How it works
Fellowship scheme and badges
One of key benefits of the ICETE Academy is that educational learning that you do as theological educator can be certified to demonstrate professional development. This is important for CVs and job applications as well as for schools who need to demonstrate ongoing faculty development for quality assurance purposes.
The ICETE Academy does not offer credits nor award degrees as a higher education institution would do, but works on a 'fellowship' scheme. This is common in professional development bodies and can be seen, for example, in the UK Higher Education Academy model (HEA).
Basically, a fellowship scheme attests to the fulfilment of given achievement criteria. Once you achieve and maintain these criteria, you are a 'fellow'. In some ways it is comparable to a driver's licence or to a club membership, that need to be obtained and maintained.
The criteria used by the ICETE Academy are course points that you are awarded on course completion. Each course point equals one hour of learning, so a course with 10 hours of learning will be counted for 10 course points.
Learning with the ICETE Academy is classified as non-formal learning, which stands on its own, but can also be recognised as formal learning at the discretion of individual higher education institutions and programmes with similar learning outcomes.
Categories of fellowship
There are different categories of ICETE Academy fellowship:
ASSOCIATE ICETE ACADEMY FELLOW (AICF). This status will be conferred immediately to everyone completes registration (and payment plan). An AICF has access to unlimited courses on the ICETE Academy website.
ICETE ACADEMY FELLOW (full) (IAF). This status will be conferred to everyone who completes at least 30 course points over 36 months. To maintain IAF status, you must be in line with your payment plan and complete at least 30 course points every 36 months.
SENIOR ICETE ACADEMY FELLOW (SIAF). This status is conferred by the ICETE Steering Committe to significant individuals who contribute to educational development in theological education. Senior Fellows are normally course writers in the ICETE Academy.
The ICETE Academy Directory makes the list of all ICETE Academy fellows public.
Also consult the Leaderboard to view rankings and course points of all fellows.
You will notice that, unlike a static degree award, a fellowship scheme is dynamic. In other words, fellowship status is something you need to maintain as a lifelong learner. Should, a full IA Fellow not complete at least 30 course points in 36 months, they will revert to Associate status.
Once you have completed sufficient course points to achieve IAF your name will be listed under the Fellows (IAF) directory (this is not automatic and can take a few weeks). You can then include this in your CV and professional portfolio.
Earn Badges
In addition to the fellowship scheme, you will also receive certification though an ICETE Academy Badge for each course. This is a digital certificate that you will receive by email once you complete a course and that specifies the learning outcomes that you have achieved and the points/hours of learning (each IA point is equivalent to 1 hour of learning). You will also be notified through the > Notifications function and you can see all your Badges on your > Profile and personal > Dashboard (see top right hand menu).
The course points hours of each badge are also tallied toward your Fellowship status.
The Leaderboard
In all ICETE Academy courses you will find a block in the right hand menu with a Leaderboard. This is a site wide counter that keeps track of the course points of all students with a global ranking ladder and leaderboard of ICETE Academy Fellows.
This is a fun way to gamify courses and keep motivated in earning further course points.