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    Welcome to Maryland Public Television’s ECE Online Courses!

    We offer a wide collection of early childhood online courses to meet your professional learning needs. Each course is approved for Core of Knowledge clock hours by the Maryland State Department of Education Division of Early Childhood.  These courses support Maryland’s early care providers and educators, and help meet pre-service and continued training requirements.



Available courses

Your Career as a Child Care Center Aide

This self-guided, online course was developed by Maryland Public Television to help you as a newly hired child care center aides learn about your roles and responsibilities. In this course, you will explore the important rules and regulations that guide your work as a child care center aide. By the end of the course, you will have identified the requirements for becoming a child care center aide, explored the important health and safety aspects of working in a child care center, and developed an understanding of your role in supporting Developmentally Appropriate Practices to provide high-quality learning experiences for young children.

Estimated class time: 3 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Professionalism

Child Care Directors: Understanding Your Roles and Responsibilities

This self-paced course examines the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) that guide your work as a center director. You will learn the requirements for becoming a director, develop and describe your leadership style, recognize developmentally appropriate practices, identify effective ways of engaging families, and learn how to operate a successful business that provides high-quality learning experiences for young children.

Estimated class time: 3 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Professionalism

Developmental Screening Overview

Caregiver watches child squeeze glue on his art project.
This self-guided course was developed to help early childhood professionals learn about the purpose and benefits of the developmental screening process. This course will explain the rationale for early care and education programs to conduct routine developmental screenings on children birth through kindergarten entry age. You will review developmental milestones and define development screening, recognize the difference between screening and assessment, examine MSDE's guidelines for developmental screening best practices, evaluate MSDE's recommended screening tools, review the stages of the referral process, and learn how to support parents with accessing community-based support to support their child's growth and development.

Estimated class time: 4 hours
MSDE Clock Hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Child Development 2 hours; Professionalism 2 hours

Understanding Child Development

Understanding Child Development is the first course in the Family Child Care 24-Hour Preservice Series.

This course examines several theories of child development. You will also learn how to apply these theories to support best practices in child care.

Estimated class time: 4 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Child Development 4 hours

Curriculum Development

Curriculum Development is the second course in the Family Child Care 24-Hour Preservice Series.

This course examines the concept of curriculum development. You will learn about Developmentally Appropriate Practice and effective planning. You will learn how to apply different curriculum development strategies to support best practices in child care.

Estimated class time: 4 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Curriculum 4 hours

Creating a Safe and Healthy Family Care Program

Creating a Safe and Healthy Family Care program is the third course in the Family Child Care 24-Hour Preservice Series.

This course examines the important roles of healthy routines, safety measures and nutritious meal planning in the family care home. You will learn ways to prevent the spread of illness, how to respond to emergency situations, and how to plan a healthy menu for children of different ages.

Estimated class time: 4 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Health, Safety and Nutrition 4 hours

Building an Inclusive Program

Building an Inclusive Program is the fourth course in the Family Child Care 24-Hour Preservice Series.

This course examines child development and the importance of early intervention for children with special needs. You will learn to recognize signs of potential developmental delays and how to plan appropriate adaptations to build an inclusive program.

Estimated class time: 4 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Special Needs 4 hours

Professionalism: Owning Your Own Business

Professionalism: Owning Your Own Business is the fifth course in the Family Child Care 24-Hour Preservice Series.

This course examines the importance of professionalism to family child care providers. You will learn about the responsibilities, joys and challenges of running your own family child care business. You will study appropriate supervision, COMAR and effective communication with parents. In addition, you will learn how to apply write a business plan, develop appropriate policies and procedures, and to support best practices in family child care.

Estimated class time: 4 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Professionalism 4 hours



Building Community Connections

Building Community Connections is the sixth and final course in the Family Child Care 24-Hour Preservice Series.

This course examines the role of community in child development. You will learn about the community and national resources available to family child care providers. You will also focus on how to build positive relationships with the families that you serve. In addition, you will explore how cultural influences shape community and how to build a culturally relevant program.

Estimated class time: 4 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Community 4 hours

Teaching Media Literacy in Early Childhood

This interactive, virtual hybrid professional learning course designed to support educators in choosing and using media to build healthy media habits for young learners. This week-long course blends self-paced online learning with virtual meet-ups with your colleagues and the course facilitator. The goal is to support personalized learning that helps early learning educators acquire new skills and tailor their classroom experiences with media and technology.

Early learning providers and educators will explore how to help young children develop media literacy skills by using technology and media as part of a playful learning experience. Participants  will also explore MPT's Media STEPs for Learning which provides a framework to help them take charge of choosing and using media to foster pro-social development and build healthy media habits for young learners. Finally, participants will learn about PBS KIDS programs and how to use the research-based content to support early science and literacy skills.

Estimated class time: 6 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge - Professionalism


Early Learning Media Ambassador (ELMA) Quick Start Course

This self-guided course was developed by Maryland Public Television to help you prepare for your role as an Early Learning Media Ambassador. By completing this course, you will be ready to empower educators and families to take charge of media’s influence and impact, describe the meaning and purpose of media literacy, share MPT's easy-to-use media literacy guide, and build partnerships with local organizations to facilitate Early Learning Media Events.

Estimated class time: 1 hour
 





Using Media to Facilitate Social Emotional Learning for Young Children


This virtual, hybrid course focuses on the developmentally appropriate use of educational media to promote social emotional development and teach prosocial skills to young learners as they practice self-awareness through self- regulation, build their relationship skills, and develop their executive functioning skills.

Estimated class time: 8 hours
MSDE Clock hours earned: Core of Knowledge