In preparation for the fall quarter, more than 200 faculty participated in summer DOTS programming. (Image courtesy of Sarah Brown)In June, 241 faculty attended the DePaul Online Teaching Series, bringing the total number of faculty who have received intensive online teaching instruction to more than 1,000. The Summer DOTS session was offered fully online for the first time, and faculty from all 10 colleges and schools made space in their already-extended schedules to develop their online pedagogical skills.
DOTS was created in 2008 to build online teaching readiness for faculty. The Center for Teaching and Learning has offered the program to 37 faculty cohorts, and DOTS alumni were critical in DePaul’s remote spring quarter. We’ve heard many stories of faculty with online teaching experience reaching out to their colleagues and leading programmatic initiatives to meet student needs. For Summer DOTS, several alums hosted Q&A sessions in Zoom and shared their courses as examples for participants to review.
Eighty-eight percent of the faculty from the Summer cohort rated DOTS as “extremely/very useful” in building their readiness to teach online courses, and 88 percent said that the program met or exceeded their expectations. Several of the faculty shared how DOTS is shaping their Autumn course planning:
Joseph Tateoka, Public Relations and Advertising program: “The Summer DOTS program was incredibly helpful and motivational as we prepare to provide the best possible learning experience for our students this fall. Through the DOTS program, I feel like I have both the tools and resources to have a successful online Autumn quarter and provide my students with an enriching experience."
Kathleen Rooney, Department of English: “DOTS was efficient, informative, and highly organized. I learned a lot from the course materials themselves, as well as from the experience of taking the class online and being put in the student position, which gave me immense insight as to how my own students will be navigating their classes.”
Jane Halpert, Department of Psychology: “I went through DOTS when it began in 2008, but lots of things have changed and I really needed the refresher...I'm currently putting together my fall classes (one synchronous, one asynchronous) in a way that would definitely not have been possible without DOTS.”
Helen Katz Ullman, Digital Communications and Media Arts program: “As an adjunct professor who has not taught online previously, the DOTS program provided invaluable information on how to take my class online. The course was demanding, thought-provoking, and well organized, with a lot of opportunities for interactions and discussions with experienced faculty as well as the others in the training cohort.”
Mark Turcotte, Department of English: “My DOTS experience was vital in a couple distinct and unexpected ways, the first of which was to remind me that I work among so many smart, talented, dedicated and helpful people here at DePaul. The training offered practical and creative pathways for me to envision that even an old dog like myself can create an on
line course that is worthy of my students’ time and attention.”
John Mullin, Journalism program: “The difficult piece of conducting online classes is learning a new bit of technology, which for a non-techie, is more than a little daunting. What eased the process in the case of DOTS was the availability, during and after, of staff assistance, which is ongoing and absolutely essential, particularly with something that for so many long-time professors is an entirely new element introduced into an established routine.”
Guy Zimmerman, School of Computing: “I appreciated the whole DOTS program and believe that it will help me to provide a high quality learning experience for DePaul students.”
Jennifer Whitelaw, Department of Modern Languages: “DOTS was extremely helpful and enjoyable. The course addressed all of the essential aspects of online instruction, and as a result I feel confident in my ability to deliver the highest quality online course. Also, experiencing the course as a student provided invaluable insight.”
Liliana Zecker, Teacher Education program: “I thought DOTS, a refresher for me from December 2008, was extremely well planned, a good balance of introducing faculty to new tools/design/structure-organization principles with practical examples of what other faculty had tried (the highlight for me, to see what others were doing and being able to discuss with them rationale and reasons they kept or tweaked their ideas).”
Don Storm, Department of Finance and Real Estate: “I loved the DOTS training. It gave me an entirely new perspective about online teaching...I am looking forward to putting all my new teaching tools to work!”
Paul Kessenich, Department of Marketing: “It is clear why DOTS is ‘award-winning’ in the category of faculty development.”
The Center for Teaching and Learning is continuing to develop strategies to effectively support faculty in the upcoming academic year. Please visit the
Teaching Commons for the latest resources and faculty development opportunities.