Standards and Support for Quality Online Teaching
Good teaching can happen in any course modality, but moving to an online environment requires intentional planning to achieve the same learning outcomes as in a face-to-face course. Faculty who teach online are expected to follow the standards outlined in Policy 6364 and Policy 7215, which include guidelines for developing online courses, ensuring equivalency and quality in these courses, and supporting faculty in their online teaching activities, as well as creating accessible educational materials.
TLOS reaffirms the role of departments and colleges in supervising and evaluating teaching in all modalities. Our services and offerings are intended to support faculty and administrators in their efforts to create and deliver quality online courses. Individual instructors and departmental leaders can take advantage of the following resources as they strive to meet the university’s expectations and standards for online teaching.
Training Opportunities
TLOS provides facilitated workshops and self-paced training designed to help faculty prepare to teach at a distance.
- Incorporate the Canvas C.O.R.E. in your online course design.
- Review Getting Started with Online Teaching, a self-paced course that provides an overview of best practices for online teaching and learning.
- Register for one of our short courses offered through the TLOS Professional Development Network.
Individual and Departmental Consultations
We offer one-on-one consultations for individual instructors, and we welcome opportunities to discuss college- and department-level initiatives.
- Request a consultation with an instructional designer or learning technologies specialist.
- To learn more about services and programs offered in support of college or department initiatives, contact tlos@vt.edu.
Peer Review and Self-Assessment Resources
The TLOS Course Quality Checklist can be adopted (and modified as needed) by programs and departments to support peer review of online teaching. Individual instructors may also find this checklist helpful as a self-assessment tool when they are designing or redesigning an online course.
Accessibility and Accommodations
Instructors of technology-enhanced courses are expected to build their online instructional materials with accessibility for all students in mind. All text should be structured appropriately to be read by screen-reading technology, alt-text should be provided for all images, and either captions or transcripts should be provided. TLOS provides several resources to help make course materials accessible, including Ally, EquatIO, and Grackle, along with captioning support.
Additional Resources
- On-Demand Training for Virginia Tech’s teaching and learning technologies
- TLOS Resources on webcams, online proctoring, Zoom security, and other topics
- Information for your students taking online courses
- The full TLOS Professional Development Network course catalog