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SPOT: Mt. SAC's Distance Learning Certification

Professors must be certified to teach courses in an online format at Mt. SAC.
This includes teaching fully online synchronous or asynchronous courses and teaching partially online, hybrid courses. 

Completing SPOT 

SPOT (Skills and Pedagogy for Online Teaching) is Mt. SAC's local certification course, which includes creating a partial course that aligns to distance learning requirements. Mt. SAC accepts other equivalents, but requires a review of a partial course equivalent to SPOT's assignment to complete local certification.

Compensation for SPOT

 Professors who are SPOT certified as per Article 13 earn  SPOT Certification Compensation, defined as follows in the Faculty Contract Appendix F: SPOT Certification Compensation:

  • $1,000 upon completion: For initial certification, a one-time $1,000 stipend shall be paid upon completion of SPOT Certification or the equivalent.
  • 2% salary increase: An additional 2% increase shall be added to the Appendix A: Salary Schedule for Unit Members and Appendix C: Faculty Overload and Other Than Contract Salary Rates schedules for professors who are SPOT-certified. See contract (linked above) for more details.

 

 

When Are You Compensated?
  • SPOT may be completed through the local course or its equivalent. Regardless, the requirements are evaluated by the Assistant Distance Learning Coordinator or their designee. SPOT is only considered complete after the Assistant DL Coordinator has indicated that all components are complete. 
  • Once you complete your distance learning certification through SPOT or its equivalent, your name will appear in SPOT Trained Faculty list and your division will be able to assign you to distance learning courses.  
  • The salary change becomes effective in the first pay period of the month after the professor earns SPOT certification or its equivalent. For example, if you earn SPOT any time in September, the salary change is effective in the first pay period in October.
  • The salary change is in effect so long as SPOT certification is current. To maintain SPOT certification, professors must recertify every 4 years by completing  4 hours of specific professional learning activities. See the SPOT Recertification page for more information. 

About the SPOT Distance Learning Certification Course

SPOT is an online course that teaches you how to use best practices in teaching distance education courses. 

  • Before You Begin SPOT

    • You need to have an A Number and Mt. SAC email account to begin SPOT.
    • SPOT is self-paced in Canvas. You decide when to start and finish.
    • SPOT training focuses on best practices in onling teaching. It does not teach you how to use Canvas. Canvas proficiency is recommended before starting SPOT. Please review our Canvas resources.
    • Review the SPOT alternatives. You may have an expedited path to distance learning certification. 
    • Register above, or you can also access the SPOT Registration form at any time in POD Connect (Mt. SAC login required).

  • Starting SPOT

    To start SPOT, fill out the registration form: SPOT  Registration  Form 
    Please complete this form only once.

    Once you fill out the form above, you will receive instructions by email within 3 business days. If you do not receive an email or see the  SPOT Instruction course and Project course on your Canvas dashboard, contact the Assistant Distance Learning Coordinator who facilitates SPOT: Ann Walker ann.walker@mtsac.edu.

  • Completing SPOT

    To complete SPOT, you will:

    • review information, omplete activies and quizzes, and submit module rubrics in the SPOT Instructional course, where you are a student.
    • create/design a partial online course in your Project course that meets all rubric standards, using  guidance from instructional course. 
    • receive feedback from your SPOT Faculty Reviewer on each section of the rubric.
    • revise your course as needed until it fully aligns and your reviewer indicates that all items are completed. 

    Once you have earned SPOT certification, your division will be notified that you are now able to teach online.  You can verify your status, as can your division, on the distance learning faculty list.

Alternatives to SPOT

Faculty can meet Mt. SAC’s SPOT requirement in a few ways: through facilitated external training offered by the California Community College's Professional Development unit, @ONE(which stands for Online Network of Educators)

  • External Training with @ONE/CVC

    First, you can complete an alternative external training certification, which will be verified at Mt. SAC.  Accepted options include:

    Before deciding to complete an external training in lieu of SPOT, check that the course is being offered, there are seats available, and the workshop will finish in time for you to submit a sample course to be reviewed and with enough advance time to be scheduled to teach online in your department.  Check with your department/division for this date.

    For more information, visit the SPOT Equivalency webpage and look for info on External Trainings.

  • Certifications from Other California Community Colleges

    The SPOT Equivalency (SPEQ) process allows faculty who have completed online training at approved California community colleges to submit their courses for a quick equivalency review.  Faculty are then approved to teach online at Mt. SAC.  For more information, check out the SPOT Equivalency page for more information.

    SPOT Equivalency (SPEQ) page 

If you have more questions about the SPOT process, the additional requirements to teach an online or hybrid course at Mt. SAC, or other questions related to Distance Learning, feel free to contact the assistant Distance Learning faculty coordinator: Ann Walker at ann.walker@mtsac.edu.

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