The OACC held a pinning ceremony for those who completed the course on Dec. 2. The faculty who completed the course include:
- Katherine Cass, instructor, registered nursing program
- Pamela Vaughn, assistant professor, registered nursing program
- Robert Adkins, professor, business and applied technologies
- Michael Lander, assistant professor, business and applied technologies
- Pam Ball, associate professor, business and applied technologies
- Carol Miller, assistant professor, arts and sciences
- Monnica Gavin, associate professor, arts and sciences
“This course exceeded my expectations,” Ball said. “Each weekly lesson provided useful and practical strategies for improving online teaching and learning that I could immediately incorporate into my courses.”
The teachers joined more than 150 faculty members from 22 Ohio community colleges to learn and implement “equity-promoting, evidence-based teaching practices shown to improve student engagement, persistence, course completion and learning,” the release stated.
Tiffany Hunter, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said faculty were asked to volunteer to participate in the course by academic deans who were looking for those interested in learning new teaching strategic for online instruction. She said the criteria to be selected for the course was flexible since each college has different needs for professional development.
“Consideration was given to faculty who had expressed a need for professional development related to online teaching, faculty who teach high D-F-W rate courses, faculty in disciplines where students typically struggle and faculty actively teaching during the spring and fall terms, 2021,” she said. “Participants were placed into professionally facilitated cohorts of peers across institutions to create communities of practice.”
The faculty who completed the course earned a nationally recognized Certificate in Effective College Online Instruction, which is the only college teaching credential endorsed by the American Council of Education (ACE).
“We are excited to have faculty that expressed an interest in being included in this online course and we look forward to how their increased knowledge will benefit our students taking online courses,” Hunter said.
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