Distance Education Certification

To ensure the highest level of course quality and support student success, Victor Valley College faculty must successfully complete Distance Education Certification as a base training requirement for teaching all available online modalities. The options shown here are sufficient certification to teach online (asynchronous) and hybrid courses; additional training after DE Certification is required to teach remote (synchronous) or HyFlex courses.

VVC Online Instructor Certification

This internal course is your main pathway to certification to teach online at VVC. This asynchronous training is an 10-week, 100-hour course taken in Canvas. It is composed of both theoretical and practical components.

Topics Include:

Accessibility
Syllabus and Grading
Regular Effective Contact/Regular Substantive Interaction
Canvas Tools
Assessments and Feedback
Cheating and AI

Practical component:

The creation of a 6-module Canvas Sandbox that aligns with the new 2027 OEI Course Design Rubric.

Interested in taking our course? Please fill out the OIC Interest List Form to submit yourself for consideration. As courses are scheduled, faculty on the Interest List will be selected to attend and notified via email.

CVC@ONE Online Teaching and Design

The California Virtual Campus Online Network of Educators (CVC@ONE) provides the only external courses pre-approved to fulfill VVC requirements for DE Certification. These courses are also asynchronous in Canvas, and modeled on the OEI Course Design Rubric. They consist of similar theoretical and practical components as those in the VVC internal training. These courses are free for California Community College instructors with a .edu email and fill up fast. Note that if you do not find a course in the catalog, registration is likely full or past. Check back regularly to see when the next course is added.

There are two pathways available via the CVC@ONE to earn the CVC Online Teaching and Design badge that will qualify you for DE Certification:

Online Teaching and Design (OTD): 12 weeks, 120 hours of training in one continuous course, or
Four individual 4-week, 40-hour courses taken individually:
- Introduction to Course Design
- 10-10-10: Communication That Matters
- Assessment in Digital Learning
- Creating Accessible Course Content.

When you have earned the badge for Online Teaching and Design, please email it to Jennifer.Tennyson@vvc.edu to request inclusion on our DE Certified Instructors List.

Equivalency Requests

If you have received training at another school that you feel would be equivalent to our training, email the following materials to Jennifer.Tennyson@vvc.edu to request an equivalency review:

Training certificate(s) and/or badges received that reflect the course title, hours, and completion date.
Training materials that show hours of training and details of topics covered, such as syllabi, agendas, and/or course outlines.
A copy of a Canvas course you have taught in the last 3 years that shows your ability to design according to the CVC-OEI Design Rubric, either as a:
- Canvas export (.imscc), or
- VVC Canvas sandbox URL.
  - Follow these instructions if you don't know how to export a Canvas course.
  - If your course export is too large to attach, you can create a sandbox in your VVC Canvas and import the file from your computer. If you go this route, you just need to provide the URL to your sandbox (we do not need to be added as teachers) so that we can look at it.

Questions About Certification?

Email: Jennifer.Tennyson@vvc.edu

FAQs

Do I need to be DE certified to teach face-to-face classes? No, this is only if you want to teach an online course.
Can I apply for multiple training options at the same time? You are welcome to put yourself on our internal training list while our DE department evaluates your equivalency, and sign up for a CVC@ONE training if it is open. However, we do not recommend taking our internal training at the same time as the Online Teaching and Design. They overlap significantly and each presents a significant workload. If you end up earning equivalency or taking our course, we ask that you withdraw any CVC@ONE enrollment.
What happens if I'm denied equivalency? You will need to complete the internal VVC Online Instructor Certification or earn an Online Teaching and Design badge from CVC@ONE.
How long does it take to process my equivalency? Our goal is to process equivalency requests within 2 weeks of submission, though the timeline may be extended if more documentation is required.