Class Presentation of Veronica, Jon Mandrell, Marcus Bennett and Dan

Tuuri
IDSL 880
Part 1 (1AC Introductory Statement - Veronica)
Good morning. Thank you for this opportunity to speak today about the
importance of faculty being able to demonstrate their proficiency in
online teaching.
My narrative tells a story, and to assure confidentiality, the names of
agencies and personnel I will describe in my talk today have been
changed, and are rather meant to define and illustrate the broad
concerns that are facing colleges with regard to the certification of
online instructors.
The necessity is clear, and our administration at the Right Way
Community College plans to mandate that all online faculty should
possess a minimum of two years' experience when they desire to teach
fully online courses, or they must take the online training course we
provide faculty at Right Way before they begin online teaching. Also,
online faculty must demonstrate proficiency with Microsoft Office,
familiarity with Desire to Learn (D2L) or compatible online learning
systems, and the ability to enter attendance and final grade data in the
college's database.
The facts are evident. College learning environments have drastically
changed over the last two centuries since community colleges,
formerly known as junior colleges, were formed in the United States.
Today's two-year and four-year colleges and universities utilize
technologies that were unheard of in 1920 when the American
Association of Junior Colleges was formed, and barely understood
during the advent of the online classroom in the 1990s. The fact that
online teaching has now come to the fore does not mean that we will
lower our standards for student success by placing instructors who are
otherwise excellent teachers, but who do not know how to teach
online. At Right Way we expect 100% in efforts from all faculty, and we
know that they want to do their best as well for the college. That is
why we initiated a training program for online instruction, and
everyone desiring to teach online must take and pass this course in
order to be certified as online instructors at our college.
I will provide you an excellent example of problems that can occur
when a college assigns ill-prepared online instructors. A case in point
would be our highly regarded Professor Susan Rotweiller. Professor
Rotweiller has been teaching English 101 and 121 at Right Way

Community College since 2006. She has demonstrated her excellent

teaching skills at the national level, and she was invited by national
education associations to help develop and disseminate a model for
English pedagogy. Dr. Rotweiller enjoys her students, and she inspires
them to their highest level of success and efficiency in her courses.
Last semester, one of our online instructors resigned upon short notice,
and in the effort to quickly fill the role since students had been enrolled
in the course, we requested that Dr. Rotweiller teach the online course.
She assured us that she had the requisite background to do so, and so
her term as online instructor began. The first problem that occurred
was that many of her students did not know how to register into the
Cengage English software, and she had to contact Cengage Customer
Support frequently to help them, as students had varying difficulties in
getting registered. She also did not know how to set up her assignment
loading, timing and grading process, and this caused much frustration
with her students since they would seek to go online to do the
assignments only to be denied access because the assignment was
loaded and timed improperly. Several of the students angrily contacted
our Dean's office, fearing that this inefficiency on the part of the
instructor would cost them a good grade in the course. And then, to
top it off, when it was time for the final grading period, the instructor
somehow erased various test scores, did not have hard copy backup,
and had to presume what students received, some of which she
guessed wrongly to the detriment of the students. Needless to say,
complaints reached our Dean of Instruction, our President Joseph
Gadson, the Board of Trustees, and a local legislator whose son attends
our college and was enrolled in Professor Rotweiller's online course at
the time!
A hearing was held, and it was determined that Dr. Rotweiller, nor any
other faculty members, would be able to teach online until they
completed the training course and received certification as online
instructors at our college. This experience taught us once and for all,
and we affirm, that it is not enough to be an enthusiastic and brilliant
instructor - one has to understand the rudiments and facility of online
teaching and be proficiently certified as such!
References:
Drury, Richard L. Community Colleges in America: A Historical
Perspective, from Inquiry, Volume 8, Number 1. Virginia Community
College System, Spring 2003. http://www.vccaedu.org/inquiry/inquiryspring2003/i-81-drury.html. Last retrieved 10-17-14.

American Association of Community Colleges (2014). Significant

Historical Events.
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/history/Pages/significantevents.asp
x. Last retrieved 10-18-14.
Lansing Community College (2014), Center for Teaching Excellence
(CTE). Teaching and Learning Resources.
http://www.lansing.cc.mi.us/cte/. Last retrieved 10-17-14.
Cengage (2014). Cengage Learning.
http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/deals.html?cid=MSEM1. Last
retrieved 10-17-14.
San Diego Community College (2014). Online Learning Pathways:
Online Faculty Certification Program.
http://www.sdccdonline.net/faculty/training/index.htm.
Last retrieved 10-17-14.
Online Classroom (2014). Magna Publications online. October 1, 2014.
http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/online-classroom/. Last
retrieved 10-17-14.
Hampson, Keith (2014). Costs in online higher education: A starter list
of resources. In Business Model Innovation, Higher Education Strategy,
Online Higher Education. March 9, 2014. Acrobatiq: Carnegie Mellon.
http://acrobatiq.com/exploring-costs-in-online-higher-education-astarter-list-of-resources/. Last retrieved 10-18-14.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Part 2 (Descriptive Data for Jon or Dan)
Our administrators have developed the following Checklist of
Competencies for Effective Online Teaching, similar to the excellent
format developed at the San Diego Community College (2013):
1. Instructional Principles Audience Analysis
Determine: Who are your learners? What is their reason for taking your
class?
What is their preparation for success in your class?
Course prerequisites and co-requisites are listed.
Entry-level knowledge/skills are described.
Technology skills are clearly articulated.
2 Learner Readiness
Engage students in active, interactive learning strategies.
Provide time and opportunity for learners to practice and master the
skills

that are necessary in an online class.

Online technology orientation and/or self-readiness assessments are
made available to students.
Links or content are provided for resources such as:
Technology/software tutorials;
Online learning readiness assessment;
Student services resources.
3. Course Goals and Objectives
Describe expected student learning outcomes?
Course objectives are clearly stated in the syllabus and in each
learning module.
Objectives are observable, measurable.
Course expectations and grading standards are described.
4. Instructional Activities
The instructional activities, assignments, and assessments are directly
linked to the course objectives.
Content should be sequenced and structured in a manner that enables
learners to achieve the stated goals with multiple measures of student
learning outcomes. All instructional material must be copyright
compliantand meet accessibility requirements.
Active learning strategies are employed to achieve objectives and to
create a learner-centered environment.
Information is chunked or segmented for clarity and to facilitate
learning.
5. Student Evaluation and Assessment
Feedback and evaluation of student progress is frequent, ongoing and
timely.
Scores and grades are available throughout the course via the student
gradebook.
Multiple measures of student learning outcomes are used.
Authentic assessments of student learning outcomes are used.
The course provides frequent opportunities for students to
demonstrate
their understanding of the material.
If objective tests are administered, the questions are randomized so
that each student has a different question set.
Exams are updated each semester.
A time limit for exam completion is set.
6. Teaching Strategies
Faculty incorporate regular, effective communication with their online
students into their teaching strategies.

They design the course so that the learning path is clear and
consistent. The course content builds on the instructors strengths as
the content expert and a facilitator of student learning.
All activities are designed to engage the learner with the course
material, with classmates, and with the instructor.
The syllabus is comprehensive, with clear descriptions
of the course requirements, quality expectations, communication
protocols, grading
criteria, schedule for completing coursework, and standards of
academic
integrity for online learners.
The course incorporates a variety of learning activities, content format,
and rich media content.
References:
San Diego Community College (2014). Online Learning Pathways:
Online Faculty Certification Program.
http://www.sdccdonline.net/faculty/training/index.htm.
Last retrieved 10-17-14.
Lansing Community College (2014), Center for Teaching Excellence
(CTE). Teaching and Learning Resources.
http://www.lansing.cc.mi.us/cte/. Last retrieved 10-17-14.