Prices
The complete course price is £385 plus 20% VAT if you will be taking this course while in the UK, or your employer is a UK based company.
If you have completed an online course with IH OTTI in the previous 12 months, there is a loyalty discount of 10% and the price for teachers working in an IH school is £327. Just let us know on the application form if you would like to claim these discounts.
Please note that discounts cannot be used in conjunction with each other.
Who is this course designed for
This is an IH Specialist short course for Managers in an Academic Context in Teams and Communication. This course is for you if:
- You are a new manager, or a manager with some experience, who wishes to develop and improve team working and communication in your organisation or department;
- You want a course that gives you a range of practical ideas as well as a theoretical grounding in the topic;
- You want to discuss issues and solutions with other managers and with a course tutor, networking within a global community.
Entry requirements
The course requires a minimum English language level of C1. The course can be taken by managers working in a language school context in any department e.g. DOS, Marketing Manager, Head of Reception or School Director.
Please note online applications close on the Wednesday before the course starts. But we sometimes have late availability, so please get in touch with the admissions team on ihotti@ihworld.com and we will see if there are any last minute spaces.
Course objectives
On this course you will learn about how to manage teams effectively (face-to-face and remotely) and explore issues of organisational communication.
This course will be delivered by Maureen McGarvey. Maureen has been involved in online training and management training for the past 15 years, running a range of distance, face to face, and online training programmes for academic managers at IH London.
Course content
This is a 6-module course, delivered asynchronously entirely online via our Moodle site.
During the course you will:
- consider the stages of team formation and team roles, and look at theory and practice of leadership in teams;
- examine strategies for improving teams which are not working effectively;
- analyse and explore the main communication issues in your workplace, and look at ways of addressing these;
- through case studies and discussion, explore and devise best practice for ensuring organisational communication is effective.
The course is an asynchronous online course. This means you can access the course material at a time that suits you – you don’t need to log on and be present at any specific time. So wherever you are in the world, the time difference is never an issue.
Each week, a new module is covered, and the material is provided over the course of that week. Tasks are to be completed either individually or as part of a group. The discussion forums are what course participants value most about the online learning process. They offer the perfect opportunity to share ideas and learn from your peers on the course. We recommend that participants log on regularly to keep up to date with the ongoing conversation. Course tutors will also log on frequently to monitor the discussions and give guidance and support.
Duration
There are six weeks of tutor-led input on this course. After this you will have two weeks to complete and submit your portfolio of work ready for assessment.
Your time commitment
It depends on the individual, but we recommend a minimum of 5 to 7 hours per week spent online and doing tasks. Your study hours are flexible, but some tasks require group input and have set deadlines. The more time you can devote to the course, the more you will gain from it.
Your fellow course participants and online community
The number of course participants will be between eight and sixteen.
The online community that you create is usually one of the most valued parts of the course. With your peers, you can share best practices, exchange ideas, and discuss experiences with other teachers from all over the world. This course is not purely about self-study all on your own - it's about making the most of these conversations and learning from each other as well as from the course material and your tutors.
Although the course is asynchronous, you need to engage with your peers and the material each week because one of the course requirements is being part of the cohort and contributing to ongoing discussions. In fact, this sense of community is one of the things most valued by our course participants.
Assessment
This course is assessed through the final project, which is submitted two weeks after the final module finishes. The project is worked on throughout the course and aims to allow you to apply course input to your working context. There are opportunities during the course for you to ask questions and get feedback on drafts of your work. There is no final grade for your project but you will you get feedback from your tutor on your final submission. To pass the course you will need to participate in the discussion forums and submit a successful final project.
Throughout the course, the tutor will be on hand for support and to answer any questions. The final grade is a Pass or Fail. Portfolios are submitted two weeks after course completion.
Your verified digital certificate
On successful completion of this course you will receive a digital certificate. This is stored securely on a verified site, so everybody can be confident that it is authentic and real.
It will look like the image below:
You can share this with a prospective employer, client, or anybody else that you choose.
A digital certificate is more safe and secure for you than paper – it won’t get lost in the post, it won’t get damaged over time, and won’t get lost. It is always available, you can share in just one click, or you can print as many copies as you like whenever you would like. And, it’s better for the environment. Reducing paper, ink, and delivery means a lower carbon footprint.
Click here for a short video about verified digital certificates from our partner Accredible.
Tutors
This course was designed by Maureen McGarvey. Maureen has been involved in online training and management training for the past 15 years, running a range of distance, face to face, and online training programmes for academic managers at IH London. She wrote the management module for the MSc in TESOL offered by Aston University, and was subject tutor and dissertation supervisor for that module for several years. She has also tutored the management module for the MA in TESOL offered by Westminster University. She is a frequent conference speaker on topics related to academic management and online training.
Take this course as part of the IH Diploma in Academic Management
If you want to deep dive into fine-tuning a range of language education management skills and be a stand-out candidate for your next job application, consider taking the IH Diploma in Academic Management. The IH Diploma is 5 Courses in Academic Management + Action Research Project to be completed over two years.
It is a comprehensive programme designed to support and equip managers in language education to perform better, make more assured decisions and feel confident in approaching issues in their organisation. Learn more about the IH Diploma here.