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SUNY Online Teaching Fellows Program

A Community of Practice across SUNY

The SUNY Online Teaching Fellows Program recognizes and supports the leadership that online teaching and learning practitioners already contribute across SUNY and beyond. As a Fellow, you serve as a connector, contributor, and steward of the SUNY Online Teaching Community of Practice—leveraging your expertise to support peers, strengthen quality, and advance equitable online education at scale.

Fellows represent a wide range of experience levels, professional roles, and areas of expertise. When you become a Fellow, you are a member of the SUNY Online Teaching Community of Practice and are eligible to participate in shared community activities such as professional development, events, and online forums.

Some Fellow roles are also eligible to participate in specialized programs, such as the SUNY Online Teaching Mentor Program and the OSCQR Course Reviewer Network, based on experience and role-specific criteria. Participation in mentoring or course reviewing requires Fellow status and alignment with these criteria.

You may enter the SUNY Online engagement ecosystem through multiple pathways. In all cases, you are recognized as a SUNY Online Teaching Fellow prior to official participation in mentoring, course reviewing, or other specialized roles and recognitions.

graphical representation of Fellows roles

Fellow Roles and Pathways

The Fellows Program includes six Fellow roles, each reflecting different levels of experience and engagement:

  • Friend of SUNY
  • Interested in Online-Enabled Education
  • Experienced Online Practitioner
  • Expert Online Instructional Designer
  • Online Teaching Exemplar, Coach & Mentor
  • Online Innovator / Researcher

These roles are self-selected and come with shared expectations around participation, learning, and giving back to the community.

Engagement Opportunities for Fellows

As a SUNY Online Teaching Fellow, you may choose to engage in ways that align with your interests, expertise, and availability, including:

  • Participating in working groups and initiatives.
  • Serving as a mentor or OSCQR course reviewer (role-eligible).
  • Leading or co-leading webinars, panels, and Summit sessions.
  • Contributing to research, pilots, and system-wide projects.
  • Supporting peers across campuses through shared expertise.

Engagement is flexible, self-directed, and designed to support both your professional growth and system-wide capacity building.

A Living, Evolving Community

The SUNY Online Fellows Program is designed to evolve alongside the SUNY Online Teaching Community it serves. Through your participation, leadership, feedback, and shared practice, you help ensure that SUNY Online remains responsive, inclusive, and grounded in the lived experience of online practitioners across the system.