Online Student Supports Certificate Program
Develop new skills and strategies for effective online student support and outreach by completing the Online Student Supports (OSS) Certificate Program.
The program consists of 3 (three) online asynchronous courses. The courses are 6 (six) weeks in length each, and they contain approximately 3-5 hours of work each week. The courses are interactive with instructor feedback to participants and capped at 20 registrants.
Program Framework: The OSS Certificate Program framework was developed by SUNY faculty and staff involved in online student supports.
Program Competencies
This certificate program provides staff, faculty, and campus leadership with strategies and best practices for supporting student success in online environments. Participants will investigate how both campus workflow and perspectives must recognize online students' unique needs and distinct challenges and opportunities.
Participants will gain skills to foster online student engagement, motivation, and academic success. The goal is to develop participant capacities for reimagining and delivering student services and resources to meet online learners where they are.
Program Learning Objectives
Participants will gain practical strategies to:
- Analyze campus online student profiles and demographics to clarify needs
- Understand key national organizations that establish best practices, rubrics, and standards for online student support
- Identify the structures, resources, and processes your campus currently has in place related to supporting online students
- Explore the core principles and goals of proactive online student success coaching
- Develop a proactive engagement strategy to connect their work with online student success
- Design strategies for continuous assessment and improvements of online student services and supports
Target Audience:
- Online Student Success Coaches
- Online Student Advisors
- Online Instructors
- Online Program Chairs
- Directors of Online Advising & Coaching
- Campus Staff Supporting Online Students
Program Completion Requirements:
To earn the SUNY Online Student Supports Certificate completion badge, participants must complete all three courses. Courses must be taken in order as listed below. Digital badges will be awarded for each individual course, as well as for the completion of the entire Program.
Courses Details
Course 1: Foundations of the Online Student Support Role
This course introduces the foundations of online student support roles within higher education. Participants will explore the latest research on online learner profiles and needs and how to approach proactive support for online students. The course examines best practices for assisting online students in areas like engagement, academic success, and retention. Participants will gain strategies for providing academic, social, and technical support to online students, with the goal of improving retention and completion. Collaborative activities allow participants to exchange ideas and build community. By the end of the course, participants will understand the foundations necessary to effectively support online student success.
Course 1 Learning Outcomes:
- Describe needs specific to online students
- Name standards for working holistically with online students
- Identify SUNY resources that align with best practices for supporting online students
- Examine the role of national initiatives and research on best practices to support online learners
Course 2: Campus Overview: Developing Campus Structures for Online Student Supports
This course provides an in-depth examination of campus structures, systems, and resources for supporting online student success. Participants will gain hands-on experience mapping the online student lifecycle at their institution from both staff and student perspectives. By engaging in collaborative mapping activities, participants will evaluate their institution’s current support at each stage of the online student lifecycle. Gaps and areas for improvement will be identified. Participants will develop strategies for enhancing campus infrastructure to better serve online learners.
Course 2 Learning Outcomes:
- Create online student lifecycle map
- Investigate early alert systems
- Analyze campus’s online learning strategic plans, policies, and organizational structure
- Identify campus resources for online students and how online students access them
Course 3: Proactive Approach to Supporting Online Learners
This course empowers participants to synthesize learning into an individualized proactive support plan for online learners at their campus. Participants will review communication channels and develop targeted outreach strategies to provide holistic academic and non-academic supports.
Course 3 Learning Outcomes:
- Develop a proactive student support plan aligned with the campus's strategic approach to enhance online student success.
- Develop communication plan for proactive online student support utilizing best messaging practices for online student communications
- Implement an appreciative approach for providing online student support
Meet the Instructors
Susan Warner
Susan currently serves as the Manager of Online Student Support at SUNY Online. In this role, Susan is deeply committed to fostering collaboration among SUNY faculty and staff to promote the best practices in online student support and empowering SUNY campuses with essential online student support resources.
In her previous role as the Lead Success Coordinator for SUNY Online, Susan spearheaded the training and leadership of the SUNY Online Degrees at Scale student success coaching team, which provided success coaching to online students across seven SUNY campuses encompassing over twenty programs.
Before her tenure at SUNY Online, Susan played a pivotal role in implementing Guided Pathways at Monroe Community College as an MCC School Specialist. Susan has a passion for an appreciative, strengths-based approach to proactive student success coaching and a strong commitment to providing equitable, accessible support to all students.
Beyond her professional pursuits, Susan finds joy in coffee gatherings with friends, cheering on the Buffalo Bills, and spending time with her grandchildren
Michele Forte
Michele completed the first cohort of the New York State Student Success Center (NYSSC) Coaching Academy and serves as a lead coach for the SUNY REACH project and the lead for the SUNY Early Alerts project. Michele is an Associate Professor at SUNY Empire State College in the area of Human Services and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New York State. She has extensive experience in mentoring and coaching diverse organizational and student populations in various educational and not-for-profit settings.
Her scholarly interests include competency-based frameworks for assessing learning, high-impact coaching and mentoring models, and connections between grief, loss, and resilience. She is a clinical practitioner focused on working with brain injury survivors and the provision of community-based mental health services. Michele also works with various student supports initiatives for SUNY Online. In this role, she helps to facilitate and supports several multi-campus, cross-functional communities of practice.
Course Pricing
CPD Member
$300 Per Course
Discounted course pricing is available when registering for three courses at one time
$260 per course
Non-CPD Member
$350 Per Course
Discounted course pricing is available when registering for three courses at one time
$310 per course
Non-SUNY
$400 Per Course
Discounted course pricing is available when registering for three courses at one time
$360 per course
How to Pay
Available payment methods are:
- Credit Card (Mastercard or Visa)
- CPD General Points
- Campus Check
- Journal Transfer
CPD General Points: To pay with CPD General Points, your campus must be a CPD Member. Check if your campus is a member. It is the responsibility of the registrant to determine if enough points are available to use BEFORE completing the registration process. Please contact your Campus Points Contact to determine points eligibility. If points are denied, the registrant is responsible for the payment.
Campus Check: Prior campus approval is required. Make check payable to SUNY Center for Professional Development. Mail to SUNY CPD at the address below.
Journal Transfer (State Operated Campuses Only): Prior campus approval is required. An account number with authorizing signature for Journal Transfers is required within 48 hours. You must print and return the invoice that is included with the registration confirmation email.
Important: FULL payment is required 30 days from the date of registration.
Registration
Fall 2024 Course Dates - Register for the Fall 2024 Cohort
- Course 1: Foundations of the Online Student Support Role August 27 - October 7, 2024
- Course 2: Campus Overview: Developing Campus Structures for Online Student Supports October 15 - November 25, 2024
- Course 3: Proactive Approach to Supporting Online Learners January 7 - February 17, 2025