This certificate offers a chance to enhance students' learning by knowledge of how to develop motivating learning environments. Many teachers and administrators have rich understandings of teaching strategy and content, but have had little opportunity to explore theoretical or conceptual knowledge of how students learn. In this certificate program, students have the opportunity to study rich concepts and theories that have been developed in the fields of motivation, instruction, and learning. Further, students will have the opportunity to study important issues in educational policy. These opportunities will explore past and modern conceptions of school reform.
Better understanding of how (and why) students learn in classrooms can lead to more focused and more effective instruction. Further, better understanding of student motivation in the social classroom environment can allow for the better design of classroom learning environments and help to determine when different instructional choices (individual, tutorial, small group or whole class) might be most useful. Studying educational policy and reform can help students to understand the issues of reform in terms of research and evidence rather than in terms of advocacy and "crises."