Getting Started With Teaching Online

Are you a current FIT faculty member who is interested in teaching online?

Faculty members must be trained to teach online, and the course must be approved for online delivery. To help you figure out your next steps, please select the scenario which best fits your situation:

Next steps :

  1. Practice your Brightspace skills. You may sign up for a workshop through the CET or view the Office of Online Learning's Teaching in Brightspace and Beyond website.
  2. Talk to your chairperson about your interest in teaching online, and decide together which course should be adapted for the online environment. Be sure there will be sufficient demand for the online course, and decide which semester you should teach it in.
  3. Talk to your dean and chair about this plan, and request an email from each stating their approval of your request to teach online.
  4. Read section 21.9 of the contract, which pertains to the Online Learning Program. Note that the contract requires peer evaluations during your first two semesters of teaching online.
  5. Fill out the Application to Teach Online through the Office of Online Learning. Priority will be given to courses and faculty that are new to online delivery, to courses that satisfy a school or departmental need or priority, and to courses that fill a general education requirement. Requests are reviewed every February, and faculty members will be notified through email about the status of their request.
  6. Once approval is received from the Office of Online Learning, write an online course statement, explaining how you will adapt this course for the online environment [see guidelines].  Meet with Tamara Cupples, executive director of online learning, to discuss the online course statement; she will help you through the rest of the process.
  7. Get your online course statement approved by the below areas (in this order):
    • your department
    • your school
    • Curriculum Committee (Once your department and school have approved the statement, confirm with Terry Chan at 7-5544 that you will be scheduled for an upcoming Curriculum Committee meeting. Please inform Tamara Cupples when your course is scheduled for Curriculum Committee.)
    • Dean’s Council
  8. Attend two full-day training workshops and complete an online instructor training course during the semester prior to teaching the course. The Office of Online Learning will keep you informed about the dates for these workshops. You will build much of your course during this training period.
  9. At the end of this training, your course will be certified to “Go Live” by the Office of Online Learning. This checklist will be used when certifying your course.
  10. After your course is certified, you will receive a stipend of $2000 for developing a new online course and training to teach online.

Next steps:

  1. Practice your Brightspace skills. You may sign up for a workshop through the CET or view the Office of Online Learning's Teaching in Brightspace and Beyond website.
  2. Talk to your chairperson about your interest in teaching online, and decide together which course should be adapted for the online environment.
    • Since the course has already been taught online before, you will not need to get it approved from a curriculum standpoint (e.g. the Curriculum Committee).
    • Be sure there will be sufficient demand for another online section of this course, or confirm with your chair that you will be taking over the current online section. (Note that If you are adding another online section [rather than teaching a current online section], you will receive a $500 stipend for training to teach online).
    • Decide in which semester you should teach it. You will need one full semester of training prior to teaching the course.
  3. Talk to your dean and chair about this plan, and request an email from each stating their approval of your request to teach online.
  4. Read section 21.9 of the contract, which pertains to the Online Learning Program. Note that the contract requires peer evaluations during your first two semesters of teaching online.
  5. Fill out the Application to Teach Online through the Office of Online Learning. Priority will be given to courses and faculty that are new to online delivery, to courses that satisfy a school or departmental need or priority, and to courses that fill a general education requirement. Requests are reviewed every February, and faculty members will be notified through email about the status of their request.
  6. After you receive an email from the Office of Online Learning (stating that you are ready to teach online), attend two full-day training workshops and complete an online instructor training course during the semester prior to teaching the course. The Office of Online Learning will keep you informed about the dates for these workshops.. You will build much of your course during this training period.
  7. At the end of this training, your course will be certified to “Go Live” by the Office of Online Learning. This checklist will be used when certifying your course.

Next steps:

  1. Practice your Brightspace skills. You may sign up for a workshop through the CET or view the Office of Online Learning's Teaching in Brightspace and Beyond website.
  2. Talk to your chairperson about your interest in teaching a new course online, and decide together which course this should be. Be sure there will be sufficient demand for the online course, and decide which semester you should teach it in.
  3. Talk to your dean and chair about this plan, and request an email from each stating their approval of your request to teach online.
  4. Read section 21.9 of the contract, which pertains to the Online Learning Program. Note that the contract requires peer evaluations during your first two semesters of teaching online.
  5. Fill out the Application to Teach Online through the Office of Online Learning. Priority will be given to courses and faculty that are new to online delivery, to courses that satisfy a school or departmental need or priority, and to courses that fill a general education requirement. Requests are reviewed every February, and faculty members will be notified through email about the status of their request.
  6. Once approval is received from the Office of Online Learning, write an online course statement, explaining how you will adapt this course for the online environment [see guidelines]. Meet with Tamara Cupples, executive director of online learning, to discuss the online course statement; she will help you through the rest of the process.
  7. Get your online course statement approved by the below areas (in this order):
    • Your Department
    • Your School
    • Curriculum Committee (Once your department and school have approved the statement, confirm with Terry Chan at 7-5544 that you will be scheduled for an upcoming Curriculum Committee meeting. Please inform Tamara Cupples when your course is scheduled for Curriculum Committee.)
    • Dean’s Council
  8. Since you have already trained to teach online, you do not need to attend training. Develop your new online course, and let the Office of Online Learning know if you need assistance with it.
  9. Let Tamara Cupples know when your course is ready to be certified to “Go Live.” This checklist will be used when certifying your course.
  10. Once your course is certified, you will receive a stipend of $500 for developing a new online course.

Next steps:

  1. Practice your Brightspace skills. You may sign up for a workshop through the CET or view the Office of Online Learning's Teaching in Brightspace and Beyond website.
  2. Talk to your chairperson about your plans to teach this course online.
    • Since the course has already been taught online before, you will not need to get it approved from a curriculum standpoint (e.g. the Curriculum Committee).
    • Be sure there will be sufficient demand for another online section of this course, or confirm with your chair that you will be taking over the current online section.
    • Decide which semester you should teach it in.
  3. Talk to your dean and chair about this plan, and request an email from each stating their approval of your request to teach online.
  4. Read section 21.9 of the contract, which pertains to the Online Learning Program. Note that the contract requires peer evaluations during your first two semesters of teaching online. So if you have only taught one semester online previously, you will need to be evaluated by a peer during your second semester teaching online.
  5. Please email Tamara Cupples, Executive Director of Online Learning, as an FYI, when your course is complete. If you would like, your course can be certified to “Go Live” by the Office of Online Learning. This checklist would be used when certifying your course.
  6. Please note that no stipend applies in this case.