Whether it’s juvenile delinquency, child abuse and neglect, placement of special needs children in schools, or any number of issues, public defenders and child advocates in the City of Philadelphia and across the country have their hands full when it comes to protecting our youth. Tackling these tough cases without the latest information and training from many disciplines makes this task that much more difficult.
Enter Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Studies, in Malvern, and its new Instructional Design for E-Learning Certificate program. Students in the program’s capstone course—the final course which requires students to apply what they have learned in class—have been hard at work designing a 36-hour training curriculum for the Defender Association of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania Law School to keep public defenders and child advocates “up to speed” on developments that affect the juvenile justice system.
Students taking the Penn State Great Valley course have been broken into teams, and each has been charged with the mission to design a training program for the Defender Association/Penn partnership. According to Gus Prestera, adjunct professor of instructional systems at Great Valley and teacher of the capstone course, the project is a win-win for students, the non-profit organizations that will benefit, lawyers for children across the state, and the children they represent.
“These attorneys are spread out and it’s difficult to bring them all together in meaningful ways and in a cost-effective manner,” he said. “Each team is creating its own proposal along with proof of concept that shows what strategy it might entail, and a budget for getting it done. The organizations can decide which blueprint they like best and try to get funding for it as they move forward.”
The training program—which is likely to be a combination of online and in-person instruction—will include information compiled by attorneys, pediatricians, child psychologists, social workers, and others that will help these public defenders and child advocates do their jobs better.
“Lawyers who advocate for these children and families need to know as much as they can about issues that affect these cases, whether it be behavioral and mental health science, education, medical science, or other issues, but they often don’t have the time or resources necessary to get all this information,” said Alan Lerner, a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and director of the school’s Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic. “We have the legal knowledge, and access to experts from relevant disciplines; what we don’t have is the technical knowledge to deliver the information to attorneys for children across Pennsylvania, and across the country, so that they can access it without missing significant time from work or expending valuable resources. This project would be next to impossible without the support that Penn State Great Valley is providing.”
Lerner said the training program, which he hopes will be completed by the end of 2009, will contain many modules based on both law and related disciplines that could be valuable to lawyers for children across the state and across the nation.
Ginny Hutt, an Instructional Design for E-Learning Certificate student from Langhorne, said the project and course have been very beneficial. Hutt works as manager of research and evaluation at MMS Education in Newtown, a company that provides consulting and marketing research for clients who provide goods and services to the education market. She enrolled in the certificate program so she could learn to create e-learning initiatives for clients in their organizations.
“It’s wonderful having real-world experience, and really satisfying knowing we’re developing something that will actually be used and benefit society. Getting troubled kids the right services so they can improve their life helps all of us,” said Hutt.
She said this final project caps an excellent graduate certificate program experience.
“I decided to go to Penn State Great Valley because I know the University’s programs are really well respected. It’s been great. With only a six- to seven-month commitment, I’ll walk away with a graduate certificate and three courses that can be applied to a master’s degree in instructional systems,” she said.
Prestera was satisfied that students are getting precisely what they need to become more valuable as they move ahead in their careers.
“Most of the students in this e-learning certificate program are training professionals who work inside a company, but some may eventually become outside consultants. In this way, this project and certificate program are very relevant for them,” said Prestera. “Even those inside companies who plan to stay there will benefit by gaining a better understanding of the process for designing an entire curriculum.”
The project will conclude on Saturday, April 19, in the Safeguard Scientifics Building on campus when each group presents its final proposal to the client. Three experts in the training design field will also be on hand to provide feedback for the students, as well as help the clients make their selection. The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition to the regular course schedule, Penn State Great Valley’s Instructional Design for E-Learning Graduate Certificate program, which includes five courses, meets the needs of employers and employees through flexible scheduling. For example, Astra Zeneca employees typically work Monday through Thursday, and take courses at Penn State Great Valley on Fridays. For information call 610-648-3219, or go to http://gv.psu.edu/Prospective_Students/Academics/Training_Design_and_Development/.
