OTTER Institute 2023
Online Teaching: Technology & Educational Resources
The OTTER Flex Edition!
Spring Course Design Institute: May 8 - June 16, 2023
Summer/Fall Course Delivery Institute: August 14 - September 22, 2023
The SUNY Center for Professional Development (CPD) OTTER Institute is an opportunity for online practitioners, regardless of teaching modality, to learn more about online education's innovations, trends, and challenges; see examples of best practices for course design and delivery within Brightspace; learn about the tools and features within Brightspace that will help you create and deliver effective and engaging digital course content. Once again, we are responding to the DLE Implementation and focusing our programming on the new Brightspace Learning Environment.
What is OTTER Flex? Each six-week component of the 2023 OTTER Institute will consist of a weekly 2-hour webinar that will be recorded and housed within the CPD’s Brightspace environment. OTTER participants can attend the live session and/or review the recording and review companion materials online. Following the weekly webinars, participants will have an opportunity to work with instructional designers and Brightspace experts and build or redesign their Brightspace course materials. Please see the Institute Agenda below for a complete list of the weekly topics and activities.
The OTTER Institute is FREE to all SUNY campus members. The webinars will be recorded and the recordings will be available on the DLE website, and in the companion Brightspace course. The recordings will be housed behind authentication; please log in using your SUNY Federated ID/campus login credentials (this is typically your campus email and password that you use to access your campus computer/media station).
Institute Agenda
Otter 2023 Course Delivery Institute August 14 - September 18, 2023
Week 1: Orienting Students to your Course Monday, August 14, 2023 3:00 - 5:00PM
Week 2: Course Communication & Instructor Presence Monday, August 21, 2023 3:00 - 5:00PM
Week 3: Customizing your Course with Release Conditions & Intelligent Agents Monday, August 28, 2023 3:00 - 5:00PM
Week 4: Grading & Providing Formative Assessment Tuesday, September 5, 2023 3:00 - 5:00PM
Week 5: Assessing your Course Monday, September 11, 2023 3:00 - 5:00PM
Week 6: Making Iterative Changes/Refreshing Your Course Monday, September 18, 2023 3:00 - 5:00PM
Meet the Presenters
Jamie Heron, SUNY DLE Training Lead
SUNY Online Program Manager, SUNY Center for Professional Development
Jamie is an instructional designer with 20 years of online teaching experience, spanning 7 different learning management systems. She has conducted hundreds of workshops designed to assist faculty in acquiring the skills necessary to effectively use a new learning management system and to successfully migrate their materials (e.g., WebCT, ANGEL, Blackboard). Jamie creates an engaging training experience, emphasizing the benefits and efficiencies of the Brightspace teaching environment, while maintaining a sensitivity to the individual needs and concerns of her workshop participants.
Robert Becker, SUNY Center for Professional Development
Robert is an instructional designer with over 35 years of teaching experience. Working for over a decade in digital learning environments, he has been at the forefront of distance learning in the humanities and fine arts. Robert teaches in multiple modalities within the SUNY system, including face-to-face, fully online, and HyFlex courses. In all of his teaching and training endeavors, Robert makes a point of seeking out innovations in educational best practices, technology, and content delivery strategies.