979-845-5311 sehdcomm@tamu.edu

Promoting Excellence in Online Instruction

The purpose of this initiative is to provide a protocol for the School of Education and Human Development faculty to attain a level of preparedness and excellence to teach in their online courses.

Within the five levels, you’ll find opportunities for on-demand training, tasks to be completed with an instructional designer, and opportunities for a development-focused peer review of online teaching. Faculty members and instructional staff in the School of Education and Human Development have also designed a series of professional development modules on online teaching. These resources were developed in the style of a faculty workshop or presentation at a teaching conference.

Incentives For Innovation

The School of Education and Human Development aims to increase excellence in all online programs while incentivizing the innovation and outstanding dedication to teaching online. Once completing Level Two, faculty earn professional development funds for completing subsequent levels. In Level Five, faculty may submit an online course of their choice for consideration as a School of Education & Human Development Exemplary Online Course.

Level One

University Required Training:

  1. Information Security Awareness (TrainTraq Course Number 3001)
  2. Reporting fraud, waste, and abuse (TrainTraq Course Number 99003)
  3. Creating a discrimination free workplace (TrainTraq Course Number 99002)
  4. Ethics (TrainTraq Course Number 99001)
  5. FERPA training (TrainTraq Course Number 11012)

Complete three training sessions:

  1. Foundations of Culturally Responsive Online Teaching
    (TrainTraq Course Number 2114455)
  2. ADA and Accessibility for Online Instruction
    (TrainTraq Course Number 2114456)
  3. And one additional training of your choice from the list below:
    • Overview of Online Tools for Engaging Instruction
      (TrainTraq Course Number 2114457)
    • What Constitutes a Quality Online Course
      (TrainTraq Course)
    • Building Online Communities of Practice
      (TrainTraq Course Number 2114458)
    • Strategies for Culturally Inclusive Online Teaching
      (TrainTraq Course Number 2114459)

After completing Level One, download your TrainTraq transcript and compose an email to edu-de-committee@tamu.edu. In your email, please let us know which trainings you would like to apply to Level One.

Level Two - $250 Professional Development Funds

Complete five training sessions:

  1. Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies in the Online Environment Part 1
    (TrainTraq Course Number 2114461)
  2. Practical Strategies for Teaching Online
    (TrainTraq Course Number 2114460)
  3. And three additional training of your choice:

After completing Level Two, download your TrainTraq transcript and compose an email to edu-de-committee@tamu.edu. In your email, please let us know which trainings you would like to apply to Level Two as well as documentation (transcript) for your two Canvas self-paced trainings.

Level 3 - $250 Professional Development Funds

Complete five training sessions:

  1. Participate in two Canvas synchronous training sessions via Canvas Training Portal
  2. Online Course Quality Rubrics: OSCQR Part 1, Applying the OSCQR Rubric to your course
    (TrainTraq Course Number 2114334)
  3. Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies in the Online Environment Part 2
    (TrainTraq Course Number 2114462)
  4. And one additional training of your choice:
    • Any uncompleted trainings from Level 1 or 2.

After completing Level Three, download your TrainTraq transcript and compose an email to edu-de-committee@tamu.edu. In your email, please let us know which trainings you would like to apply to Level Three as well as documentation (transcript)for your two Canvas self-paced trainings.

Level 4 - $300 Professional Development Funds

Complete two:

  1. Online Course Quality Rubrics: OSCQR Part 2, Preparing for a development-focused peer review of online teaching
    (TrainTraq Course Number 2114335)
  2. Work with an instructional designer to create an alignment matrix for your online course (Schedule with your department’s Instructional Designer or Academic Innovation Instructional Designer)

After completing Level Four, download your TrainTraq transcript and compose an email to edu-de-committee@tamu.edu. In your email, please let us know which trainings you would like to apply to Level Four and include a copy of the alignment matrix you completed with an instructional designer.

Level 5 - $1,000 Professional Development Funds

Complete two activities:

  1. Submit your course portfolio for consideration as a School of Education & Human Development Exemplary Online Course. (Contact the Distance Education Committee: edu-de-committee@tamu.edu) 
  2. Four hours of off-site faculty development in online teaching (Submit records to the Distance Education Committee: edu-de-committee@tamu.edu) 

Training & Achievements

  • Trainings and achievements will be tracked by the Distance Education Committee: edu-de-committee@tamu.edu.
  • Faculty cannot proceed to further levels unless the previous level has been completed
  • Level 2 must be completed every three years if further levels have not been completed within those three years.
  • Should faculty request a substitution for one of the various elements mentioned within each level, they can email: edu-de-committee@tamu.edu
  • Additional trainings and opportunities will be added by the DE committee annually during a spring audit process, and faculty are encouraged to submit trainings for consideration and approval to posted training offerings.
  • Faculty are also invited to attend the open DE meetings each month.
  • Trainings and Quality Matters (QM) certifications previously completed prior to summer 2022 are not eligible for incentive funds described in this chart.
  • Level 5 can be repeated a total of three times within a three-year period to accrue a total incentive amount of up to $3000 total.