Foundations of Online Teaching Short Course

Apply for Foundations of Online Teaching

Details

Foundations of Online Teaching will run for four weeks, starting on Thursday, May 14, 2026, and ending on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. This course is offered fully online and does not have any required scheduled meeting times.

Description

This facilitator-led short course is designed for faculty seeking a structured approach to planning and improving their online or hybrid courses. Grounded in the HIDOC (High-Impact Design for Online Courses) framework, the course provides foundations and guidance for purposeful online course design, development, and delivery. Participants work through key steps, including writing learning outcomes, aligning assessments, integrating instructional materials, planning for learner support, and continuous improvement. Faculty will also explore instructional strategies and the intentional use of technology and tools to support learning, interaction, and accessibility.

Delivered asynchronously via Blackboard Learn, faculty engage in weekly modules, complete practical course planning documents, and receive feedback as they build out the structure, strategies, and delivery approach for a course they are designing or revising. Participants work in the course as students, experiencing online learning from the student perspective.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Apply the HIDOC framework to structure a student-centered online or hybrid course.
Write clear, measurable course learning outcomes and module learning objectives.
Align assessments, instructional materials, and learning activities with course learning outcomes.
Apply the Quality Standards for Online Courses (QSOC) to enhance student learning experiences.
Develop strategies to support and engage online students.

Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate of completion.

Application

Any faculty member (tenure track, professional track, and adjunct) who teaches as an instructor of record on the Columbia campus, Palmetto College campuses, and the Schools of Medicine may apply. Admission to this course is competitive and spaces are limited, so apply early. Applicants will be expected to complete 100 percent of the course activities and assignments to receive a certificate of completion.

Application Deadline: Friday, April 10, 2026.

Selected applications will be notified no later than Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

For questions, please contact Gloria Washington at 803-777-7078 or thomasgy@mailbox.sc.edu.

Apply for Foundations of Online Teaching

About the Facilitator

Gloria Washington is an instructional designer at the University of South Carolina’s Center for Teaching Excellence, where she draws on over 27 years of experience in higher education to support faculty in designing effective, engaging, and inclusive learning experiences. She specializes in the pedagogical integration of technology to enhance teaching and learning. As the author of the blog, Pedagogy Before Technology, she explores strategies for meaningful and intentional use of emerging technologies in education. Washington is a past president of the Association for Distance Education and Independent Learning (ADEIL) and serves as an associate editor for the International Journal of Innovative Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. She has certifications in Blackboard and Quality Matters, and holds a Doctor of Education, a Master of Arts in Education, and a Master of Business Administration. Her approach to instructional design prioritizes pedagogy first, ensuring that technology serves as a tool to enhance, rather than drive, the learning experience.

This is a great resource to encourage best practices with online teaching, and I am grateful for the opportunity to participate. I really enjoyed how the assignments were directly related to what we would do for our courses. It was great to see examples from others and to know what the university requires/expects in terms of compliance, accessibility, etc.

Learning by doing really worked for me because it made me use technologies I had been afraid to try.

Having never taught online before, this was extremely helpful in getting me started. I know I will be revisiting most of the modules as I work my way through my first online teaching experience next semester. Glad I took this course!

I teach a hybrid course and am considering developing a corresponding online course. There was an abundance of useful information. Not only the technology available for course delivery, but teaching methodologies that work well with these types of courses. Also a lot of useful tips on keeping courses organized and reducing the amount of work necessary to deliver the course.

I thought that the course combined pedagogy and technology in very balanced and creative ways. The student-centered approaches I learned and the online tools to which I was introduced are invaluable and indeed largely applicable to both face-to-face and distance instruction.

Center for Teaching Excellence