Add the Right Skills: Pursue Your Instructional Communication Certification Online With the University of Southern Indiana
Are you a good communicator? Do you care about excellence in education and instruction? If so, pursuing online communication certificate programs can be the perfect way to hone these essential skills and help you advance in your professional position—or even change careers entirely.
Communication is the foundation of human society. It is essential to how we create everything, from community to businesses to culture. Earning your graduate certificate in communication online gives you tools to function more effectively in the classroom, corporate training situations, patient education, and any other instructional setting.
Enrolling in our instructional communication certification programs opens up options for your career or further graduate education. USI’s online communication certificate is an attractive addition to your resume and builds your confidence in your abilities to lead educational efforts in any format.
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Where Can You Go With a Communication Certification?
Our graduate certificates in communication prepare you to help people learn effectively.
Whether in education, healthcare, or as a corporate trainer, you can improve the world with the skills you gain in communication certificate programs at USI. Imagine yourself standing in front of a classroom of students in any subject, leading online training for corporate leaders, or helping a room of pregnant women prepare for motherhood.
No matter the path you choose in your career, our graduate certificate in communication online will give your many options for satisfying jobs where you can let your compassionate talents shine.
"Strong communication skills rank among the top in-demand skills for a range of sectors, including education, healthcare, human resources, non-profit, and technology. Meet these marketplace needs with USI’s instructional communication certificates, and develop your own skills while learning to teach and train others."
Dr. Leigh Anne Howard, Chair - Communication and Media Department, University of Southern Indiana
- Submit an online application and $40 application fee.
- Submit transcripts to Graduate Studies.
- Official transcripts are required only from the institution at which your highest degree was earned. Electronic transcripts are preferred and can be emailed from the previous institution to Graduate.Studies@usi.edu
- Unofficial transcripts from other institutions attended can be submitted via email by the applicant to Graduate.Studies@usi.edu
- Applicants who wish to seek transfer credit for graduate coursework must submit an official transcript from the institution where that work was completed.
- Mailed transcripts can be sent to this address:
Graduate Studies
University of Southern Indiana
8600 University Blvd.
Evansville, IN 47712
- Read the full transcript policy by clicking here.
- International applicants may be required to submit additional information.
Courses within both certificate programs are offered entirely online using a learning management system. Access to a reliable computer with internet access is required.
Apply your online communication certificate to a graduate degree
When you enroll in USI’s graduate certificate in communication online, you can use it as a stepping stone to further your education. You can start with the 12-credit instructional communication certification and then upgrade to the 18-credit advanced online instructional communication certificate. Or, if you feel it’s time to get a master’s degree, you can apply either of our communication certificate programs to your degree program.
The courses you’ll take for our online communication certificate also provide skills that can support you in graduate study in many other fields, such as business, education, administration, or health care.
Explore your gifts in communication certification courses
Develop your unique and valuable qualities, skills, and characteristics in our graduate certificate in communication online. Find your passions in the exciting course options, including:
- Communication and Popular Culture
- Special Topics in Instructional Communications
- Gender, Communication, and Culture
- Crisis Communication
- Organizational Advocacy
- Problematic Workplace Communication
- Social Media, Culture, and Society
With our online communication certificate programs, you can grow your skills and expand your capabilities as a leader, educator, and advocate for people in today’s complex world.
Instructional Communication Certificate
The Instructional Communication Certificate is a 12-credit hour graduate program for teachers, human resource managers, or medical professionals looking to improve their communication in an instructional or workplace setting. The program will be beneficial to educators from any discipline to design messages to advance the teaching of any subject in a classroom, enhance employee training and development in the workplace, or improve communication to patients about their medical treatment.
Students can expect to successfully design messages in an instructional context, effectively deliver instruction, and explore skills and topics that can enhance their understanding of communication as they relate to leadership skills, decision-making, conflict resolution, and diversity in an educational or professional setting.
The 12-credit hour certificate has two required courses (six credit hours) and two COMM 600-level directed electives (six credit hours).
Required courses:
- COMM 617 - Instructional Communication
- COMM 637 - Critical Pedagogy and Communication
Directed electives:
- COMM 601 - Foundations of Communication Theory
- COMM 602 - Qualitative Research Methods in Communication
- COMM 603 - Quantitative Research Methods in Communication
- COMM 605 - Gender, Communication, and Culture
- COMM 607 - Teaching Communication
- COMM 610 - Special Topics in Interpersonal Communication
- COMM 611 - Communication and Personal Relationships
- COMM 614 - Problematic Workplace Communication
- COMM 615 - Communication and Popular Culture
- COMM 616 - Seminar in Personal and Cultural Identity
- COMM 620 - Special Topics in Organizational Communication
- COMM 623 - Leadership and Communication
- COMM 624 - Nonprofit and Association Communication
- COMM 625 - History of Mass Media
- COMM 628 - Crisis Communication
- COMM 630 - Special Topics in Mass Communication
- COMM 633 - Media Ethics
- COMM 631 - Organizational Advocacy
- COMM 634 - Social Media, Culture, and Society
- COMM 650 - Special Topics in Communication and Culture
- COMM 651 - Storytelling
- COMM 670 - Special Topics in Instructional Communication
Advanced Instructional Communication Certificate
The 18-hour Advanced Communication Certificate provides additional support for those seeking to sharpen their expertise in communication and their ability to offer clear, concise instruction that generates results. The Advanced Instructional Communication certificate will be of particular interest to both high school teachers and college faculty seeking the credentials to teach communication at the collegiate level and corporate trainers and consultants seeking the skills to increase their effectiveness in employee leadership, training, and development.
The certificate program will help students successfully design messages in an instructional context, effectively deliver instruction about communication, and explore skills and topics that can enhance their communication in regards to leadership skills, decision-making, diversity, and conflict-resolution in an educational context.
The 18-credit hour certificate has three required courses (nine credit hours) and three COMM 600-level directed electives (nine credit hours).
Required courses:
- COMM 607 - Teaching Communication
- COMM 617 - Instructional Communication
- COMM 637 - Critical Pedagogy and Communication
Directed electives:
- COMM 601 - Foundations of Communication Theory
- COMM 602 - Qualitative Research Methods in Communication
- COMM 603 - Quantitative Research Methods in Communication
- COMM 605 - Gender, Communication, and Culture
- COMM 610 - Special Topics in Interpersonal Communication
- COMM 611 - Communication and Personal Relationships
- COMM 614 - Problematic Workplace Communication
- COMM 615 - Communication and Popular Culture
- COMM 616 - Seminar in Personal and Cultural Identity
- COMM 620 - Special Topics in Organizational Communication
- COMM 623 - Leadership and Communication
- COMM 624 - Nonprofit and Association Communication
- COMM 625 - History of Mass Media
- COMM 628 - Crisis Communication
- COMM 630 - Special Topics in Mass Communication
- COMM 633 - Media Ethics
- COMM 631 - Organizational Advocacy
- COMM 634 - Social Media, Culture, and Society
- COMM 650 - Special Topics in Communication and Culture
- COMM 651 - Storytelling
- COMM 670 - Special Topics in Instructional Communication
Earn Your Graduate Certificate on Your Time
Our 100% online Graduate Certificates in Instructional Communication give you the freedom to schedule your coursework around your availability. We have 3 starts a year, meaning you don't have to wait to begin your journey to completing your certificate.
| Course Start | Application Deadline | Document Deadline | Registration Deadline |
| 01/13/25 | 12/27/24 | 01/03/25 | 01/10/25 |
Get Started on Your Graduate Certificate in Communication Online
Take the next step on your journey toward one of our online communication certificate programs at the University of Southern Indiana. Start your application for communication certificate programs or request more information today.
Interested in a Master's degree?
All courses in the Instructional Communication or Advanced Instructional Communication certificate programs apply to the Master of Arts in Communication (MAC) curriculum at USI! The MAC is a comprehensive, integrated program that bridges human and mass communication to focus on the critical, cultural, and social study of communication.