Online teaching at MiraCosta – next steps!
Dear MiraCosta faculty,
Congrats on your persistence, creativity, and care for our students to make it through this strange semester. Now, as you look ahead to the next round of online teaching this summer and/or fall, I want to provide you with some key information and invitations.
Invitations: Summer support
June 8-12 (and beyond): MiraCosta will hold an online teaching institute. This will be different from our transition week this spring in that it will be very focused on helping you develop and teach classes meeting the basic requirements and guidelines for online instruction at MiraCosta. There will be three main components to this:
- Zoom sessions offered daily. These will also be recorded so that they remain available throughout the summer and beyond.
- A Canvas course providing extensive resources and activities complementing the Zoom sessions.
- Opportunities for follow-up via ongoing support with communities of peers and/or expert guides.
For more details, check out the schedule of topics for the institute.
Please take a moment to let us know your interest in this, including if you would like to help present and/or be a peer support facilitator.
June 17-19: The CCC system’s Online Teaching Conference is online and free this year. Check out the schedule and register!
July 13-16: Bruce Hoskins is leading development of a week of professional learning called Raise Your E(quity) Q(uotient)!, featuring professional learning opportunities centered around:
- Becoming an Equity-Minded Professor
- Building an Equity-Based Community
- Facilitating an Equity-Centered Classroom
Look for more details coming soon.
Engaging with any of the above – whether live sessions, recordings, or independent study of additional materials – is Flex-eligible, but the possibilities for reporting summer Flex activities varies depending on whether the activity occurs before or after July 1, and by faculty status. Learn more on the PDP FAQs for full-time faculty or for associate faculty.
Information: Online Teaching Essentials
A number of you have asked me to summarize the expectations/requirements for online instruction at MiraCosta. The below are adapted from updates approved this spring to MiraCosta’s DE curriculum addendum to align with recent Title 5 changes. Expectations for MiraCosta online classes:
- Ensure that the same standards of course quality shall be applied to distance education as are applied to traditional classroom courses and that the same course outcomes are achieved regardless of instructional modality. The MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines document provides guidance for how to design and teach DE classes that are likely to effectively enable students to achieve the designated outcomes.
- Ensure regular effective contact between instructor and students, and among students, including frequent, quality, instructor-initiated interaction. The MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines document provides guidance for how to design and facilitate these interactions.
- Create an environment of academic integrity, monitor progress, and track attendance.
- Establish expectations on the frequency and timeliness of instructor-initiated contact and feedback, for student participation in student-student interactions, and manage unexpected instructor absences.
- Meet the accessibility requirements in state and federal regulations. MiraCosta’s Ten Tips for Creating Accessible Course Content provides specific guidance regarding how these regulations must be met.
- Uphold institutional procedures to authenticate students.
- Help to make students aware of online student support services.
Please note that both AP 4105 and the MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines document are in process of being updated to fully reflect the recent Title 5 changes which are included in the list above. If you have any questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Looking forward to continuing this journey with you!
Jim