Course Curriculum

This brief course is designed for people who are either new to character education or would like to brush up on the latest happenings in the field. Participants will have the opportunity to experience character education practices, consider different approaches to how character can be taught and integrated into many aspects of school, and learn about character education programs along with current opportunities and challenges in the field.

We also offer mini-courses on the Basics of Social-Emotional Learning and the Basics of Mindfulness. You can enroll in all three at once with our Basics Bundle.

Course components include (1.5 hours): 

• A Sampling of Different Cultures’ and Religions’ Views of Morality
• A Brief History of Character Education in the United States
• How Character is Defined Today in the West
• Approaches to Teaching Character, Including Sample Frameworks and Programs
• Current Opportunities and Challenges in the Field of Character Education

Course Logistics

Course Cost

Registration for the Basics of Character Education Mini-Course is $49. 

The Greater Good Science Center is funded entirely by donations and grants—we do not receive any financial support from the University of California, Berkeley. However, we are able to offer many of our GGSC resources for free because we charge for some of our courses. We do our best to make our courses and events affordable for everyone, but realize that “affordable” can mean vastly different things depending on individual or geographic circumstances.

If the cost of this mini-course is prohibitive due to your personal circumstances, you can use the discount code MINIDISC at checkout to receive $20 off the cost of the course. 

If you would like to enroll all of the educators (or a large number of educators) from your school, please reach out to us at ggsceducation@berkeley.edu to discuss additional payment options.

Who Should Take This Course?

• Pre-K through 12 classroom teachers, paraeducators, and out-of-school-time providers
• Pre-K-12 school mental health professionals and counselors
• Pre-K-12 school and district-level administrators
• Pre-K-12 teacher and administrator educators
• Other higher education lecturers or professors are welcome to register, but please be aware that the course is geared primarily towards Pre-K-12 educators

Course Features

• Pre-recorded videos featuring talks and practices.
• Discussion guide for participants who want to engage in group learning (e.g., a school cohort)
• An introduction to over 200 free research-informed classroom practices that help cultivate character
• Downloadable journal pages to capture your reflections, a-ha moments, and great ideas

Course Outcomes

Participants will:

• Learn how morality is defined in several cultures and religions, including Chinese culture, Hinduism, Islam, and sub-Saharan African culture
• Consider the challenge of “whose values do we teach” in a pluralistic world
• Learn a brief history of character education in the United States
• Review several definitions of character
• Examine different curricular and pedagogical approaches to teaching character, along with the “hidden curriculum”
• Learn practices for teaching character, including the four types of character, that use a variety of methods
• Explore three character education frameworks for integrating character into the DNA of school, along with sample character education programs
• Consider the research and latest opportunities and challenges in the field of character education
• Explore what it looks like when character education, social-emotional learning, and mindfulness are woven together in classrooms and schools, including practical examples

Course Instructor 

Vicki Zakrzewski, Ph.D., is the GGSC’s founding education director. Read more about Vicki. 

Cancellation Policy

Course users can cancel their enrollment or ask for a refund up to 14 days after the payment or 14 days after the course starts (whichever comes later). In order to qualify for a refund, users must not have completed more than 25% of the course modules or content. To cancel course enrollment, please contact ggsceducation@berkeley.edu. Qualified refund requests may take up to 30 days to process.