How to Become an Elementary School Teacher Online

Online teacher education classes are available from many institutions and in many formats. Many are designed to give prospective teachers the education they need through an entirely online degree program, while others may rely on a more traditional or hybridized system.

Available Online Education Programs

Online education programs for prospective teachers are available from a variety of kinds of institution and in several different formats. Both undergraduate and graduate degree levels are available, through online institutions that give students the option of completing their entire undergraduate and graduate educations online, or through traditional institutions that may offer fully online classes, or may at times offer hybrid programs, in which some classes are offered online and others are offered in a traditional, in-person format.
Many different degrees may be found online for prospective teachers, including Bachelor of Arts degrees in such subjects as early childhood education, mathematics, science, special education, or interdisciplinary studies, which is often the recommended degree for prospective elementary school teachers. Also available are master's degrees in subjects like special education, educational leadership, English as a second language, or simply teaching.

Format and Function of Online Education Degree Programs

Online education degree programs use tools like e-mail, forums or message boards, instant messengers and specially-designed educational software that allows students to access their classes from anywhere, and integrate many of the above mentioned communication components of an online education into a single software interface. This software may also incorporate built-in testing capability and automatic assignment review functions.
Online classes may have something akin to a traditional class format, with regular assignment and test due dates and periodic class assignments that require students to interact and work together, either in small groups or as an entire class. Alternatively, the classes may be geared more toward a work-at-your-own-pace style of learning, with few or no assignment due dates. Most universities still run on a semester schedule, requiring students to turn in all assignments before a certain date at which classes end. This may not be true, however, for educations geared specifically toward working adults or for continuing education classes.