Marquette is working with two other Jesuit universities to create a post-bachelor's degree program that will certify bachelor's degree recipients to teach in their field to 6th through 12th graders.

The School of Education and Center for Electronic Learning established its online certification program in the summer of 2004, according to Heidi Schweizer, the center's director and associate professor in the School of Education.

The program was the first of its kind in the state of Wisconsin and was created with the goal to attract new teachers to a field in need.

Marquette is working in conjunction with Loyola University in Chicago and St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia to help them develop an online teacher certification program as well, Schweizer said

While open for application to anyone, the program is particularly appealing to "non-traditional" students—people working full-time or students with families, she said.

The average age of students in the program is 37, and there are more women than men.

Schweizer said the program aims to attract students that have a bachelor's degree or would like to become certified in math and science fields; however, students with social studies, history or English backgrounds are also accepted.

Marquette was able to create the online program with the help of many grants, both federal and private.

The university is working in conjunction with Loyola and St. Joseph's universities to help the schools create an online teacher certification program like the one here.

Since Marquette had already created seven courses in teacher certification, Schweizer said they gave the setup of the courses to both Loyola and St. Joseph's universities for a $100 return per student per course taken in the online teacher certification program at the other universities.

Denise Wadzinski is a current student in the online certification program.

Although she has bachelor's degrees in political science and philosophy, she has decided to enter the program to gain certification to teach broad fields, such as social studies.

"A lot of people think that by taking classes online, you would miss out on something." Wadzinski said. "But I actually feel more connected to the other students and my professors."

Wadzinski said she likes that she is able to take classes on her schedule and be connected to her classmates at any time.

So far the program is still in an experimental stage.

The pilot group of students began the program in the fall of 2004, with five students each from Marquette, Loyola Chicago and St. Joseph's.

The second group of students began in the summer of 2004 and averaged around 15 students from each of the three universities.

This summer there will be approximately the same number of students in the program, Schweizer said. After the third group, the School of Education will evaluate the program and decide if they will continue to offer online certification.

Jennifer Sobecke, a sophomore in the School of Education, said she thinks the online teacher certification program is a good idea.

She believes it will help "draw in more teachers" to schools in need.

Program leaders aim to eventually have 35 students participate from each of the three universities and to have these participants be located in urban areas so that more teachers can be trained to work in areas of need.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 7 2005.