Professional Development

TeLS offers opportunities to grow in your teaching practice.

Canvas Readiness Course

The Canvas Readiness Course course is meant to serve as a primer that will help you teach with the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS).

This course is designed give you a basic knowledge of the Canvas LMS and the fundamentals to teach online. If you are already an experienced teacher, it is meant to assure fundamental Canvas competence. For new and aspiring online teachers, it is the beginning - from which your opportunity to grow in mastery is truly limitless. 

You will pass the course by achieving a score of 85% on the final assessment. 

Enroll in the Canvas Readiness Course

Accessibility 101

This self-paced course is designed for YC faculty and staff who create or share digital content. You’ll learn to recognize the essential accessibility guidelines most applicable to your work at YC—whether that’s preparing course content, or sharing information online or by email. By the end, you’ll be able to spot when content needs adjustments to meet accessibility standards.v Complete the course to earn the Accessibility 101 YC Micro-Credential and show your commitment to inclusive communication! 

Enroll in Accessibility 101

Course Mapping 101  

The Foundations of Course Mapping course is designed to introduce Yavapai College faculty to the core principles of course mapping and backwards design. These instructional design strategies help ensure that course outcomes, assessments, and activities are intentionally aligned to support student learning and success. 

Whether you’re creating a new course or refining an existing one, this self-paced workshop will help you identify the importance of clear course structure and alignment. This foundational knowledge is especially valuable for faculty who are planning to redesign or convert 16-week courses into 8-week formats in future workshops. 

Enroll in Course Mapping 101 

TEACH Online Course

Our TEACH online course is a 2-week facilitated online experience that provides faculty with knowledge and practical methods to be a confident and effective online teacher. This course is for faculty new to teaching in an online environment, as well as faculty looking to improve their practice.

• Instructor presence makes all the difference
• Create active learning opportunities
• Meet YC design and teaching standards
• Learn along with your peers

Teachers have said about the course:

"There wasn't just one topic I found most useful. There were many. What I like most is the TeLs team provided simple yet comprehensive content AND additional resource links for topics. I can go to those resources on topics I need/want more info, but don't have to waste time going through resources on topics I already have mastery. "

"I enjoyed the discussion area and all of it - I reviewed and learned tons!"

"I'm thinking more about creating active learning activities in an online environment."

The next cohort will be in spring 2026, dates TBD

• All full and part-time faculty eligible
• $400 stipend available at the completion of the course
• Approximately 10 hours of coursework over two weeks

Register for the TEACH Online course

Contact thatcher.bohrman@yc.edu with questions about TEACH Online course enrollment.

Open Educational Resources (OER) Training Courses

OER Training for Course Builders

This is a facilitated asynchronous training that consists of approximately 10 hours of coursework and can be completed in 6 weeks or less. Faculty who are interested in building their own OER course shell must complete this training prior to submitting an OER build proposal. It must be completed by YC instructors who wish to teach or build OER courses at YC. It's also open to any faculty member interested in the subject. Completers receive a $200 stipend.

OER Training for Teachers

This is a completely asynchronous training that can be completed in approximately 3-4 hours. Faculty who are teaching a course with an approved OER course shell must complete this training.

Register at the OER course registration site.

Contact megan.crossfield@yc.edu with questions about OER course enrollment.

The Summer Institute

The 20th Summer Institute took place May 15th, 2025.

All faculty and staff were invited to submit training, workshop, special meetings, and round-table discussion session proposals for the 20th annual Summer Institute, which was held in-person on the Prescott Campus. Your ideas and experiences made this event awesom. Presentations of all kinds took place: teaching strategies, hybrid and online course design, Elev8 with 8, AI, and student engagement tips are just some topic ideas that sparked inspiration.

2025 Summer Institute Schedule

Dr. David Borofsky, Director of the ACCCC, was our keynote speaker.  Borofsky spoke about the State of the State in Arizona's Higher Education Landscape, touching on the community colleges' Economic Impact, Funding, Student Success, and more. It was very engaging and a must-watch for the YC community.

Watch David Borofsky's Keynote from 2025

Keynotes from Summer Institute's Past

The keynote from 2024 was given by YC Provost Dr. Doug Berry. You can watch this recorded keynote here on the topic of Finding your Purpose Using Artificial Intelligence.