OWI Policies and Professional Development

Initial Professional Development Policy

For those of you interested in teaching online courses in the Writing Program, please visit and read UA WP Online Teaching Policy. In short, it says:

1. to teach online you must first participate in an initial online teaching bootcamp professional development (PD) event;

2. the first time you teach a WP course online, you will teach the WP’s pre-designed/template course; and

3. to continue teaching online you must continue with smaller “teaching with technology” PD activities.  

Spring 2025 Initial Professional Development Options

• Writing Program's OWI Bootcamp - This asynchronous 2 week workshop focuses largely on the delivery of online courses, getting familiar with the Online Program's pre-designed courses (PDCs) and making a PDC your own. The course is fully asynchronous and will take approximately 8 hours of work over the course of 2 weeks (total).

  • Spring 2025 - February 10-23 (Please register if interested).

• The GSOLE course in Online Literacy Instruction: the Writing Program will pay for your registration to complete this professional development course offered by GSOLE. This is a longer commitment compared to our Bootcamp course, but it offers a much stronger foundation for online pedagogy and will be an awesome addition to your CV. The course lasts a year, with about 8 hrs of work required per month. In order to qualify to teach online for your Program, you'd need to complete the first three modules. The course start dates are at the beginning of each Fall and Spring semester; this semester's course has just started and you have time to register and get on board! Please let Mariya (mtseptsura@arizona.edu) know if you are interested. 

Note: if you have already registered for our Bootcamp, you can change your mind and join the GSOLE course instead. Consider the time commitment required and your own schedule when making your choice. 

If you have already participated in an online teaching bootcamp style professional development activity (and have some kind of evidence), please email Mariya (mtseptsura@arizona.edu) so we can get you on the online WP instructors list. For example, you may have completed OIA’s training this past fall or summer; please email the completion certificate so you can be added to our list. Or you may have completed the materials to teach at Pima; just send us a copy of your certificate.

Continuing Professional Development Policy

If you have already completed the initial training, and you plan to teach online in the summer or next fall (or hope to; we don’t have all the schedule worked out yet), don’t forget that you must complete some smaller “teaching with technology” or teaching online activity. 

Below you will find some ways to complete this requirement. Additionally, the Writing Program offers a continuing PD event/activity each semester. You'll find the instructions for that activity in the final section below.

When you are ready to report on what you’ve completed, please report here: https://goo.gl/forms/YLSNoFFJvXh1cyc23

 (Note, you might want to keep material/digital information for your yearly teaching portfolio or APR.) 

Spring 2025 OWI Continuing Professional Development Opportunities

1. New this Spring: review one of the revised PDCs for English 101/102 and submit your feedback via this form! It's a win-win for all: you get a chance to familiarize yourself with the new PDCs while we get to use your ideas to improve the course while we're still actively refining it before the new PDCs become our main ones by Summer 2025.
   
   

2. OWI Collaborative 
   In the Spring 2024, The Collaborative will meet in hybrid mode once a month at the beginning of each month starting in September (specific dates & time will be announced via the WP list). There will be an opportunity to participate in the Collaborative asynchronously if the meeting time does not work for you. 
   The Collaborative group will share ideas for teaching online and research updates, exchange instructional materials, and put our collective mind together to solve any current OWI-related issues. Agenda and time for each meeting will be shared the week prior to the meeting. 

3. Read and reflect activity: for this activity, you’ll need to read one article or book chapter on online writing instruction or online education and prepare a short summary with your reflection on how you see the takeaways from this article apply to teaching online in our specific context. Your reflection will be shared with other instructors as the OWI program will be building an OWI practice-oriented bibliography for all of our online instructors to use. You can find more details and submit your activity via this survey. 
   
   

4. Peer Teaching Observation: if you are currently teaching online, you can invite an observer (either Mariya or Maureen) into your online course for a peer observation. You’ll be able to choose when the course visit will take place, and a pre- or post-visit meeting will be optional. For more details about the observation process, please feel free to reach out  to Mariya at mtseptsura@arizona.edu.
   
   

5. UCATT Trainings and Other Options: sign up for one of the workshops or mini-courses offered by the UCATT; you can check out their schedule and sign up here. They cover a range of topics from applying Quality Matters standards (e.g., Inclusive Design) to working with Adobe digital tools. Most of their options include an estimated time commitment. 

Finally, you can attend or participate in a conference on online writing instruction or online education; check out GSOLE conference, Innovate from Online Learning Consortium, or attend a different event of your choosing. 

*Please note, if you do not complete your continuing professional development requirement you will be ranked lower in future lists of who will teach online.