Supporting the masses: Scaling online teaching preparedness to 100%

Kapi‘olani Community College's two-time national award-winning Teaching Online Preparation Program (TOPP) prepares faculty to teach online, both technically and pedagogically. The program serves a cohort of approximately fifteen faculty each semester, but when the pandemic saw classes going online en masse, that proved insufficient. A total redesign scaled the professional development to serve not only faculty at the College, but anyone and everyone (including counselors, librarians, adjuncts, teaching assistants, etc.) who wished to participate across a 10-campus University of Hawai‘i system. The result, TOPP To Go!, fostered a rich community of practice that bridged campuses, disciplines, and staff and faculty rolls in an unprecedented manner. Participants from seven community colleges and three, four-year campuses connected to share questions, challenges, insights, strategies, and resources. The program has undergone four iterations, with a total participation of 550+ and has fundamentally changed our approach to professional development. In this session, we’ll share our data, resources, and takeaways from this transformative experience, including strategies to foster engagement in a large-scale, online community of practice and differentiating for diverse professional development needs.