Tips for Education Degrees at WGU Indiana

I'm about to wrap up my BA with WGU Indiana. The experience has been good enough for me to decide that I wanted to continue on with WGU Indiana and get my Masters through them. At the moment I'm considering the Biology Education program because I love biology and I know science is a high-need area in the field of education. Because I am about to receive my BA in Elementary Education as well as Special Education and I plan to teach in Indiana, I thought I would offer some tips for those who are going through the same, or similar program at WGU Indiana.

• When you apply for your license to teach, don't forget to click on the "out of state" portion of the application. WGU Indiana is a state school, but they are still going back to WGU for the credentials on that end.
• Tasks get through Taskstream much faster if you make the changes stand out. I personally go over mine with yellow to make it easier for the graders. In fact, I found that this worked well when I got a task back for changes, but didn't actually change anything. They had somehow missed what they were looking for. I made it easier to see and the task went through.
• Attend the makeup cohort meetings, even if you didn't miss any. There is some really valuable information offered in those!
• Go over the items for your portfolio before actually using it. Just because something got through Taskstream, don't assume it is perfect, especially if you made changes and made them stand out.
• To submit your portfolio, click on "attachments" like you would for any other assignment. Instead of clicking on "browse" after that, click on "get items from folio" right below it. (The task and the resources both leave that info out of the instructions.)

And one more thing...stalking Taskstream does not help your items get reviewed any faster. I know it's almost impossible to stop, so just walk away from the computer. (All kidding aside, it is almost impossible to stop stalking them, but we probably aren't doing ourselves any favors by slowing down their servers with our compulsive hitting of the "refresh" key.)

Changes in Indiana Praxis Requirements

In case anyone missed the email sent out by WGU Indiana or you're just getting into the teaching program somewhere else, I thought I'd make it a point to post and let you know that some of the Praxis requirements have changed this year.

In the past, the elementary education Praxis II test requirements included Praxis II 0011/5011 and Praxis II 0300. These exams will still be accepted as long as they are passed by September 1, 2012. Now, you can meet these same requirements by completing the Praxis II 5031.

What does this mean for future educators? Well, if you've already taken at least 2 of the Praxis 0011/5011 and/or Praxis II 0300, then you may as well continue along this course and complete the last one. The simplicity of taking the Praxis II 5031 (which combines the content of the other tests) means you can save time and money, but does not discount the validity of the other tests. The goal of the Indiana Department of Education is to simplify the process, which will save them money as well as those of us pursuing a license in Elementary Education.

Online Teaching Degree

One reason I like WGU Indiana so much is that they offer an online teaching degree. While there are certainly schools that offer a wealth of online classes, it's kind of a pain to search for them and I don't even know of any other exclusively online school that offers a teaching degree in Indiana. For all I know, every other state might have tons of them, but I doubt it.

Most people that are working toward a teaching degree in Indiana that will lead to a teaching license in Indiana know that there is a student teaching portion to the degree. This is the part of the degree that requires students to go into a classroom and teach it for 12 weeks, 16 weeks if you're aiming for a Special Education teaching degree in Indiana. Don't worry, because WGU Indiana has this part covered as well. In fact, it's the one of the 3 parts of the online teaching degree in Indiana that requires you to leave your house. The other 2 are the 2 Praxis tests (which WGU Indiana actually reimburses you for-try finding that in another school).

WGU Indiana staff is very familiar with the Indiana requirements for a teaching degree. Their goal is to prepare you to work your way into one of the Indiana teaching jobs that are out there. That means that the online teaching degree at WGU Indiana has a schedule for every step of the way.