Presentation on April 3. 2014 ELI 2014 Online Spring Focus Session: Faculty Engagement and Development: Effective and Innovative Practice SUNY has been a pioneer and leader in online education for over 20 years, and this success has been made possible by a vibrant community of researchers, instructional designers, librarians, technologists, and online educators. To build on this strong foundation, SUNY has launched the Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence, which celebrates, connects, and nurtures effective online education practitioners across the SUNY system while furthering our knowledge of the most effective teaching and learning practices in online education. Outcomes: Learn how we leverage our "SUNY systemness" and partner with our campuses to engage and connect the community of online education experts across the vast 64-campus SUNY system * Scale distinctive and comprehensive development opportunities to faculty directly and in conjunction with their home campuses * Support faculty with resources needed for course development and enhancement in conjunction with their home campuses * Encourage scholarship in online teaching and learning practices to meet the needs of today’s diverse learners and pursue research-driven innovations that increase online teaching and learning effectiveness. http://www.educause.edu/events/online-spring-focus-session-faculty-engagement-and-development http://slneducation.edublogs.org/2014/04/03/online-faculty-development-at-scale-the-open-suny-center-for-online-teaching-excellence/

1. Online Faculty Development at Scale:
The Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence
Alexandra M. Pickett
Associate Director
SUNY Learning Network

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A 20-year track record of investment, innovation, and
impact in online-enabled education
1994: Initiated system-wide
asynchronous learning
network with grants from
Sloan Foundation: The
SUNY Learning Network
1995: Launched the first online
multi-institutional Learning
Management System that scaled
to support 40+ institutions
1996: Launched system-
wide online faculty
development and online
course design processes
2000: SUNY’s SLN became the
second-largest asynchronous
learning network in the country
2012: Online faculty developed through SLN
surpass 5,000 mark, along with thousands
more developed by campuses. There are
nearly 400 online degree programs and
12,000 online course sections
2013: Announced
Open SUNY
launch challenge,
State of University
address
2010: Initiated
Power of
SUNY &
Innovative
Instruction
Transformation
Team
2011: SUNY online students passed the
85K mark. Established Chancellor’s
Advisory Committee on Online Education
(part of Getting Down to Business Initiative)

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SLN is now Open SUNY

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Campus and
system-wide
initiatives and
supportsStudent
supports
24/7 service
hotline
Online
academic
tutoring
Library
and open
educational
resources
Student
computer
program
Academic
initiatives
Lab for
new models
in teaching
and learning
Affordable
broadband
for NYS
IT enablers
Revenue
and
cost
models
Legal and
compliance
policies
Universal
sign-on
Online
readiness
assessment
Policy
architecture
Open SUNY
NY State
SUNY
Prior
learning
assessment
High-needs
disciplines
General
education
Signature
SUNY
programs
Skill
remediation
Workforce
development
Offerings
powered by
Open SUNY
Educational
resources
Competency-
based
learning
Credit-
bearing
third-party
content
Open SUNY
Global
ePortfolio
Open-
SUNY.edu
navigator
Credits
and financial
aid across
campuses
Student
services
hotline
Experiential
learning
Exploration
course
Student
online
experience
Faculty
supports
Research
&
innovation
Faculty
professional
development
in online
education
Course
supportsCommunity
of practice Competency
development
Open SUNY
Learning
Commons
24/7 service
hotline
Institutional
pathways &
readiness
Open SUNY Digital DNA:
Emerging view of Open SUNY initiatives
Student
concierge
Potential
students
Identification
& verification
Monitoring
and
continuous
improvement
Stakeholder
engagement
and commu-
nications
Funders
and
partners
Complete
SUNY
Open SUNY
infrastructure

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Campus and
system-wide
initiatives and
supportsStudent
supports
24/7 service
hotline
Online
academic
tutoring
Library
and open
educational
resources
Student
computer
program
Academic
initiatives
Lab for
new models
in teaching
and learning
Affordable
broadband
for NYS
IT enablers
Revenue
and
cost
models
Legal and
compliance
policies
Universal
sign-on
Online
readiness
assessment
Policy
architecture
Open SUNY
NY State
SUNY
Prior
learning
assessment
High-needs
disciplines
General
education
Signature
SUNY
programs
Skill
remediation
Workforce
development
Offerings
powered by
Open SUNY
Open SUNY
infrastructure
Educational
resources
Competency-
based
learning
Credit-
bearing
third-party
content
Open SUNY
Global
ePortfolio
Open-
SUNY.edu
navigator
Credits
and financial
aid across
campuses
Student
services
hotline
Experiential
learning
Exploration
course
Student
online
experience
Faculty
supports
Research
&
innovation
Faculty
professional
development
in online
education
Course
supportsCommunity
of practice Competency
development
Open SUNY
Learning
Commons
24/7 service
hotline
Institutional
pathways &
readiness
Open SUNY Digital DNA:
Emerging view of Open SUNY initiatives
= Not
operational
in Jan 2014
Student
concierge
Potential
students
Identification
& verification
Monitoring
and
continuous
improvement
Stakeholder
engagement
and commu-
nications
Funders
and
partners
Complete
SUNY

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COTE Faculty Supports
Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence
Competency
Development
C Course SupportD
Research &
innovation
A
Research & innovation unit
within the center that
supports research and
experimentation in
teaching through:
▪ Setting research
agenda
▪ Awarding funding
▪ Documenting and
publicizing findings
▪ Facilitating connections
and collaboration
Comprehensive training
taught by faculty
experienced in online
education and delivered
through workshops,
webinars, and graduate-
level certified courses,
covering:
▪ Pedagogical
approaches
▪ LMS platforms
▪ Education technologies
Support through course
development and delivery,
provided by a team of:
▪ Expert peers acting as
instructional design
coaches
▪ Content discovery
specialists to help
discover content
▪ Multi-media specialists
to help create content
FACULTY SUPPORTS
Community of
Practice
B
A community of peers with
strong interconnections
enabled by:
▪ Online forums powered
by Learning Commons
▪ Regular calls, webinars,
and workshops hosted
by the center
▪ Annual conferences
hosted by research &
innovation and
competency
development

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Research and Innovation will be guided by an Innovative
Instruction Research Council composed of
members from across SUNY
FACULTY SUPPORTS
opportunities
Facilitating
innovative
Supporting
community of
practice
Identifying
barriers to
instructional
collaboration
Identifying pedagogical trends
and innovations
Innovative
Instruction
Research
Council Monitoring
Campus-based
contributions
Dissemination
Project
A
findings

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COTE fosters a community of practice through
explicit actions, as well as through research,
teaching, and support networks
Learning Commons Communication
Conferences, webinars & workshops Inter-campus research and support networks
FACULTY SUPPORTS
B

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Community of practice is built on roles that allow
Fellows to be recognized and supported as online
education practitioners
B
FACULTY SUPPORTS
Interested
Innovator/
researcher
Expert IDExperienced
Exemplar

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The community roles allow Fellows to ‘create their
own journey’ in online education
C
FACULTY SUPPORTS
“Innovator and/or
researcher”
Expertise and
experience
“Interested in
online-enabled
education”
“Expert
instructional
designer”
“Experienced
online
practitioner”
“Exemplar, coach,
and mentor”

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A comprehensive set of trainings designed around
faculty needs will provide competency development
opportunities and address quality
C
New development opportunities Building on existing faculty development format and structure
FACULTY SUPPORTS
Fundamentals
of
online
teaching
&
learning
Core
online
competency
development
Online
pedagogy
cer9fica9on
Instruc9onal
design
cer9fica9on
Online
teaching
cer9fica9on
Advanced
online
competency
development

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Faculty are supported through the course
development and delivery cycle by a team of experts
D
FACULTY SUPPORTS
Course
Development/
Refresh
Learning
Review
Course
Development
Support
Continuous
Improvement
Course
Delivery
Course
Delivery
Support
Course Development/
Refresh

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Course development support is formalized through a
“course development team” that brings together the
required resources
C
FACULTY SUPPORTS
24/7 help hotline
Campus Director / Dean of Online
Learning
COTE Course Support Service
Coordinator
Expert
ID or faculty
20%
Course development team
Teaching
Faculty
Multi-
media
developer
20%
Course Development / Refresh
Online
course
development
Librarian
20%

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Open SUNY COTE:
http://commons.suny.edu/facultycenter/
FACULTY SUPPORTS