SFC Faculty Certified In Online Learning

In 2017, St. Francis College's Online Learning Task Force recommended online certification for faculty as a best practice for distance learning.

As a result, under the leadership of Dr. Jennifer Lancaster, VP for Academic Affairs, Dr. Gale Gibson Gayle, AVP for Online Learning and Program Development and Corinne Smolizza, faculty member in the Department of Management and Information Technology and the Assistant Director of Faculty Center for Technology, were charged with developing and implementing the Online Faculty Certification Course (OFCC).

The Task Force recommended systematic, planned faculty professional development that addresses all instructional modalities for online teaching and learning. The Task Force further recommended the creation of an online course that provides faculty with step-by-step training and assistance to plan/prepare, design/build, test/launch, facilitate/teach, evaluate and refine their courses offered in these modalities.

Twenty full- and part-time faculty members completed St. Francis College's inaugural OFCC.

The OFCC includes topics of best practices for teaching online, course design using the College's learning management system Canvas, developing an online course syllabus and schedule, creating online community presence by facilitating discussion and working in collaborative group exercises.

Corinne Smolizza served as the OFCC's instructional designer and course instructor. Smolizza incorporated best practices as recommended by Quality Matters national quality assurance standards and rubrics.

The OFCC aims to ensure that the growing numbers of SFC courses offered online match the quality of those in traditional classroom settings. It is also intended to affirm that SFC faculty meet distance-learning standards as required by the New York State Education Department, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and the United States Distance Learning Association.

All faculty will be required to take the OFCC to teach online or hybrid (a mix of online and traditional classroom) courses beginning spring 2020. Those who successfully complete it can identify themselves with a digital badge.