Faculty Gold and Online Quality
Assurance at CCCOnline

Chapter 8 Professional Development [ Table of Contents ]

Ongoing professional development for faculty and staff is a critical step in fulfilling our desire to remain a strong and vibrant online program focused on bringing exemplary online education to students. A best practice in this area is for all online faculty to experience the life of an online student at least once before teaching online. Faculty workshops are also an important aspect of the community of CCCOnline.

Individuals interested in teaching for CCCOnline are required to complete "Getting Started" and "Vista Basic Training". Faculty are then required to complete "Managing Discussions" within 12 months after teaching their first class and "Vista Advanced Training" within 18 months after teaching their first class. Faculty employed before the switch to the Blackboard Vista course management system should take "Vista Basic Training" before teaching in the new system and then "Vista Advanced Training" as soon as possible. Beyond these required courses, faculty must have at least one qualifying professional development recorded for each calendar year (Jan - Dec) to be eligible for Matrix 2 pay. If a faculty does not teach for a full calendar year or longer, s/he will negotiate their pay level with the Program Chair upon return and then is expected to resume meeting the Training and Professional Development Policy requirements.

Faculty can fulfill the requirement in a variety of ways. See the Training and Professional Development Policy page for more information. One way to meet this requirement is by facilitating a professional development workshop. These workshops can be the type of pedagogically focused workshops typically offered by CCCOnline staff or they can be content-based workshops offered to peer faculty in the faculty lounges. In example, an instructor who attended a conference for biology faculty could report on new developments relevant to the biology courses in their faculty lounge after returning. Compensation is sometimes available for these presentations; see your program chair if you are interested.