The Illinois Online Network (ION) will be hosting two full-day institutes for faculty and staff who are responsible for providing faculty training and support at higher education institutions.

The goal of the institutes is to provide trainers the opportunity to share best practices in faculty development on their campuses with trainers from other institutions. The topics for the institute surround quality issues in online education and include:

Course Quality: Participants will be introduced to the QOCI (Quality Online Course Initiative) Rubric and will participate in a discussion on how to use this tool to design, redesign, and/or evaluate online courses. The rubric will be distributed to all attendees to take back to their institutions and customize to their own needs.

Faculty Competencies: Participants will discuss the following topics surrounding instructor competencies: 1) Purpose of competencies; 2) Faculty support; 3) Categorization; 4) Choice of competencies; 5) Revising / Keeping current; 6) Implementation; and 7) How to measure competence.

The Northern Region Faculty Training Institute will be held on Thursday, October 12, 2006 in Oak Brook, IL. Registration deadline is Friday, October 6, or when filled.

The Southern Region Faculty Training Institute will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2006 in Centralia, IL. Registration deadline is Friday, October 13, or when filled.

Both institutes will begin at 10:00 a.m. and finish at 2:00 p.m. There will be coffee and rolls available at 9:30 a.m. and lunch will be provided. Registration is limited to the first 45 participants at each location. Registrations must be completed online by visiting the Registration link above.