OLC to Deliver Discounted PD on Online Instruction to Minority-Serving Institutions

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 05/18/20

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) has received a grant to work with minority-serving institutions as they shift to online instruction. The $50,000 award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will fund delivery of affordable, short-term workshops to reach instructors in institutions that need professional development resources most.

Under the grant, OLC will make 13 workshops available at a discount price of $45, including five that are self-paced. Among the criteria for qualifying are stipulations that learners be employed at a federally recognized minority-serving institution and fairly new to delivering online instruction at a school where other internal training resources are limited.

Topics cover:

  • "New to online essentials" (in three parts);
  • "Strategies for facilitating live, online sessions";
  • "Giving effective feedback" (also available in a self-paced format);
  • "Engaging learners in online discussions";
  • "Increasing interaction & engagement";
  • "Applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to online courses to increase accessibility & engagement";
  • "Creating effective assessments" (self-paced);
  • "Strategies for designing and facilitating engaging online discussions" (self-paced);
  • "ADA & Web accessibility" (self-paced); and
  • "Strategies for increasing interaction & engagement" (self-paced).

The program, available on a first-come, first-serve basis, is expected to continue through December 2020.

Registration is open now on the OLC website.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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