Online Teaching Essentials (OTE) is a self-paced, asynchronous, online course, for St. John's employees that addresses the design and teaching of online and hybrid courses. You will work in a hands-on environment designed to provide an authentic online student experience while developing your online and hybrid teaching skills. While there are no set meeting times, you are expected to complete all the assignments prior to the semester that you are teaching online or hybrid to be eligible to teach in these modalities.

OTE will begin Monday, August 11. The course should take around 2-weeks to complete. You can find out more on the OLS website.

To be eligible to teach online or hybrid in the fall of 2025 you will need to complete all the coursework by Sunday September 7.

To be eligible for spring 2026, you will need to complete the coursework by January 20, 2026

Successful completion of OTE is the primary method for certification to teach any of the University’s fully online or hybrid courses.

You will need your x number to register. X #s can be found on the paystub in UIS under the employee tab.

If you have any questions about the course, please contact Ian August - augusti@stjohns.edu

_________________________________

Understanding Canvas is vital to your success as an online or hybrid instructor and will greatly help you! An online, self-paced training course, Canvas Instructor Training, is available in Canvas. The course should take less than 6 hours. It is highly recommended that you complete this course prior to beginning OTE, to prepare you for OTE.