Faculty Support and Resources
Canvas and eLearning Technologies Professional Development for Faculty
Training and instructional design related to the use of instructional technologies is available through the eLearning department. For more information, contact the eLearning and Instructional Design team
Regularly scheduled eLearning workshops include synchronous and asynchronous sessions on topics such as:
- Course-building and structure in Canvas.
- Strategies for synchronous and asynchronous teaching.
- Applying Quality Matters standards to course design.
- Applying Universal Design for Learning principals to course design.
- Effective use of instructional technology in learning activities and assessments.
- Improving the online teaching and learning experience.
If you are just getting started with professional development at Clark College, begin with the eLearning 101 workshop at the eLearning Faculty Workshop descriptions and registration link below.
Workshop descriptions and registration
Quality Matters at Clark College
Clark College is committed to meeting Quality Matters quality assurance standards for all online and hybrid courses. The college has invested significant resources to develop certified QM trainers and ensure highly trained faculty to implement the standards for the benefit of the students through the course design. The Quality Matters program supports the college's commitment to excellence in teaching. For more information see our Quality Matters page.
eLearning Instructional Design Support for Faculty
Since 2006, the eLearning and Instructional Design team at Clark College has provided training, guidance, and mentorship to Clark College faculty and staff focused on quality course design, development, and teaching across modalities, including effective use of instructional technology and strategies for alignment, outcomes, and assessment. Each member of the Instructional Design team is an experienced online and hybrid course instructor and holds certifications through Quality Matters.
What is Instructional Design?
Instructional Design is a systematic process used for developing learning experiences. The Instructional Design process can begin at any stage of development: from a glimmer of an idea to an evaluation of a course that has been taught for decades.
The Instructional Design process includes the following tasks, most of which are revisited repeatedly throughout the design cycle:
- Analysis of learning needs.
- Creating specifications for learning needs (objectives).
- Planning, selecting, and creating the content that best meets objectives.
- Selecting assessment strategies that measure the achievement of objectives.
- Implementing technologies to increase students' social and cognitive presence.
- Evaluating the effectiveness at the end of the course/training.
Instructional Designers at Clark College
At Clark College, our Instructional Designers (IDs) typically partner with instructors to design and build courses. They also design and facilitate trainings to faculty and staff. Clark's IDs are skilled at translating instructors' expertise into deliverables for learners by following an iterative process backed by learning science.
IDs help instructors develop engaging, effective, high-quality learning experiences. They have graduate degrees in higher education, adult education and training, instructional technology, or related fields. They have expertise in learning theory, knowledge acquisition and retention, instructional best practices, and quite often, media production.
To work as an ID at Clark College, ideal candidates have a minimum of three years of online course design and teaching experience in higher education. The onboarding process includes a full year of professional development and mentoring.
eLearning Instructional Design Team Mission
- Our focus is quality course design, development, and teaching.
- We support all modalities of synchronous and asynchronous learning including online, hybrid, and face-to-face classrooms.
- We specialize in the effective and purposeful use of instructional technologies.
- We emphasize course design and teaching practices aligned with the Quality Matters rubric standards.
- We strive to stay current in the research and Department of Education requirements with best practices for online design, curriculum development, instructional technologies, and effective teaching.
- As we project into the future, we study Clark College eLearning statistics and work to align our training with the results of these findings.
Email the eLearning and Instructional Design team with questions or to schedule consultations.
eLearning and Instructional Design team
Canvas and Academic Technology Support
Faculty may reference the Academic Technology Resources shell in your Canvas account
or directly contact Academic Technology by emailing academictech@clark.edu on topics such as the following:
Email academictech@clark.edu
- Technical issues with Canvas (or file a ticket 24/7/365 by clicking Help and Report a Problem on the Canvas site)
Canvas - Canvas user accounts, enrollments, and specialized Canvas shells for organizations and/or departments
- Canvas Apps or LTI's, integrations, features information and support
- Multimedia production facilities and equipment for faculty using Canvas
- Academic Technology's private streaming cloud service for instructional video and audio files
- Zoom Cloud Video Meeting information and support
- Panopto lecture capture information and support
- EvaluationKit information and support
- Respondus products support and licensing
Faculty should direct students with Canvas issues to the online Canvas ticket system
accessed via the Help link on the Clark College Canvas site. Students, faculty, and staff may also be
directed to the TechHub in Cannell Library for on-campus support, via phone, or via email.
TechHub
Faculty also have additional information and resources here:
- Canvas integrated ticket system, accessible via the Help menu and Report a Problem.
- Smart Penguin for Canvas tutorials for all users, Test Taking Tips page, posts about how to prevent
issues, and resources for you and your students.
Smart Penguin
NOTE: Specific dates for important academic technology activities are available on
our Online Faculty Planner.
Online Faculty Planner