Learning, design and technology grad embraces online learning to help students | Penn State News

Jessica Buterbaugh, marketing communications specialist for the College of Education says, After 10 years working as a technology director and teacher for a small, rural school district, Marty Petrosky knew the best way to help his district was to return to school. 

Marty Petrosky, left, and his family — daughter Mariya, son Kai and wife Heidi (class of 1995) — have always been Penn State fans. Now, Petrosky can also say he is a proud alumnus.
Photo: Submitted

Completing a graduate program is rigorous and time-consuming. Just ask Marty Petrosky, who returned to being a student after spending more than a decade educating students.

 "I contemplated starting a master's program for probably five years before I finally took the proverbial plunge," said Petrosky.

As the technology director for the Shanksville-Stonycreek School District (SSSD), a position he has held for the past 13 years, Petrosky said continuing his education was something he wanted to do in order to help his district advance 21st-century learning. But that would mean that he would have to become a 21st-century student — and that was an intimidating thought.

"I had never taken an online class before and I wasn't sure if I could handle it or even what to expect," he said. "I was concerned for a long time about acclimating back to being a student and being comfortable with online learning. That's probably what scared me the most and made me apprehensive.".

In 2015, Petrosky faced his fear and enrolled at Penn State, in the College of Education's educational technology integration graduate certificate program offered through Penn State World Campus. The structure of the program made it easy to transition back to being a student, he said, and his first class — LDT467: Emerging Web Technologies and Learning — was perfect in helping a returning adult student acclimate to online learning...

Now, three years after he took that first class, Petrosky is set to graduate on Dec. 15. In addition to earning his master's of education in learning, design and technology, he also will have received three postbaccalaureate certificates — Educational Technology Integration; e-Learning Design; and Teaching and Learning Online in K-12 Settings (TLOK12). He is the first student at Penn State to complete the TLOK12 certificate program, an approved provider of the state's Online Instruction Endorsement for licensed educators in Pennsylvania.
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Source: Penn State News