Cerro Coso Librarian Julie Cornett, English Instructor Melanie Jeffrey, and Director of Distance of Education Rebecca Pang gave an encompassing presentation entitled “We’re All in This Together: A Holistic Approach to Building Highly Supportive and Engaging Online Developmental Education Courses” at the 2015 Strengthening Student Success conference in October.

Pang shared the work her department has done in the areas of uniform course templates, professional development, and online student preparedness. Cornett presented on the Embedded Librarian program as a key model for integrating student supports and eCollections into online classes. Jeffrey gave participants a tour of her online English 40 course, touching on best practices of online teaching such as creating welcoming environments, scaffolding course content, contextualizing learning, and backward design.

Over 25 participants attended the lively session and meaningful discussion ensued. Jeffrey noted that it is a great time for Cerro Coso faculty to share out the great work our college has done with online teaching and learning at conferences because of the statewide Online Education Initiatives taking community colleges by storm!