EPIC Master Certification

EPIC is a faculty development program designed to increase an experienced faculty member's mastery of online teaching and pedagogy.

EPIC Exemplary Course Capstone (EPIC 110) – An EPIC Online Teaching Certified faculty member, with supervisor recommendation, is assigned an instructional designer who will act as a consultant and mentor over a semester in updating an existing online course to achieve exemplary status. Options for additional support include a subject-matter expert, accessibility specialist, assessment specialist and video transcription assistance. The end product will be a course that has pedagogically sound design and contains engaging content, learning activities and assessments.

Each course will have its final evaluation, using the EPIC eLearning Quality Standards rubric with exemplary annotations, completed by an instructional designer or peer reviewer.

Master Certification requirements

In order to earn the EPIC Master Online Teaching Certification, a faculty member must successfully complete the following:

  • Prerequisite accessibility courses (ACC 110 Accessible Documents, ACC 120 Accessible PowerPoint and ACC 131 Accessible Videos) within the last three years
  • One of the elective courses (EPIC 105, EPIC 106, EPIC 107 or EPIC 108)
  • EPIC 110 (see participant eligibility requirements below)

Elective courses

  • EPIC Peer Reviewer (EPIC 105) –Training on online course evaluation using the EPIC Quality eLearning Standards and associated rubric. Available only to an EPIC Online Teaching Certified faculty member who has supervisor approval to be a peer reviewer/evaluator of online courses.
  • EPIC Mentor (EPIC 106) –Training for new mentors on best practices, policies, goal setting, time management, relationship building, communication and conflict resolution. Available only to an EPIC Online Teaching Certified faculty member who has supervisor approval to be a mentor.
  • EPIC Planning for Accessibility (EPIC 107) –This course discusses accessibility law and standards and how to apply the standards in developing and delivering accessible content. Additionally, the course helps instructors in creating a plan for creating accessible material.
  • EPIC Teaching and Learning With Technology (EPIC 108) – This course teaches advanced concepts in incorporating technology tools in online learning to foster student engagement and success in online courses.  Instructors will learn how to use technology to differentiate instruction and meet various learner needs. 
  • Evaluating Your Course Design (EPIC 109) –This course will provide an in-depth review of the current EPIC Quality eLearning Standards. Participants will use the standards to evaluate their courses and create an action plan to align their course design to meet them. EPIC Certification is a prerequisite to this course.

Participant eligibility requirements for EPIC 110

  • Earned EPIC Online Teaching Certification
  • Supervisor approval
  • No current disciplinary procedures
  • Online teaching experience, with at least four semesters in the last five years
  • A personally developed course (courses developed by a colleague are not eligible to be used for the Master Certification Process)

Exemplary courses

EPIC 110 participants create a video tour of their exemplary course upon completion. Some can be seen on this YouTube playlist.