​The Technology Teaching and Learning Center and the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence have teamed up to develop a new faculty development offering for instructors interested in taking their online teaching to the next level. Representing 35 hours of face-to-face training and about 10 hours of independent, online work, the program covers best practices in online instruction and how those strategies can be best deployed using our learning management system (Blackboard), other UHD technology tools (Zoom, MediaSite, TurnItIn, Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor, etc.), and additional services and resources available through the W.I. Dykes Library, the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, and the Technology Teaching and Learning Center.

Faculty who complete the program will have their work showcased here. ​​Here's what they're saying! Click on a faculty member's name to view a demo video on what they learned in the program! 

Cohort 1: Spring Break 2017
Yesenia Chavez (Arts & Humanities)
"There are several practices and tools I found very useful during this wonderful training at UHD that will help me to improve my online teaching as well as my face to face classes. There are three things I will implement: Zoom, more interactive forums and the retention center."

Heather Goltz (Social Work)
"Here is my video demonstration of "lessons learned" from the Program. I am really excited about some of the revisions I will make in my online course and will be dedicating a good bit of time this summer to this new endeavor.​

Yih-Yaw Jou (FAEIS)
"My video is about how I plan to use the Retention Center to improve the student retention rate in my courses. To improve student retention is very important to our university. To achieve this goal, there were several tools shown to us during the online certification program. One of them that I find very useful is the tool of Retention Center in the Blackboard."

Djuana Lamb (MMBA)
"My name is Djuana Lamb and I am a lecturer in the Marilyn Davies College of Business where I teach courses in Human Resources and Business Management.  I decided to take the UHD Online Teaching Certification class because I wanted to learn how to use tools that would improve the effectiveness of the classes I am teaching online.  The class met and exceeded my expectations.  Through the workshop-type sessions, I learned to use a number of Blackboard and internet-based tools, some of which I have already incorporated into my  classes.  This link below is a demonstration of how I used Zoom to develop a short video lesson for my students in a recent class.  To accompany this video, I also used the Lesson Module template that I learned about in the training program  to provide students with a host of resources they would need to use to complete their class assignment."

Kira Laws (MMBA)
"As part of my action plan, I will partner with the CTLE for consultations on effective teaching and learning. I will also utilize UHD's Blackboard support for some of the platforms that can be used for online instruction. Additionally, I will leverage my relationships built during training as most of those instructors have taught online and have experience with the face-to-face classroom model.​"

Soumitra Sen (Natural Sciences)
"My video is on how I will use what I learned to teach about plate tectonics! Although I have only taught in a face-to-face environment, I am thankful that UHD encouraged me and provided me the opportunity to take this course because it creates another platform to connect with my students. Also, subsequent to informative discussion with CTLE, I am going to inquire about currently oversubscribed face-to-face courses and see if they can be realistically offered online."

Alex Wathen (Social Sciences)
"The program represents an excellent integration and collaboration between several departments. It was neat to have CTLE, TTLC, the and the Library working together. The presence of the librarians solved a technical problem I had had as I emailed them and they fixed it. It also inspired me to use Interlibrary Loan even more. It was also neat to interact with different faculty members in other disciplines. Georges did a great job putting this together."

Cohort 2: Spring / Summer 2017 
Sharin Elkholy (History, Humanities, and Languages) 
"I learned a number of new things in the training course. Above all, I learned how not to be intimidated by teaching online. And secondly, I learned that there are many things that can be achieved using Blackboard. In the training we were taught various tools and practices. What stood out the most to me were the Respondus and Monitor program that serves to promote academic integrity and honesty, and the Zoom program that allows for face to face instruction as well as video chats and the ability to leave video messages." 

Shannon Fowler (Criminal Justice) 
"For me, the most helpful tactic was learning how to better organize the material and assessments in my course. I am now better equipped to do this in a more “lesson centric” manner. By emphasizing the more effective use of tools in the LMS, like adaptive release and learning modules, I feel prepared to re-organize my course in a way that is better suited to support student learning."

Erin Hodgess (Mathematics and Statistics) 
"I learned most about Media Site and Respondus. Also, I would like to utilize Zoom more than I do.Also, I learn about (the CTLE's subscription to) the Magna 20 Minute Videos, which I enjoyed viewing. I will be building projects into my courses, which student groups put together small videos. I currently use YouTube for little movies, and will switch over to Media Site. Finally, I learned a considerable amount about online teaching pedagogy.This course was outstanding."

Sujata Krishna (Natural Sciences) 
"I liked the guest speakers who visited the course. It was valuable to get their input during one course sitting when I am thinking about improving my online course. Overall, I found the course useful and valuable. Thank you!"

Charles LaMendola (History, Humanities, and Languages) 
"Of all the material presented, I found the section on the use of discussion boards to be the most helpful and applicable to my classes, both online and face-to-face. I often use discussion boards as informal essay assignments that also allow for an ease of grading and reasonable amount of time required by students for completion. In face-to-face classes, I use discussion boards as continuations of class lecture and means for making sure students spend time reading the material for the next class session. However, I never thought about diverse ways to use discussion boards to engage student participation or collaborative exercises."

Maria Macleod (Urban Education) 
"I am applying the knowledge I acquired in this on lline teaching program that I highly recommended and scored with five stars. I Started with Zoom to create a video to show compare and contrast my dashboard page from past courses and the model one I created using the sand-box shell from Blackboard. I found that ZOOM can be used as video conferencing; on line meetings; group messaging; screen sharing. Using Zoom is very practical and students don’t need an account to participate in a ZOOM session, just download the ZOOM application. "

David Maldonado (General Business, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management) 
"Walking through the Grading Center with an expert on it was helpful as it has always proved somewhat unworkable because I was not sure how it integrated with the rest of BB. My feeling is that new professors should be required to sit in BB training for days or weeks, whatever it takes, to learn it, or learn the nuances of UHD BB and to learn how to work with BB support folks. Georges’s icebreakers helped quite a bit, not only from the thinking through process but also from the learning how others slay the same dragons I deal with daily perspective. There ought to be more face to face training with our peers."

Rebecca Pfeffer (Criminal Justice) 
"This was certainly one of those times where learning a little bit about a topic (online instruction) helped me realize how much more there is to know. I will definitely be seeking out additional training opportunities via QM/OLC in the future and look forward to learning about specific topics in much more depth. It occurs to me that to stay relevant as a professor in the current age, we really need to be open to learning about and utilizing these online technologies and we do our students a disservice if we do not. By using the latest online teaching technologies and most current pedagogies, we also expose our students to what is out there and help them learn to digest information from a range of different modalities. That seems really critical."

Dietrich von Biedenfeld (General Business, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management) 
"This course provided numerous tips, tools, and examples that I will use to improve my online course delivery. Selecting only a few of the many beneficial lessons, the in-depth exploration of Turn-it-In will facilitate my improved use of that tool. I already access it during the semester, but learned about the meaning of certain reports and how to best use some of the elements of that tool. My optimal use of Turn-it-In will save me hours of grading time, while concurrently allowing me to provide even more detailed, and individualized feedback to students. Turn-it-In is also integrated into the Grade Center. The facilitators/instructors walked us through the Grade Center functionality as well. These aspect of the tool, which I apparently used less effectively before, will allow me to develop assessments tailored to the assignment objectives, measure the student learning more accurately, and even track students who may be struggling to maximize retention and student success." 

Alicia Yancy (Accounting and International Business) 
"In the past, I had only used Blackboard as a simple repository of information, where I would post the course syllabus, assignments, homework solutions, and grades.  Almost everything that was covered in the certification course was new to me, as I had never had any formal training for Blackboard or for online/hybrid course design.  I think the biggest take-away for me was even though there were lots of things that I could incorporate into the course like video submissions or online office hours using Zoom, ensuring the academic integrity of submitted assignments by utilizing Turn It In, protecting against cheating by creating test banks and assigning questions randomly, using Respondus to prevent students from utilizing unauthorized information and to monitor their actions during an exam, or using discussion boards and the course calendar, I don't have to do all of it to significantly improve my courses.  Using just a couple of the tools and tips I learned in the course will go a long way towards improving student engagement." 


Learn more about the program and apply here: www.tinyurl.com/UHDcertificate2018