The Teaching Online Program (TOP) course

The TOP course was developed by a VCCS-sponsored group of distance educators and instructional technologists as the first in a series of training programs for new online instructors.
TOP certification is valid for online instructors at all community colleges in Virginia.

Textbook:  Available by order at Barnes & Noble, Building Online Learning Communities, Palloff and Pratt, Wiley Publishing, ISBN: 978-07879-8825-8.

• Academic Dean's recommendation is required prior to enrollment in TOP.

• TOP training is provided as free professional development for any full- or part-time TCC instructor.

• Participants must purchase a textbook.

• Before attempting the TOP course, participants are expected to have a moderate level of knowledge and competence in Blackboard, the learning management system (LMS) used by TCC.

• TOP is an 8-week, completely online course. There are no face-to-face (F2F) meetings or required synchronous activities.

• TOP participants experience the online learning environment from a student's perspective.

• TOP is NOT self-paced; there are specific due dates for graded assignments and required participation in weekly asynchronous class discussions. Thoughtful and timely participation in these discussions also constitutes an important part of the course grade.

• Previous TOP graduates have compared the time and effort commitment for the TOP course to an 8-week, 3-credit graduate-level course. TOP students should expect to log in to the course at least three times each week and spend approximately 5-10 hours per week working on some aspect of the course: reading textbook assignments or links to online materials, reading and posting in focused class discussion forums, working on assignments, completing quizzes or exams, and/or developing materials for assignments.

• Participation is required in at least one online group assignment.

• There may be optional synchronous (real-time) meetings or activities in TOP.

• To pass the TOP course, each participant must complete all assignments and must accumulate at least 80% of the total available points from assignments.

• TOP graduates receive a certificate of completion from the VCCS and are VCCS Certified Online Instructors, although individual schools within the system (including TCC) may have additional training requirements.

• Pedagogy (Andragogy or Learning Concepts): focuses on learning concepts and issues and how some may function differently in an online learning environment as compared to a traditional F2F classroom environment.
  
  
• Technology: introduces some of the available learning technologies and how they may be successfully used in online teaching and learning.
  
  
• Administration: addresses some of the differences instructors may find between managing online classes and teaching more traditional classes.