With to the shift to remote teaching, SPS has worked with CUNY Central to recalibrate its offerings. SPS is now offering the Online Teaching Essentials (OTE) workshop in lieu of the Preparation for Teaching Online (PTO) workshop. 

The Online Teaching Essentials workshop is a CUNY-sponsored program offered by the faculty development team at the School of Professional Studies (SPS). The workshop is conducted fully online in the Blackboard LMS, with activities and assignments that can be completed on a flexible schedule (asynchronously) within each scheduled module. Currently, there is no direct registration for the workshop; participants are nominated by their campuses. Familiarity with basic functions of Blackboard is required.

Workshop Description

The Online Teaching Essentials workshop covers best practices in online pedagogy, whether in the fully online asynchronous or mixed synchronous-asynchronous classroom, or in the hybrid or blended modalities. The workshop will give participants first-hand experience of what it is like to learn online, including the flexibility of asynchronous instruction. All participants are enrolled in a main course site, but their activity will be focused in groups defined by their field or discipline. All activity will occur in Blackboard Learn, the learning management system CUNY faculty and students have used for some time.

The Structure of the Course

• Start Here!: Introductions and Course Information
• Module I: Understanding the Online Learning Environment
• Module II: Inclusive Teaching: Reaching All Your Students
• Module III: Backward Design and Effective Assessment
• Module IV: Online Presence and Engagement
• Module V: Communicating and Interacting Online
• Wrap Up: Final Project & Reflection

In each module, participants review resources related to the topic, engage in discussions with peers in the same or a similar discipline, and complete practice exercises. Experienced online faculty serve as peer facilitators guiding groups through the discussions and Blackboard exercises. The final project is a draft course schedule and syllabus that serve as a plan for teaching an online or hybrid course.

All required activities, with the exception of a group meeting to complete a group assignment, are asynchronous, but participants are expected to complete tasks within module time frames.

Faculty Learning Outcomes

Each participant who completes the course will:

• Gain first-hand experience in and appreciation of the needs of an online learner;
• Identify widely accepted best practices for online teaching, including principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL);
• Reflect on how to apply to one’s own course the instructional design principles, organizational and facilitation skills, and communication and assessment strategies introduced in the course;
• Become familiar with the basic operations and features of a Blackboard classroom from both student and instructor perspectives;
• Create a plan for building and teaching an online or hybrid course.

Certificate & Payment Details

Participants who successfully complete the workshop according to the rubric outlined in the syllabus will receive a certificate of completion and may be eligible for a payment. 

Upcoming Online Teaching Essentials Workshops

Registration

To inquire about your eligibility to participate in an upcoming Online Teaching Essentials (OTE) workshop, please reach out to your campus liaison(s) listed below.

Campus	First Name	Last Name	Email
Baruch	Allison	Lehr Samuels	[email protected]
BMCC	Tom	Harbison	[email protected]
Bronx CC	Luis	Montenegro	[email protected]
Brooklyn	Tammy	Lewis	[email protected]
CCNY	Tom	Peele	[email protected]
CCNY	Nilima	Islam	[email protected]
City Tech	Karen	Lundstrem	[email protected]
CSI	Michael	Castelli	[email protected]
CUNY School of Law	Fareed	Hayat	[email protected]
Graduate Center	Rachel	Sponzo	[email protected]
Guttman CC (not participating)	Nicola	Blake	[email protected]
Hostos	Carlos	Guevara	[email protected]
Hunter	Jenny	Tuten	[email protected]
John Jay	Judy	Cahn	[email protected]
Kingsborough CC	Janine	Palludan	[email protected]
Laguardia CC	Priscilla	Stadler	[email protected]
Lehman (not participating)	Olena	Zhadko	[email protected]
Medgar Evers	Hollie	Jones	[email protected]
Queens	Jean	Kelly	[email protected]
Queensborough CC	Denis	Bejar	[email protected]
School of Journalism	Jeremy	Caplan	[email protected]
School of Labor and Urban Studies	Gladys	Palma de Schrynemakers	[email protected]
School of Public Health	Sergio	Costa	[email protected]
York College	Greet	Van Belle	[email protected]

Questions

Please direct any questions about OTE to your campus liaison listed above. 

If you require assistance related to a previously taken PTO workshop, please reach out to the Office of Faculty Development and Instructional Technology at [email protected]. 

CUNY Online Essentials:  [email protected]