Training Requirements for Online Faculty

an Information Technology Services Policy

Purpose

Establishes the guidelines to demonstrate ETSU compliance with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges requirement that all faculty teaching distance education courses complete training appropriate for teaching online.

1. Introduction

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Distance and Correspondence Education Policy Statement and the SACSCOC Guidelines for Addressing Distance and Correspondence Education defines distance education and establishes policies, guidelines, and standards to be used by institutions offering distance education courses and programs. The SACSCOC policies and guidelines require that faculty who teach distance education courses receive appropriate training. The institution is responsible for developing appropriate training and ensuring that distance education faculty engage in training and professional development activities. The institution is also responsible for establishing clear criteria for evaluating faculty who teach distance education courses.

1. Policy

ETSU follows SACSCOC policies and defines distance education or online courses as any course where the course delivery is 51% or more online. All online courses and programs must follow the requirements specified in ETSU’s Web-Based Courses policy that provides guidance for developing and delivering online courses.

ETSU meets the SACSCOC requirements for distance education faculty training through multiple online pedagogy workshops, learning management system technical workshops, and an asynchronous online training that covers both online best practices and technical aspects of teaching online courses. All ETSU faculty teaching synchronous or asynchronous online courses are required to complete training in online pedagogy and approved software applications adopted for online courses.

Faculty may choose from several methods of training, including hands-on technical workshops provided by Information Technology Services (ITS), one-on-one help sessions, or online training. After completing training, all online faculty must successfully complete at minimal competency level an assessment delivered through the ETSU learning management system to demonstrate basic knowledge of online pedagogy and approved software applications adopted for online courses.

1. Compliance

It is the responsibility of ITS to monitor training completion. ITS will communicate training compliance with Deans of colleges offering online courses each year.