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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

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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


Course Delivery Institute Registration

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. 

Contact Us


For programming questions, please contact Jamie Heron, jamie.heron@suny.edu, SUNY Online Program Manager. For registration questions, please contact Viktorya Mirzoyan, viktorya.mirzoyan@suny.edu, Program Coordinator, SUNY CPD. 

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