Validation of Distance Education (DE) Training

The Distance Education (DE) Coordinators will review any faculty documentation of external DE training from accredited institution based on each of the four (4) current standards for online teaching in the community college system:

  • Regular and substantive interaction (RSI)
    Importance of teacher-student communication; demonstration of effective communication in various ways within the course.
  • Accessibility
    Implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act and section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act; ensuring accessibility of all course material.
  • Assessment
    Design and use of a variety of formative and summative assessments to help students achieve the course learning objectives.
  • Course Design
    Current effective practices for online teaching that support student success; application of such practices to the design and implementation of course.

DE Validation Request Guidelines

Faculty who have completed distance education training should submit appropriate documentation (e.g., copy of completion certificate/badge; transcripts and course description) to the Distance Education (DE) Coordinators via email.

Please send documents to DECoordinators@cerritos.edu and use the subject line “Online Teaching Certification.”

Documentation must include:

  • Name of training and institution
  • Date of completion
  • Instructor’s name

NOTE: Training completed at institutions outside the community college system may require the submission of course artifacts related to these key components.

The DE Coordinators will review the faculty submission to validate the training addressed the four mandatory standards: Regular and Substantive Interaction, Accessibility, Assessment and Course Design.

Next Steps After Documentation Review

Upon review of documentation, faculty will be notified via email if their training has been validated to meet distance education requirements for Cerritos College. Faculty will either be approved, asked to submit further documentation or course artifacts for further evaluation, or referred to an approved full certification training such as those listed under the Full Certification options.

External training that has been validated by the DE Coordinators as meeting all four (4) standards of online teaching will qualify faculty for full certification to teach online at Cerritos College. Upon completion of the evaluation, the DE Coordinating team will forward faculty names to Academic Affairs and the respective Deans.

Documentation that does not meet the standards will require completion of additional distance education training, such as the Cerritos College's Online Teaching Certification (OTC). For more information on how to obtain certification, please review the online certification options.

Please direct all questions to the Distance Education Coordinators via email.