Computer Science Teaching - Level I - Institutional Certificate of Proficiency

College of Science

Department of Computer Science

The USU Department of Computer Science provides a variety of learning opportunities to earn certificate specializations through USU’s online program. All the courses needed to earn these certificates are available online, meaning students can live anywhere and work on these certificates.

Among the certificates there is some overlap with the course requirements. Students who wish to pursue multiple certificates will benefit greatly from that overlap. For example, a student who completes the Software Development certificate  only needs to complete two more classes (6 credits) for the Web & Mobile Developer certificate . The Cloud Computing certificate  only requires one class (3 credits) on top of the Software Development certificate . The Computer Science Teaching - Level II  certificate only requires two classes (6 credits) on top of the Computer Science Teaching - Level I certificate.

This certificate provides the foundational knowledge a currently licensed teacher needs in order to teach introductory computer science classes at the elementary and secondary education levels.  A student should check with their licensing agency to determine how these courses apply in their specific circumstances. Specific skills and outcomes as a result of this teaching certificate include:

• An ability to analyze a problem, identify, and define the computing requirements appropriate to its solutions.
• An understanding of professional, ethical, legal, security, social issues, and responsibilities.
• A basic ability to design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program’s discipline.
• An ability to use the Python programming language.
• An ability to use the Java programming language.
• Learn methods for teaching computer science to high school students.