How does the professional development credit program work?
- Sign up to lead a tour with us.
- Pay $200 or redeem 75 Global Points for the course.
(Note: Course is FREE if one
or more of your students on tour takes our course for high school or college credit,
and you grade that student’s coursework.)
- Pre tour: Complete a reading assignment and pre-tour overview (estimated time required:
20 hours).
- On tour: Keep a travel journal (estimated time required: 20 hours).
- Post tour: Prepare and share a curriculum unit with your administrators as well
as a summary essay of your experience (estimated time required: 20 hours).
- Self-assess a passing grade.
(Note: EF spot checks the work to ensure accountability.)
- Time required: approximately 60 hours
- Credits earned: 2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or Professional Development
Points
- Participating school administration must approve EF coursework for credit. We recommend
you seek prior approval before your tour.
View printable version of EF’s Professional Credit Program (PDF)
How do I enroll in the professional development credit program?
It’s easy—just go to the My Tours section and click on Online Forms to enroll.
How do I submit completed work?
Grades are based on a self-assessment, so submitting completed work is optional.
EF welcomes submissions.
Why should EF Group Leaders take this course? Why should schools accept
EF’s professional development program credit?
- EF is the only educational travel company to be accredited by the Commission on
Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA), the Middle States Commission on Elementary
Schools (MSCES) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. This means
that all of EF’s international and domestic tours have been recognized for their
quality and educational value, meeting the same rigorous standards as the best schools
across the United States.
- EF's course requirements include 60 hours of preparation, as well as on-tour work
and post-tour reflective analysis.
- EF's course provides a formal structure for educators to document the work that
goes into leading a tour and providing students with valuable learning experiences
outside the classroom.
- EF's course enables educators to develop professionally as global citizens and to
transfer that learning to their students.
- EF's course addresses global connections standards that are often difficult to meet
in the classroom.
- EF’s course provides educators with a way to quantify the knowledge and experience
they have gained on tour and to help bring that knowledge of the world to their
students.
- EF's course was created by educators and approved by EF Educational Tours' and Smithsonian
Student Travel’s educational advisory board.
Course goals and objectives
EF’s credit program is guided by the National Council on Social Studies’ Global
Connections learning strands (ncss.org), which meet state and national standards.
These standards address overall curriculum design expectations, while the individual
themes such as culture, history, people, governance and power, the environment,
and civic ideals and practices, among others, provide focused and enhanced content
detail. EF’s program is designed to:
1. Address the Global Connections themes described in detail in the standards section
of this course
2. Prepare educators to become more active and aware participants in a global community
and enhance their global citizenship skills
3. Provide educators with the means to analyze and meaningfully document their experiences,
and those of their students, in the world beyond their own community
4. Enhance educators' firsthand knowledge of a history, culture, art, architecture,
people or belief system different from their own.
5. Prepare educators for a more productive future through thoughtful integration
of experiential learning and reflective analysis
Reading
Read one book or three articles which pertain to the Global Connections theme as
it relates to your subject and grade level. You are free to pick your own reading
material but must justify your choice as part of the required summary activity.
Suggested reading:
National Council for the Social Studies recommended readings
www.socialstudies.org/resources/notable
American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages recommended readings
www.actfl.org
Advanced Placement program of the College Board resource list
www.apcentral.collegeboard.com
National Science Teacher's Association recommended readings
www.nsta.org/ostbc
National Council for Teachers of English recommended readings
www.ncte.org/store
PBS TeacherSource resource list
www.shoppbs.org
Pre-tour overview
Formally document the planning you do before your tour in order to:
- Communicate the educational value of your travel program to parents and administrators
- Demonstrate leadership in your school and community
- Prepare your students to benefit from their upcoming travels
- Teach your students about global citizenship
- Prepare your students for the logistics of travel
- Anticipate challenges and rewards you'll gain professionally through teaching your
students outside the classroom in an experiential learning environment
- Align each of the activities to state or national standards for your discipline
(your choice), as well as to state or national professional development standards
(your choice)
Travel journal
Keep a paper or online travel journal which contains notes on the following topics
(suggested 500 words/day):
- Cities, towns, destinations of educational interest to students and teachers (destinations
should vary according to each teacher's discipline)
- Personal contacts, conversations, interviews with local citizens
- Educational materials, information gained each day
- Instructional experience gained each day from EF Tour Directors, city guides, other
teachers, etc.
- Reflections on teaching outside the classroom (Ex: Discipline is more difficult
than expected because…; “teachable moments” are more powerful because…)
Curriculum unit
Create a curriculum unit designed to enrich students' pre-, on- and post-tour experience
and to share the travel experience with students who were not able to go on the
tour. Use your pre-tour and on-tour assignments to help create the curriculum units.
The curriculum unit should include:
- 1 one-hour pre-tour lesson
- 1 one-hour on-tour lesson
- 1 one-hour post-tour lesson.
Each lesson should include the following sections:
- Subject and intended grade level(s)
- Clear and succinct connection between the EF educational tour program and discipline
- Subject matter topics
- General aim and specific objectives
- Intended learning outcomes
- Materials needed
- Procedures
- Assessments
Summary activity
Write an essay (2,000 words) in which you:
- Assess the value of incorporating your book(s) or article(s) into your lessons.
Include an explanation of why you chose this reading material
- Evaluate the pre-, on-, and post-tour experience, including the course requirements,
in terms of how it helped you grow professionally as an educator
- Compare classroom learning to experiential learning using your tour as the example
Share your curriculum unit
Discuss your curriculum unit and your post-tour perspectives with at least two colleagues,
including an administrator.
Summarize your reflections about your pre-, on-, and post-tour learning activities
and how you integrated your new knowledge and skills into your professional practice.
Pre-tour reading
Which books did you choose? Why did you choose these books? How did your readings
connect with your upcoming travels?
Pre-tour overview
Assess the extent to which each of the pre-tour activities developed your professional
skills. Include references to how each activity correlates with your chosen standards.
On-tour travel journal
Assess the extent to which your travel journal will help you in the classroom. Provide
an overview of your reflections on teaching outside of the classroom.
Post-tour curriculum unit
Include a page of written feedback from your two colleagues.
Post-tour summary activity
Provide an overview of how this course has helped you develop professionally.
Upon enrollment for your EF educational tour
- All educators and students can register for EF's credit programs online
- EF Group Leaders can ask their tour consultants to add course registration to accounts
(group leader and student) via phone
Two weeks prior to EF tour departure
- Educators obtain their books and a suitable travel journal
- Educators must read their books and complete the “pre-tour overview” section of
the assignment
On tour
Educators must complete the travel journal section of the course
Post tour
Educators must complete the curriculum units and summary activity sections of the
course
Two weeks after returning from tour
Educators must complete their coursework and self-evaluation and report their grade
to EF (Pass/Fail) via the My Tours section of the web site
Within one week of reporting the grade
EF will spot-check work completed to ensure accountability
Within four weeks of reporting the grade
Educators will receive an official transcript from EF documenting their successful
completion of two EF continuing education units/professional development credits
or 60 recertification hours
As part of EF’s professional development program, educators are required to develop a three-lesson curriculum unit that aligns with state and national standards. EF offers several pedagogical and content-based standards below, but educators are free to choose any appropriate standard for their curriculum. Educators must clearly articulate in their summary activity how their curriculum unit aligns to those standards.
National Council for Staff Development Standards (
www.ncsd.org)
NCSD Process Standards
Staff development that improves the learning of all students:
- Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact (Evaluation)
- Prepares educators to apply research to decision making (Research-based)
- Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal (Design)
- Applies knowledge about human learning and change (Learning)
- Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate (Collaboration)
NCSD Content Standards Staff development that improves the learning of all students:
- Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students and create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, while holding high expectations for students' academic achievement (Equity)
- Deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately (Quality Teaching)
- Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately (Family Involvement)
National Council for the Social Studies Standards: Expectations for the Global
Connections theme
(
www.ncss.org)
Teachers should provide developmentally appropriate experiences as they guide learners
in the study of global connections and interdependence. They should:
- Enable learners to explain how language, art, music, belief systems and other cultural
elements can facilitate global understanding or cause misunderstanding
- Help learners to explain conditions and motivations that contribute to conflict,
cooperation and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations
- Provide opportunities for learners to analyze and evaluate the effects of changing
technologies on the global community
- Challenge learners to analyze the causes, consequences and possible solutions to
persistent, contemporary and emerging global issues, such as health care, security,
resource allocation, economic development and environmental quality
- Guide learner analysis of the relationships and tensions between national sovereignty
and global interests in such matters as territorial disputes, economic development,
nuclear and other weapons deployment, use of natural resources and human rights
concerns
- Have learners analyze or formulate policy statements in such ways that they demonstrate
an understanding of concerns, standards, issues and conflicts related to universal
human rights
- Help learners to describe and evaluate the role of international and multinational
organizations in the global arena
- Have learners illustrate how individual behaviors and decisions connect with global
systems
National Board for Professional Development Standards Core Propositions
(
www.nbpts.org)
- Teachers are committed to students and their learning
- Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students
- Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning
- Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience
- Teachers are members of learning communities