Path to Approval for Hybrid/Online Teaching
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What is the Path to Approval for Hybrid/Online Teaching?
Quick Facts
- Self-paced asynchronous course that takes up to eight hours to complete
- Focuses on developing foundational Moodle and online course design knowledge
- Occurs three times per academic year
- Concludes with the conferring of a recognition of achievement certificate
As part of CCA's application for accreditation to continue to teach hybrid and online courses, we must demonstrate that we have systems and practices in place to ensure that faculty have appropriate skills to teach using those formats and that we are learning as an institution through this process. Thus, instructors of hybrid or online courses are required to complete the College’s Path to Approval for Hybrid/Online Teaching.
We have developed this program to support faculty in the ongoing professional development of their hybrid/online teaching skills. While we recognize that everyone now has some experience teaching online, very few of our faculty have had a chance for the kind of review, reflection and collegial support that would allow them to develop into their greatest potential. We should acknowledge that emergency remote teaching is different in nature from learning experiences that are designed to be provided online and facilitated by adequately prepared and trained instructors or facilitators.
The goal of this path is to support that development. We aim to build on what you are already doing well, but also uncover opportunities for further growth, and encourage you to work together to support one another as you teach. By the end of the process, faculty will earn a recognition of achievement certificate.
Path to Approval for Hybrid/Online Teaching Components
The Path to Approval for Hybrid/Online Teaching entails the following required elements.
1. Moodle Course Review.
A member of the Instructional Services and Technologies (InST) team will review a course you taught or are teaching currently in Moodle and provide feedback about the strengths and areas for improvement in your use of the platform. You may select any course you've taught at CCA using Moodle since Spring 2022. You will meet with the reviewer via Zoom to discuss the feedback.
Note.
Typically, a complete course review is of significant value as it entails an in-depth examination of many aspects of course design, such as the alignment between course objectives and the learning activities and assessment instruments. However, given the scale and the resources required for such processes, the Moodle course review will instead highlight the appropriate use of the Learning Management System (LMS, i.e., Moodle), such as the alignment between the grading structure in the syllabus vs. in the LMS, whether the Moodle activities serve the target purposes as intended, whether the course pages are easy to navigate, etc.
2. Moodle Foundations Course.
Moodle Foundations is a self-paced, asynchronous Moodle course that emphasizes the fundamentals of teaching with Moodle. Once you complete this course, you will be able to use the necessary tools and features in Moodle to support your online, hybrid, or classroom/studio teaching. The course takes about 5-6 hours to complete. Once this form is submitted, an InST member will reach out to provide details on how to access the course.
Moodle Foundations contains multiple assignments, quizzes, and activities that allow faculty to learn and experiment with Moodle course development. These activities are specific to each module/section. Faculty are expected to thoroughly review the content before attempting an assignment or quiz and should complete the assignments and quizzes independently with their best effort. An InST team member will review these submissions and provide feedback--which may include requesting revision and resubmission to meet the learning goals of the module.
3. Digital Literacy Quiz.
Complete the Digital Literacy Quiz (available upon enrollment in Moodle Foundations). Digital literacy is an essential competence for instructors teaching online or hybrid. You will be able to use the quiz questions and the corresponding feedback as a tool to examine and improve your digital literacy knowledge and skills.
4. Pedagogy Modules.
Complete two of the following four pedagogy units of your choice (available upon enrollment in Moodle Foundations).
- Two workshop recordings.
- Designing Effective Learning Activities: The Challenges and Opportunities of online discussion forums
- Instructional Analysis: Building Blocks of Effective Teaching
- Two self-paced modules in Moodle Foundations. A variety of interactions via H5P activities are embedded in the modules, from which you may draw inspiration to build your own online courses.
- Managing Cognitive Load: An Overview of Learning Message Design with Moodle Examples
- Quality Learning Experience: Use Quality Matters Rubrics for Course Evaluation and Improvement
Policies for hybrid/online instruction qualifications at CCA
All faculty teaching hybrid or online classes at CCA must be approved by the college to teach in those modes. Faculty may achieve approval by completing the Path to Approval to Teach Online.
In some cases, faculty may complete the Path to Approval during the semester in which they are teaching a hybrid or online course. However, if they do not complete the path by the end of that semester, they cannot be assigned future hybrid or online courses until the path is completed.
Compensation
Ranked faculty salaries incorporate compensation for all classroom prep and pedagogy development. Adjunct faculty will be compensated for 8 hours (6 hours for Foundations course + 2 hours for pedagogy workshops) at a rate that is in compliance with the current CBA.
Path to Approval Certification Expiration and Renewal Policies
The Path certification expires every four years, beginning with the date the certificate was issued. For example, if your certificate was issued on 03/23/2022, it will expire on 03/23/2026. You will receive expiration reminders from Workday before the scheduled expiration date.
Renewing and maintaining your certificate is a relatively easy process. You do not need to retake the Path. Instead, you only need to:
- Complete 4 hours of professional development related to online or hybrid teaching by the expiration date.
- You may complete workshops provided by CCA or other organizations, colleges, academic conferences, etc. You may also complete certificates or badges offered by other institutions and colleges, such as San Francisco State University, University of San Francisco, University of California, Berkeley, etc. Regardless of the providers, the professional development activities you attend must be related to online or hybrid teaching and learning.
- Document your hours by submitting the Path to Approval Renewal Activities Form(s).
- While you can submit one form documenting all 4 hours of professional development, we strongly recommend that you submit a form each time you complete a professional development activity, as you will be asked to provide details about the activity, such as the provider, the duration, the topics covered, etc. To check the balance of your hours, you may search your CCA email inbox for copies of the forms submitted or reach out to pathtoapproval@cca.edu.
Please note that faculty members with an expired certificate cannot be assigned future hybrid or online courses until the certificate is renewed.
Path to Approval Q&A
What is the purpose of the expiration and renewal process?
The Path certification expires and needs renewal for several reasons:
- Maintain validity of the certification. The Path certification recognizes faculty’s qualifications to teach online or hybrid courses at CCA. The expiration and renewal process helps to maintain the validity of the certification and ensures it remains a credible and reliable indicator of an expertise in online teaching.
- Ensure quality instruction as tools/approaches evolve. Online teaching and learning is dynamic and evolves with technologies, pedagogy, and characteristics of adult learners. The expiration and renewal process keeps instructors up-to-date and ensures quality instruction provided to CCA students.
- Facilitate professional development. The expiration and renewal process supports faculty in their continuous growth as competent online or hybrid instructors. It encourages them to critically reflect on their teaching practice and philosophy, and to further develop their knowledge and skills through self-directed professional development.
Why do I need the training when I’ve been teaching online since the beginning of the Pandemic?
Moving instructions online in response to a crisis or emergency is significantly different from delivering and maintaining systematically designed, developed, and evaluated online learning experiences.
In higher education, the typical process of converting a face-to-face course to online learning goes beyond putting content online and replicating face-to-face activities online. Rather, it calls for revisiting course objectives and redesigning course activities, selecting course materials, and reconsidering assessment activities to ensure that the course is designed and developed for online learning. In addition, it expects that instructors who teach online to be adequately prepared, trained, and continually trained so they have the up-to-date knowledge and skills to effectively use the tools and technologies to facilitate learning.
When the Pandemic hit the US, as a response to the emergency, many CCA courses were converted to remote delivery with instructors replacing face-to-face lectures with live Zoom meetings or recordings. While this response addressed the learning need at the time, it was not necessarily the most effective delivery method for every course. Instructors, while having learned much knowledge and skills in using digital technologies, yet to fully grasp the potential and logistics of using technologies and a Learning Management Systems (LMS) for online learning.
Therefore, we aim to build on what instructors are already doing well while uncovering opportunities for further growth, and encourage instructors to work together to support one another as they teach.
Why do I need to learn about Moodle when I don't use Moodle for my teaching currently?
CCA's Path to Approval for Hybrid/Online Teaching contains several components that are not Moodle-focused but emphasize the knowledge and conceptual understanding regarding general online/hybrid teaching. For example, the digital literacy quiz is a learning tool that helps instructors identify and close the gaps in their digital literacy, which is the base for successful online/hybrid teaching in the context of CCA. Pedagogy modules one and two teach instructors to evaluate their online/hybrid teaching design and to design effective learning messages, which applies to online or hybrid teaching on any platform.
In terms of Moodle Foundations, Moodle is CCA's designated Learning Management System (LMS). While CCA instructors have the freedom to use other tools and platforms to suit their teaching needs, for any kind of online or hybrid teaching, it is important for instructors to provide a virtual course "homeroom" that students can visit and acquire instant access to communications, learning materials, project feedback, and additional resources without having to scroll through emails or local files to find the materials in need. Moodle is the designated virtual course "homeroom" for CCA courses with a well-established/-supported infrastructure and is what CCA students are accustomed to. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of Moodle is expected of CCA instructors teaching in any modality (online/hybrid/in-person) so it's an important component of CCA's Path to Approval for Hybrid/Online Teaching Certificate.
Lastly, our accreditors expect us to be providing training to anyone teaching online going forward. Although part of the Path is Moodle-focused, it features universal pedagogy knowledge, theories, and best practices for online or hybrid teaching and learning, particularly in the two pedagogy modules.
Contact Us
For questions or interests regarding the Path, please contact pathtoapproval@cca.edu.