Supporting Online Faculty Across Higher Education
In the fall of 2017, Mountain View formed a dedicated workgroup to review best practices in online learning, identify elements of quality in online courses, create documentation to support faculty and develop a professional development plan. This was part of an effort to continuously improve the quality, scale, and breadth of our online program and course offerings.
The eLearning Work Group, comprised of dedicated faculty and support staff across the institution, reviewed best practices in the field of distance education. The workgroup evaluated multiple programs to discover common criteria, created a set of recommended categories for online courses and generated a faculty checklist to support faculty teaching online at Mountain View.
How does the checklist support online faculty and students?
Designed as a self-support resource, the faculty checklist provides a standardized set of attributes, 17 in total, that support student success in online courses. The checklist includes attributes (simple YES/NO checkboxes) related to Course Overview, Design and Layout, Course Alignment, Learner Engagement and Universal Design and Accessibility. Utilization of the checklist is part of a continuous effort to support quality in online course design.
What professional development courses will be offered to support this effort?
"Best Practices for Teaching Online" will be designed and developed in a continued collaborative effort and feature faculty and students across NISOD member institutions.
A competency-based online course, collaboratively developed, featuring online students and faculty at multiple institutions, and officially recognized by NISOD!
How will faculty who complete this professional development be recognized?
As recommended by the eLearning Work Group, Mountain View and the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) are joining forces to design, develop, and promote a nationally-recognized professional development program that supports faculty and instructional initiatives. The idea of this partnership is to increase awareness of best practices at higher education institutions across the country and provide external recognition to online faculty via NISOD.
Where can I learn more?
The official announcement occurred at the NISOD 2018 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence and a joint press release was released shortly thereafter. If interested in being a part of the first cohort of Mountain View faculty to successfully complete this program and receive national recognition, please initiate a conversation with your Instructional Dean. If you are a NISOD member institution wishing to collaborate and feature a faculty and student at your institution, please reach out to
Steve Sosa, Dean of Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology.
Links