People interested in the environment and teaching others about it are invited to earn a credential from the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE). KAEE is providing a variety of online courses, or eeCourses, for its upcoming spring sessions. The eeCourses build toward eeCredentials, certificates earned over time.
Brittany Wray is the Deputy Director at KAEE. She said the two current offerings are the Professional Learning Leader and Green Community Leader credentials, which focus on different ways a person can impact the Commonwealth through environmental education.
“When someone goes through the professional learning leader eeCredential and they have that certificate, that means that they’ve been trained in the best practices in the field, and that they can then provide those high-quality professional learning experiences for other educators in the field,” said Wray.
KAEE aims to open two more credentials in the future: Early Childhood Leader and Climate Literacy Leader certifications.
eeCourses for the upcoming spring 2 session include Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Capacity Building and Civic Action, and K-12 Academic Standards, each covering a different facet of environmental education. The classes can be taken as a stand-alone learning opportunity, or to build toward different eeCredentials.
Wray said there is a suggested cost to register for each course, but participants are encouraged to pay only what they can.
“We want these courses to be accessible, and we want the people who are, you know, interested in continuing their learning to be able to do that. So, if an organization is paying for someone to attend, we do ask that they pay a registration fee. But for people who it is a barrier for, we leave that option that they can enter whatever dollar amount works best for them, if that’s zero dollars or if it’s the suggested rate,” said Wray.
Courses are offered on a rolling schedule, and the next deadline is approaching fast. The Spring 2 session will operate March 4 through April 15, and registration closes the evening of March 4.
More information on the eeCourses and eeCredentials is available online at kaee.org/eecredentials.