Frequently Asked Questions

Faculty who wish to teach online courses starting in Spring 2023 must complete Phase One requirements by the end of Winter 2023.

Phase One requirements

• OETA – 1: Canvas Procedures and Guidelines
• OETA – 2: Canvas 101 
• OETA – 3: Quality Matters Improve Your Online Course

Faculty who wish to teach online courses starting in Fall 2023 must complete Phase One requirements and Phase Two requirements by the end of Summer 2023.

Phase Two requirements

• OETA – 4: Tech Skills for Online Teachers
• OETA – 5: High 5 in the Online Classroom
• OETA – 6: Copyright and OER Information for Instructors
• OETA – 7: Accessibility Review with an Instructional Designer

Yes. Stipends are paid at the completion of Phase One and at the completion of Phase Two. eLearning will submit stipend requests at the end of each month for Phases completed in that month. The first request will occur at the end of September, 2022.

Payment is made at the completion of a Phase, not at the completion of a course/training.

eLearning will submit payment requests at the end of each month. Expect to see the stipend in your check in 2-4 weeks after that.

Stipend amount information was provided by Rob Viens in his email to the College on August 8, 2022. If you did not receive this email or have any questions then please contact the OETA by email: oeta@bellevuecollege.edu  (link to LOA)

That’s great if you already completed some of the requirements. Previously completed requirements should be registered via a badge in the OETA pathway.

If you believe that you previously completed one of the requirements but don’t see a badge, please email oeta@bellevuecollege.edu.

If you were previously paid for that PD, your stipend amount for the OETA phase will be reduced accordingly.

That’s up to you.

If you would like to take advantage of the monetary incentives to complete these requirements early, then complete Phase One requirements by the end of Fall 2022 and Phase Two requirements at the end of Spring 2023. There also may be more ease with scheduling this PD as the required courses/trainings will be offered with more frequency in the 22-23 academic year.

If you want to teach online starting in Spring 2023, then you need to complete the Phase One requirements by the end of Winter 2023. If you want to teach online starting in Fall 2023, then you need to complete Phase One and Phase Two by the end of Summer 2023.

All OETA requirement completions are being tracked through a badging system previously known as Badge (now Canvas Credentials).

As the requirements are met (either by course/task completion, or by an allowable substitute), you will earn a badge. These badges are part of a pathway that automatically awards a Phase One and a Phase Two badge for completion of that phase. A final OETA Certified Instructor Badge will be awarded when you complete both Phase Two and Phase Two requirements.

Please email oeta@bellevuecollege.edu if you have questions about your payment.

QM stands for Quality Matters (Links to an external site.). Quality Matters is a non-profit association dedicated to creating scalable quality assurance of online courses. It does this through

• Development of current, research-supported, and practice-based quality standards and appropriate evaluation tools and procedures.
• Recognition of expertise in online education quality assurance and evaluation.
• Fostering a culture of continuous improvement by integrating QM Standards and processes into organizational plans to improve the quality of online education.
• Providing professional development in the use of rubrics, tools and practices to improve the quality of online education.
• Peer review and certification of quality in online education.

Faculty who have been teaching online at Bellevue College for two or more years, or who have already completed the elearning “Canvas 101” course, can elect to undergo a brief course review to reduce the training hours in Phase One to seven (7) hours. Faculty who elect this option will receive a stipend of $300 for completion of Phase One.

Should the College determine that a faculty member has completed part of the training in the past five (5) years through other means (e.g. an equivalent Faculty Commons course or completed the Quality Matters course) then the faculty member may elect not to retake the course and their Phase One or Phase Two stipend will be reduced by the amount they were paid when they completed the equivalent training.

If you want to continue to teach online after Winter 2023 you will need to complete the Phase One requirements by the end of Winter. If you want to continue teaching online after Summer 2023, you’ll need to complete Phase One and Phase Two requirements by the end of Summer term.

As stated in Rob Vien’s email dated August 8, 2022:

 We have learned a lot during our two-year journey through the new world of remote learning. Among these lessons are: (1) online education is here to stay as a growing part of how we teach; (2) faculty want support to design and deliver top notch online courses; and (3) there is significantly more competition in the online education landscape and we need to find ways to stand out when students choose where to enroll. 

TidyUP is a tool which is part of Cidi Labs, and it is used to easily deleted and manage unused files, duplicate files, and unused pages in Canvas. This is an excellent tool for improving the course accessibility for your students. Directions for using TidyUP are provided within the step 1 of OETA-07 course. Please contact the OETA at oeta@bellevuecollege.edu , if you have questions after reviewing the directions in the 07 class site.

Additional information is provided in this short video:

If you are a new faculty member scheduled to teach online, you will need to complete Phase 1 of the OETA in your first quarter at Bellevue College. You have up to one year from your hire date to complete Phase 2 if you want to continue teaching online.

In order to start the OETA training before the quarter in which you are teaching, you

• must be officially an employee – your department needs to complete the official hiring paperwork, before enrolling for training. Check with your Dean.
• need a NetID and a BC email
• need a to have a class assigned
• payment will be via a stipend, even when the teaching contract hasn’t started
• there will be no bonus stipend for early completion

A new faculty for Fall 2023, can complete OETA Phase 1 in Fall and OETA Phase 2 in Winter.