2. (38) Instructors are prepared to teach online education courses and the institution ensures faculty receive training, assistance, and support at all times during the development and delivery of courses.

Not Observed      Insufficient      Moderate Use       Meets Criterion Completely

SLIS faculty preparation and support begins very soon after hiring and continues through each subsequent semester.

When faculty members begin to prepare their first course, they must complete the Teaching Online course, an online course taught by our Assistant Director for Distance Learning. They study technical and pedagogical topics and begin to develop their course site with close supervision and guidance. See the course outline appended to this document.

Depending on which course they are teaching, new faculty work with a full-time faculty member who is a course or cluster coordinator. This faculty mentor assists the new faculty member with curriculum and course site options.

SLIS provides generous support for use of the D2L learning management system. The School has its own D2L administrator and additional staff to support faculty use of the LMS. Support features include:

• SLIS Technical Support Form (responses are handled within 24 hours, often much more quickly)
• SLIS D2L tutorials for instructors (login with username: d2l and password: teaching)
• D2L student assistants to help every faculty member with all aspects of their course site development and functioning

Each semester, all faculty members who are teaching are enrolled in a faculty course site in Desire2Learn, the learning management system. This site contains information needed for all aspects of teaching an online course and functions as an important communication hub for current news, questions, and reminders. The Associate Director sends emails at key points of the semester with instructions about what needs to be done. See list of contents appended to this document. The online faculty handbook provides reference material to guide faculty members through a broad range of topics related to their online teaching. See the Faculty Handbook.

Once each year, faculty members are invited to attend the two-day Faculty Institute in San Jose. The School covers travel and lodging expenses associated with this event. The Institute focuses on pedagogic and technology topics associated with online teaching. See the agenda for the 2012 Faculty Institute appended to this document.

Faculty members are encouraged to email or IM additional questions to school administrators for individual assistance. The Associate Director and the Assistant Director for Distance Learning answer questions about administrative policies, individual student situations, and strategies for carrying out course objectives. The Student Services Coordinator handles administrative questions such as those related to adds, drops, and withdrawals.

Next: Faculty Support #3

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