The Online Developer’s Journey at VCC

As Online Devel­op­ers at VCC, we are ded­i­cat­ed to empow­er­ing instruc­tors to cre­ate dynam­ic and effec­tive learn­ing envi­ron­ments. We col­lab­o­rate close­ly with fac­ul­ty and instruc­tion­al asso­ciates to ensure that our edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams align with the col­lege’s strate­gic goals while also sup­port­ing stu­dent suc­cess. Facil­i­tat­ing work­shops and “mini design sprints” allows us to share inno­v­a­tive teach­ing strate­gies and best prac­tices that can trans­form the edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence. Addi­tion­al­ly, we active­ly con­tribute to qual­i­ty assur­ance by con­duct­ing Moo­dle course audits to main­tain high stan­dards across our pro­grams.

Our mis­sion is to enhance online course design by mak­ing it more inclu­sive and acces­si­ble through the pro­mo­tion of Uni­ver­sal Design for Learn­ing (UDL) prin­ci­ples. We work with instruc­tors to ensure that course con­tent is clear, well-orga­nized, and acces­si­ble to all stu­dents, regard­less of their back­grounds or abil­i­ties. Stay­ing updat­ed on emerg­ing trends and tech­nolo­gies is also a key aspect of our role, as we help edu­ca­tors eval­u­ate and imple­ment new tools that enrich teach­ing and learn­ing. Our ulti­mate goal is to cre­ate engag­ing, acces­si­ble learn­ing envi­ron­ments that sup­port every stu­den­t’s jour­ney.

(Hei­di Parisot­to and Vene­cia Williams are sea­soned VCC Instruc­tors who pro­vide their exper­tise in UDL and online course design in their roles as Online Devel­op­ers in VCC’s Cen­tre for Teach­ing, Learn­ing, and Research.)