards, there is no wiggle room.  The state does not grade on a curve.  Instead, you must demonstrate competencies in a predefined area, and you will need to satisfy very clearly defined requirements.  For that reason, you'll need to find out which test you'll be responsible for.  

Find out what you will be expected to pass, and what information you'll need to provide:

* Written exam?

* Practicum or supervised skills test?  

* Background check (security clearance, etc.)?

* Supervised internship or student teaching?

The way you study for your online course must be adapted so that you are learning for the course and demonstrating that you are achieving the learning outcomes you've defined.

The approach you take must encompass a range of learning styles and cognitive approaches.  Here are a few.

1.  Develop a system for organizing knowledge.  
Create schemata for yourself.  Put the information you need to know in categories.  Make sure the categories make sense and that they correspond to testable areas.

2.  Understand the underlying reasons and rationale for the questions you'll need to answer.
Develop practice test questions.  As you do so, connect them to theoretical foundations and specific explanations.  Use this as an opportunity to construct a practical foundation of conceptual underpinnings.

3.  Understand the consequences of incorrect procedures, applications of knowledge, etc.
This approach will help you in fields where you must practice a skill or technique, or where your decisions will have a tangible effect on the environment, people, buildings, or structures.

4.  Map out the steps to follow, understand causes and effects.
Be sure to understand the protocols for practices and procedures.  If there are steps to follow, gain an understanding of how and why causes and effects occur as they do.

5.  Situate the knowledge.
Connect the course content and material you will be tested over to a) your own experience; b) case studies; c) practical examples.  As you analyze the cases and make connections, think about how the knowledge blocks you are managing relate to each other.  

6.  Avoid rote memorization.  Seek to be able to manage and apply information.
Keep in mind that information should not be considered in discrete packets and avoid rote memorization if at all possible.  Instead, create functional categories and memory markers so that you have a way to retrieve the information, and to process and manage it.

As you prepare yourself for your courses and the eventual exam, be sure to practice.  There are several ways you can practice effectively.

1.  Obtain practice tests and guides for licensure exams.  The agency usually provides a few guides to exams.  Your textbook company usually creates even more.

2.  Read the guides.  If your course does not have study materials, try to create your own.  Avoid simply developing flash cards and visual games.  Instead, try to imitate the format of the actual test.

3.  Replicate the conditions under which you'll be tested.  Subject yourself to them, but multiply the distractions and the anxiety.  This will help you clear your mind and function well.  In addition, you'll be developing enhanced self-efficacy.

4.  Reduce test anxiety.  Sleep and avoid stimulants.

You may notice that there are places where your course and the tests do not have much in common.  In an online course, you may find that your discussion threads may tend to go out on a limb and not stay within the confines of a narrowly defined subject matter or problem set.  

Although your course may not seem to be preparing you for a licensure exam, the truth is, it really is.  

Your mind works by developing pathways by which you retieve knowledge.  The key to success is to have many doors (or triggers) to the neural pathways to the place where the knowledge is stored. The more triggers and pathways, the more likely you will be to be able to file, retrieve, process, and synthesize information.  You will also be able to make unusual connections -- precisely the skills you need for creative problem-solving and critical thinking.

[Listen to the companion podcast at:
http://community.elearners.com/blogs/inside_elearning/attachment/1422.ashx - 3.42 MB]

 

Watch Susan!

http://www.beyondutopia.net/videos/certificates.wmv