New Milestone Reached

A new milestone in faculty professional development at UL Lafayette has been reached. Over 200 active faculty members have achieved ULearn certification through the Office of Distance Learning. “We established a goal to increase the number of faculty prepared to teach hybrid and online courses. We are proud of the faculty who accepted the challenge and work to help our University better serve students.” stated Luke Dowden, founding Director of the Office of Distance Learning.

The Office of Distance Learning supports faculty in their efforts to earn ULearn certifications through two pathways:

• ULearn Certified Online Teacher: recognizes faculty who have completed training on current online teaching methodologies, pedagogies, and tools in order to prepare them to deliver quality online and hybrid courses.

• ULearn Certified Course Designer: recognizes faculty who have completed training to develop and design their own online or hybrid course in accordance with national design standards of quality.

Beginning Spring 2014, faculty assigned to teach an online or hybrid course must hold one ULearn faculty certification listed above in order to be in compliance with the University Council-adopted policy on faculty certification. “It is important to recognize that faculty completed this work in tough budget times when they were teaching more students and courses. UL Lafayette has an amazingly dedicated faculty who are expanding their instructional skills. The innovative spirit of our faculty never ceases to amaze me!” commented Dowden.

A complete list of active faculty who have earned certification since the program began in 2011 can be viewed at this link - http://distancelearning.louisiana.edu/teach-online/faculty-certification/certified-faculty. The Office of Distance Learning is the 2013 Winner of the Award for Excellence in Faculty Development for Online Teaching presented by the Online Learning Consortium (formerly Sloan-C). Faculty interested in earning ULearn certification should contact their respective academic department head to receive approval.