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SPOT, Mt. SAC's Certification for Online Teaching!

SPOT, or Skills and Pedagogy for Online Teaching is the local certification process for Mt. SAC faculty who wish to teach courses online. Faculty members develop the skills and pedagogy needed for effective online teaching, and demonstrate their knowledge by completing tasks in the certification process.

Why Complete SPOT?

Distance Learning Certification is a requirement to teach distance learning courses (including hybrid courses) at Mt. SAC. 

Compensation for SPOT has been negotiated!

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

Rates
  • For initial certification, a one-time $1,000 stipend shall be paid upon completion of SPOT Certification or the equivalent.
  • 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 or the equivalent.
Timing of Compensation
  • The salary change is effective the first pay period following the month in which the professor earns SPOT Certification or the equivalent as determined by the Distance Learning Coordinator or designee

About Distance Learning Certificaton: SPOT

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

  • Before You Begin SPOT

    • To begin SPOT, you must use a Mt. SAC email account.
    • SPOT is self-paced.  You decide when to start and finish.
    • SPOT earns 40 hours of Professional Growth Increment (PGI) if your position qualifies to earn this credit.
    • SPOT training takes place in Canvas but does not teach you how to use Canvas. Canvas proficiency is recommended before staritng SPOT. Please review our Canvas resources.
    • Review the SPOT alternatives below to see if you have already completed SPOT-equivalency through other activities.

  • Starting SPOT

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

    • You can also access the SPOT Registration form in POD Connect, under the SPOT course card.
    • Within 3 business days (not counting weekends), you will receive getting-started instructions.
    • You will be enrolled in the SPOT course in Canvas where, as a student, you will read and submit all work toward SPOT completion.
    • You will also be enrolled as an instructor in your own personal Canvas course with "SPOT" in the title. This is where you will  create tasks and communicate with your SPOT verifier during the SPOT course.
    • If you do not receive instructions or see the courses on your Canvas dashboard, please contact the Assistant Distance Learning Coordinator who facilitates SPOT:

  • Completing SPOT

    To complete SPOT, you will:

    • create/design a partial online course, using  best practices for online teaching as presented in the SPOT course.
    • check your SPOT course using the SPOT rubric, which is based on the California Virtual Campus (CVC) Course Design Rubric.  The CVC is a leader in creating and assessing online pedagogy in California community colleges.
    • fill out the SPOT rubric and submit it to indicate that your course is ready for review.
    • receive feedback from a SPOT Faculty Reviewer
    • revise your course as needed to align with the rubric. The course must align for you to earn SPOT certification.

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

Alternatives to SPOT

Faculty can meet Mt. SAC’s SPOT requirement in a few ways: through faciliated 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 exernal 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 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:

Name Phone Office Email
Ann Walker   (909) 274-6112  6-262C  ann.walker@mtsac.edu

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