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Faculty preparation is a critical success factor for any program that involves online teaching and learning (Kane, Shaw, Pang, Salley, & Snider, 2016; Merillat & Scheibmeir, 2016; Parker, Maor, & Herrington, 2013). Although experts in their respective fields, faculty may not have studied online pedagogy or instructional design before stepping into the onsite or online classroom. While few educators would argue against offering faculty development, institutions grapple with limited funding and campus resources (e.g., limited space, scheduling constraints) for faculty training. To pool resources for this purpose, the State University System of Florida Board of Governors committed to sponsoring a program to develop an online toolkit and annual workshop to support faculty development efforts statewide. The result was The Teaching Online Preparation Toolkit (TOPkit), an open educational resource (website and two free, customizable online faculty development courses) that faculty developers anywhere can use. This article describes the online toolkit and specifically highlights the toolkit's pair of sample courses that may be downloaded and customized.
On February 1, 2017, the TOPkit website went live at TOPkit.org. Florida-funded and Florida-focused in support of the State University System of Florida Board of Governors 2025 Strategic Plan for Online Education, TOPkit is a comprehensive resource that provides instructional designers, faculty developers, and educational technologists with the essential tools required to support faculty in the development of high-quality online courses. While TOPkit was launched for the purpose of supporting faculty development professionals in Florida public colleges and universities, the Community of Practice (COP), TOPkit Digest, and TOPkit's online resources (including two downloadable sample faculty development courses) are available to all educational institutions in the US and around the world. The TOPkit COP is a global online forum for ongoing...