Online Education (OE) Readiness Course

During the OE Readiness Course, you will:

Explore various instructional strategies for assessment, communication, community-building, and content delivery in order to construct a learner-centered approach to online education.
Experience online education as a student in order to better understand our future students.
Begin creating the components needed for teaching an online course while having the opportunity to review them with peers experienced in teaching online.
Begin cultivating the technological skills needed for creating and administering a successful online course.

For the duration of the Online Education Readiness course, it is the participant’s responsibility to:

Complete the learning activities within a 7-week time frame. If a participant has not completed 80% of the course activities (including assignments, discussions, and self-assessments), that participant may not be permitted to teach their online course, to be determined by Academic Affairs. The participant may also have to retake the OE Readiness Course at a future time.

Be prepared to spend an average of 5-7 hours per week working on the assignments and readings for this course.
- PLEASE NOTE: if you are unfamiliar with the technology or pedagogy presented in the course, this time commitment could be higher.

Log in to the course in OAKS and your email at least 4 days per week to stay current with course work , as well as any changes or developments in the schedule and discussion boards.

Approach all OE Readiness Course interactions with an open mind and a desire to try something new. This includes all discussion board interactions with your peers and communication with your mentors.

“Make sure you have the time. I don’t recommend taking the course when you have other substantial demands on your time such as working up against a manuscript deadline or teaching a new face-to-face course.”

“Work with your instructional technologist the semester before to become acquainted with OAKS and the other technologies available for online teaching.”

“If possible, first talk to someone in your department who is already teaching online, so you can see what tools they are using and you don’t have to start from scratch. You may need to talk as a department about what sorts of assessment are feasible/meaningful in an online environment.”

“Make sure to schedule adequate time for yourself to not only complete the tasks and assignments but to think about them thoroughly before submission. Take advantage of the having the opportunity to think and reflect.”

“Explore, explore, explore! Try new tools and strategies. Even if you don’t do it perfectly, the creative process is valuable! I still have lots of gaps in knowledge about what the various tools can do, but I feel very confident that my instructional technologist and the TLT team will be understanding and supportive for my future explorations. I feel much less intimidated to go ask questions at TLT now that I’ve taken the course.”