A BrainPOP Certified Educator is an educator who successfully completes BrainPOP’s free certification program.
If you haven’t yet heard about BrainPOP, let me share. BrainPOP is an animated educational site.
And it has come quite a long way since I first began using it back in the early 2000s. It was once a website filled with fun animated informational videos with connected quizzes.
Today, there are still all the great animated videos and quizzes. But there’s also more. They have:
I have always been a BrainPOP fan. For one, it provides information to learners in an easily digestible way.
Back when I was a classroom teacher, Annie and Moby live tweeted with my 3rd graders to give them more information about Native Americans. They loved it. And I still have the letter framed in my office.
So when our district purchased a BrainPOP subscription, and I noticed that they offered a certification, I jumped on it. I even made it my professional goal for the year.
Before beginning the certification program, there is one step you need to take. You need to have a BrainPOP account.
After that, you need complete the BrainPOP 101 course.
During the 101 course, you learn about the different features that BrainPOP has to offer. Throughout the 10, you learn how to use those features with your students.
I have to say that this is one of the highlights of BrainPOP’s educator programs. Everything centers around how you will use it with your students and curriculum.
Once you complete the course, you have the option to enroll in the certification program. You need to know that it’s not immediate. The program runs at certain times.
But BrainPOP is pretty stinking awesome with their notification process. You know every step of the way, what’s happening and where you are in the process.
Once you’ve been notified that you’re in the program, BrainPOP provides you with an account to their learning management system. They also give you all of the login details.
Once in the course, you will go further with all of BrainPOP’s great content features. And the thing I love about the program is that all of the work you complete is around your own curriculum! Every lesson and activity you design, you are encouraged to do so with content you’re actually going to teach. Soon.
I love that this was connected to my own content! It made the process so much easier.
But here’s what I didn’t realize once I was in the program. The certification program runs for a finite time. In other words, I didn’t realize I only had 4 weeks to complete the course.
So when BrainPOP releases the course content each week, I highly recommend doing it that day. Do not wait to complete it at a later date. Time will get away from you!
YES!!!
After becoming a Certified BrainPOP, you obviously receive a certificate. And you get these awesome digital badges like the one above!
But then, BranPOP sends you a sweet box of swag. Stickers, pens, pencils, a pin, and a tee. I’ve already slapped one of those stickers on my laptop!
In addition to that, you have resources available to you for spreading that BrainPOP love with your colleagues. Not to mention that you are top of the list when new features are released!
Let’s see. Here are a few things to consider when deciding to become a Certified BrainPOP Educator. If you answer yes to any of these questions, then go for it!
And of course, only complete this certification if you like online courses and the BrainPOP product.
Personally, I’m really glad that I went through the BrainPOP Certification Program. I learned a lot about BrainPOP, how to use it well, and it helped me look at play-based learning and assessment in a different way. If you have questions about the certification program, just reply below. I am happy to answer them!
