With the Fall quickly approaching, it is important to be fully prepared for online changes and distance learning. Many Universities will be implementing new procedures and have new classroom needs, in addition to their normal online courses.
Luckily, Universities who are moving more and more into distance learning and online education are able to utilize Instructional Connections’ online academic coaches as a resource for their faculty.
The Process of Our Online Academic Coaches
Instructional Connections Works to Understand Your Needs
We first understand what each college or university needs relative to instructional support and other missions each school desires through in-depth meetings and research.
We Recruit Online Academic Coaches For Your Specific Needs
We recruit, screen, pre-qualify, and present online academic coach candidates that have been vetted and available in our pool for approval by university partners.
We Match & Assign Your Online Academic Coach to Your Program
We individually assign online academic coaches and other support staff to courses and programs based on university, college, or even course-specific needs for online courses.
We Work to Fully Train Your Online Academic Coach
We train candidates on the learning management system used by our university partners and orient them into courses and programs.
We Provide All Organizational Needs for Paperwork & Payroll
We independently contract with, manage, and pay the online academic coaches and other staff that are provided to fulfill the service needs on behalf of university partners. This eliminates universities from adding additional human resources and payroll overhead.
We Hold Our Online Academic Coaches Accountable
We ensure accountability by having supportive leadership staff, who work directly with the university’s administration and faculty, making sure that the faculty member’s expectations, rubric, and goals are fully met.
We Provide Support for Your Faculty Every Step of the Way
We provide continual support to each distance learning course where our online academic coaches are requested and used, from beginning to end.
Roles & Responsibilities of Academic Coaches
We are happy to work closely with faculty on the best practices of how to work with and use their online academic coaches, so that they understand our model, and we understand how course objectives and outcomes are met.
Each of our online academic coaches are highly-qualified, experienced professionals in the appropriate academic discipline and have earned a master’s and/or doctoral degree from an accredited university.
On average, Instructional Connections’ online academic coaches have 14 years of industry experience in their field and have earned a minimum of a Master’s degree.
Our Benefits
- Online academic coaches focus on enhancing student success and retention in distance learning and online programs. In many graduate programs, we’ve seen retention as high as 80% or more.
- Our online academic coaching model adds a human touch to the distance learning environment, encouraging students to learn and persist with the demands of course work.
- Students often view their online academic coaches as a peer and respect the fact that they are experienced in the same field the students desire to join.
- Instructional Connections can add additional leadership personnel to serve as a point of contact between the faculty and other online academic coaches for course management and communication as your distance learning programs grow.
- Instructional Connections’ quality assurance program is consistent with the university’s commitment to providing the highest levels of the educational experience to each and every student.
Contact Instructional Connections to Prepare for Online Learning with an Academic Coach
Every area of support from your online academic coach is decided by your faculty and will vary from course to course depending on your faculty’s expectations. This level of flexibility allows your faculty to be in complete control of their online program at all times.
Our faculty partners love the support they receive from their online academic coaches and continually think of new and better methods to help educate students through distance learning with our assistance.
Contact us today to learn more about our online academic coaches, and how they can help your distance learning and online courses this Fall.
