CELT’s Online Teaching Course (OTC) (description also attached)
Stony Brook University experienced an expansion of online and hybrid course offerings following the rapid transition to remote instruction during COVID-19 in Spring 2020. Since then, departments have continued to offer and increase their online course offerings. Many instructors are new to online teaching or had only taught remotely during COVID-19, which resulted in a wide variation of course design quality, instructor presence, and alignment with Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) expectations.

To address this need, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) expanded and redesigned the Online Teaching Course (OTC), a comprehensive asynchronous training that provides faculty with an evidence‑based foundation in online pedagogy. Recently, the OTC also serves as the required initial training for instructors participating in Stony Brook’s new Online Course Design and Development program, where faculty partner with instructional designers to redesign courses in several graduate online degree programs. This ensures that instructors begin the redesign process with foundational knowledge in effective online teaching.

The OTC is a research‑based, 15‑hour asynchronous course delivered over five weeks or in an accelerated three‑week format. It immerses faculty in the student experience while preparing them to design and facilitate high‑quality online courses. The course is offered every semester, with additional department‑specific cohorts available upon request, demonstrating its scalability and adaptability to diverse program needs. Upon completion, participants earn a Credly badge recognizing their achievement and commitment to high‑quality online teaching.

The OTC itself serves as a model of high‑quality online course design. Instructional designers facilitate the course using practices aligned with the Community of Inquiry framework, including consistent communication, timely feedback, engaging course materials, opportunities for peer interaction, purposeful assessments and clear navigation. The course also demonstrates effective use of Brightspace features, including announcements, release conditions, rubrics, discussion forums, quizzes, Brightspace pages and document templates. Lastly, we include a variety of resources including text-based articles, videos and podcasts to support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and provide opportunities to use and practice educational technologies such as VoiceThread, Feedback Fruits and Echo 360. This intentional modeling helps faculty translate theory into practice and strengthens online teaching across the institution.

Core Topics and Learning Modules
The OTC is organized into five modules that introduce instructors to essential concepts for effective online teaching:

Module 1: Online Learning Basics: Introduces the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework and Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI), emphasizing the importance of social, cognitive, and teaching presence in online learning.
Module 2: Online Syllabus and Learning Objectives: Covers backward design, measurable learning objectives, alignment, and the creation of clear, inclusive, and accessible online syllabi. Faculty receive guided support in developing objectives for their own courses.
Module 3: Assessments, Learning Activities, and Instructional Resources: Explores authentic assessment design, effective discussion facilitation, and integration of generative AI. Faculty practice creating course alignment maps and review options for instructional materials, including OER.
Module 4: Engaging Students Using Educational Technologies: Provides hands-on exposure to tools such as FeedbackFruits, VoiceThread, Echo360, Zoom, and Google Workspace. Participants also learn key digital accessibility practices and create a Welcome Video embedded in Brightspace.
Module 5: Course Organization and Quality Standards: Focuses on course navigation, cognitive load, and findability. Faculty apply a modified OSCQR rubric to evaluate and strengthen online course design.

Assessments
Participants in the OTC complete a series of engaging and authentic assessments where we model several different educational technologies that can be used in an online course. These activities are intentionally scaffolded to help instructors build confidence with both pedagogical concepts and educational technologies at Stony Brook University. These include:
VoiceThread introductions: Allow instructors to experience facilitating discussions using audio and video.
Discussion board participation: Models facilitation strategies that promote meaningful dialogue and peer to peer engagement.
Knowledge‑check quizzes: Demonstrate low‑stakes assessment for retrieval practice.
Course alignment map creation: Reinforces the principles of backwards design.
Welcome video creation: Helps instructors practice establishing teaching presence and creating their own videos using tools such as Zoom and Echo 360.
OSCQR‑based course review: Encourages faculty to reflect on course quality using the established OSCQR rubric.
FeedbackFruits interactive activities: Provide opportunities to experience ungraded, engagement‑focused tools that support peer interaction and formative assessment.

Conclusion
The Online Teaching Course (OTC) has become a reliable and effective way to strengthen online teaching at Stony Brook University. By modeling strong online teaching practices and grounding the course in well‑established frameworks like the Community of Inquiry framework, backwards design model and the OSCQR rubric, the OTC helps instructors build the skills and confidence needed to design and teach high‑quality online courses. Its fully asynchronous format also makes it easy to offer regularly, scale to meet demand, and tailor to specific departments. The OTC can be adopted at other institutions as well to help improve course quality, support faculty development, and strengthen student learning across the system.

(also attached with links to resources)
Baldwin, S., Ching, Y.-H., & Hsu, Y.-C. (2018). Online course design in higher education: A review of national and statewide evaluation instruments. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 62(1), 46–57.
Brame, C. J. (2016). Effective educational videos: Principles and guidelines for maximizing student learning from video content. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 15(4), es6.
Borup, J. (2021, February 3). Putting your best self forward: 6 keys for filming quality videos. Educause Teaching and Learning.
Bowen, R. S. (2017). Understanding By Design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.
Burgstahler, S. (n.d.). 20 tips for teaching an accessible online course. University of Washington, DO‑IT.
Casey, R. L., & Kroth, M. (2013). Learning to develop presence online: Experienced faculty perspectives. Journal of Adult Education, 42(2), 104–110.
Chatterjee, D., & Corral, J. (2017). How to write well-defined learning objectives. The Journal of Education in Perioperative Medicine : JEPM, 19(4), E610.
Fosslien, L., & Duffy, M. W. (2021). The four causes of Zoom fatigue and their solutions. Stanford News.
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.
Helmer, K. (2020). Inclusive syllabus design [Audio podcast episode]. ThinkUDL.
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review, 15.
Lin, X., Luterbach, K., Gregory, K. H., & Sconyers, S. E. (2024). A case study investigating the utilization of ChatGPT in online discussions. Online Learning, 28(2), Article 2.
Martin, F., & Bolliger, D. U. (2018). Engagement matters: Student perceptions on the importance of engagement strategies in the online learning environment. Online Learning, 22(1).
McDaniel, M., & Weinstein, Y. (2017). Retrieval practice [Audio podcast episode]. The Learning Scientists.
Simunich, B., Robins, D. B., & Kelly, V. (2015). The impact of findability on student motivation, self-efficacy, and perceptions of online course quality. American Journal of Distance Education, 29(3), 174–185.
Simunich, B., Gregg, A., & Ralston-Berg, P. (2024). High-impact design for online courses: Blueprinting quality digital learning in eight practical steps. Taylor & Francis.
Websites
OSCQR Review Rubric
OSCQR RSI webpage
SBU CELT Course Design Process
SBU CELT Self Paced Resource Guides
SBU CELT Syllabus Toolkit
SBU Library Open Educational Resources Lib Guide

The Online Teaching Course (OTC) experienced a significant rise in enrollment and completion following its major redesign in Spring 2020, a period that coincided with the onset of COVID‑19 and the rapid transition to remote learning. From Fall 2015 to Fall 2019, 171 instructors enrolled and 66 completed the course, resulting in a 38.6% completion rate. After Spring 2020, demand increased as faculty sought support for online instruction-1,065 instructors enrolled, with 686 completing the training (as of January 2026), raising the completion rate to 64.41%. These trends reflect both the impact of the pandemic on online instructional needs and the effectiveness of the OTC’s continuously updated, research‑informed design.

Total Enrolled Fall 2015- Fall 2019: 171
Total Completed Fall 2015- Fall 2019: 66
Completion rate Fall 2015-Fall 2019: 38.60%

Total Enrolled Spring 2020- present:1065
Total Completed Spring 2020- present- 686
Complete Rate Spring 2020- present- 64.41%

Faculty consistently describe the OTC as transformative for their teaching across modalities. Many report applying OTC strategies not only in online courses but also in hybrid and in‑person settings, demonstrating the broad pedagogical impact of the training. Faculty quotes from their experience in the OTC are also attached above.