The Advanced Online Teaching Institute (AOTI) is designed to help online faculty refine their existing online courses to improve online learning at Temple and to help students succeed.
Prerequisites: While the Online Teaching Institute is not a prerequisite to registering for the Advanced Institute, we recommend that you take it first before signing up for the Advanced Institute. It is also recommended that you know how to use the basic functions of an LMS (Canvas) prior to participating in the AOTI.
Length: 3 weeks
Expected hours of time commitment a week: About 4 hours a week
Format: This is a non-credit program offered fully online asynchronously. There are no live meetings included.
Participants: Anyone interested in refining or helping others to refine an existing online course.
Levels: Intermediate, Advanced.
Additional Information: Participants will have access to an online course in Canvas that integrates best practices for online course design. Participants will receive a Letter of Completion after they successfully complete the course.
Upon successful completion of the AOTI, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate existing online courses and make recommendations for improvements.
- Create an inclusive online learning environment.
- Add multimedia components for student interaction and engagement.
- Explore collaborative learning strategies and techniques for effective online discussions.
- Include more robust online assessment strategies that promote academic integrity.
Course Structure and Goals
Start Here (Time estimated: 30 minutes)
- Summarize the program structure, expectations, and requirements.
- Network with colleagues.
Module 1: Evaluating an Online Course (Time estimated: 1 to 2 hours)
By the end of this module, you will be able to
- Explore the seven principles for evaluating online courses
- Complete a course design review for a course that you teach in order to identify strong aspects, as well as areas for improvement
Module 2: Inclusive Teaching Online (Time estimated: 2 hours)
By the end of this module, you will be able to
- Employ a variety of techniques for creating a positive online learning environment
- Evaluate your current or future use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles in your online courses
- Distinguish between a teacher-centered and student-centered learning environment and determine which student-centered strategies would work well in your current or future online learning environments
Module 3: Presenting Information with Visualizations and Multimedia (Time estimated: 2 hours)
By the end of this module, you will be able to
- Identify the principles of multimedia learning
- Reflect upon an educational experience and discuss how it might be improved by the principles of multimedia learning
- Explore ways of creating engaging videos and multimedia instructional materials
- Consider how you might incorporate multimedia and visual learning activities into your teaching
Module 4: Engaging Students with Collaboration and Online Discussions (Time estimated: 1 to 2 hours)
By the end of this module, you will be able to
- Apply online collaborative learning techniques to teaching online
- Identify strategies for managing group work effectively
- Identify ways to facilitate discussions online and choose effective discussions questions
Module 5 Learning Goals
- Describe Generative AI and its potential benefits and risks for teaching and learning
- Examine ways that instructors might design activities and assessments that productively use (or resist) AI
- Interrogate and reflect on your beliefs about learning in conversation with others
- Identify characteristics of well-crafted Generative AI prompts
- Reflect on whether and how you might use Generative AI in your own classroom
Module 6: Leveling Up Your Assessments (Time estimated: 2 hours)
By the end of this module, you will be able to
- Articulate common concerns related to online assessments
- Apply UDL Principles to make assessments more equitable
- Identify alternative assessments appropriate to your teaching contexts
- Choose strategies for promoting academic integrity in your online classes
Module 7: Reflection/Wrap up (Time estimated: 30 minutes)
By the end of this module, you will be able to
- Reflect on key AOTI concepts.
- Commit to some strategies or takeaways that you will apply to your online courses.
- Evaluate the course.