Communities of Practice and Engagement Activities
Communities of Practice
SUNY Online Teaching Communities of Practice
In 2024–2025, SUNY Online Teaching significantly expanded professional development, recognition, and community engagement opportunities for faculty across the system and beyond. The monthly webinar series hosted 15 sessions with contributions from 5 SUNY campuses, drawing an average of 50–57 attendees per session and engaging 357 participants overall. The OSCQR webinar series provided targeted training through 8 OSCQR-related sessions with 587 attendees, reinforcing online course quality expertise across the system. The SUNY Online Teaching YouTube channel, now with 845 subscribers, 520 videos, and 1,117 hours of watch time, further extended access to on-demand learning. Recognition and professional credentials also grew through 2,410 digital badges issued via Credly, with over 1,100 claimed and 584 shared, supporting online faculty and ID career visibility and advancement. Meanwhile, the SUNY Online Teaching Community thrived across our online networking and community platforms with hundreds of members (FB, Viva Engage, OSCQR User Group) and 6 monthly community of practice meetings featuring 6 guest speakers, sustaining peer networks and collaborative learning. Collectively, these initiatives demonstrate SUNY Online’s leadership in fostering a vibrant, system-wide community of practice, while scaling quality, recognition, and innovation in online education.
Online Student Success Collaborative Community of Practice
The Online Student Success Collaborative Community of Practice (OSSC CoP) brings together SUNY professionals dedicated to improving support for online learners. Its mission is to develop, share, and scale effective strategies that enhance online student success, while promoting knowledge exchange across the SUNY system.
OSSC CoP engages members through monthly virtual meetings and ongoing discussions on the Viva Engage platform. Currently, it includes 135 members from 34 campuses, representing a diverse group of academic advisors, success coaches, instructional designers, online learning leaders, technology staff, and other student support professionals.
“The OSSC Community of Practice has been invaluable in my role coordinating support for 11 online programs at SUNY Plattsburgh and roughly 600 students. I need solutions that work, and this group provides them. It offers a space to confront real challenges and advance shared goals in online learning with colleagues across the system, sharpening my professional practice and underscoring that collaboration across SUNY is not a luxury, but a necessity.”
Christopher Ryan, Academic Coordinator, School of Education, Health, & Human Services, SUNY Plattsburgh
Digital Academic Support Solutions (DASS) Community of Practice
The SUNY Digital Academic Support Solutions (DASS) Community of Practice’s mission is to strengthen early alert programs systemwide by sharing evidence-based practices, innovative strategies, and effective uses of early alert platforms that support improved student outcomes.
Currently, the CoP includes 196 members from 38 SUNY campuses. Engagement is fostered through monthly virtual meetings and ongoing dialogue on the Viva Engage platform, creating an active network for collaboration and continuous improvement.
“The CoP is an incredible community with a wealth of knowledge and passion for student success. CoP connects us to one another, providing valuable information, insights, and connections that improve the work we contribute to our individual campuses and the larger SUNY community. CoP provides a safe space for us to share, collaborate, and grow as individuals and professionals. I truly learn something new at every meeting I attend!”
Devyn Thomas, Assistant Director of Advising, PDSO and Starfish Tenant Administrator, SUNY Morrisville
Open Education Resources (OER) Leads Community of Practice
The OER Leads Community of Practice connects campus champions to exchange strategies, share resources, and strengthen local and systemwide OER initiatives.
SUNY OER Services Viva Engage Community
SUNY OER Services Viva Engage Community provides an active online space for asynchronous dialogue, peer collaboration, and resource sharing.
Library Leaders Community of Practice
The Library Leaders Community of Practice provides a forum for SUNY library administrators to discuss trends and new developments, issues, and challenges impacting their libraries and the services they provide to their students and faculty.
In addition to virtual discussions throughout the year, the Library Leaders Community of Practice met in person on May 20, 2025, for a day of networking and professional development.
SUNY Library Accessibility Community of Practice
The SUNY Library Accessibility Community of Practice holds routine monthly meetings to discuss accessibility issues as they relate to library services and information resources.
Community Engagement
Accessibility
In anticipation of the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II going into effect in April 2026, campuses are working to bring existing courses and other content into compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WGAG) Standards (2.1 AA as specified by ADA Title II).
- EIT Officers – this group of 94 includes representatives from each campus, as well as representatives from various aspects of SUNY System Administration
- EITA listserv – 314 participants create active and engaged discussions across SUNY on topics ranging from software recommendations to advice on how to handle specific EITA issues
- EITA Advisory Committee – this standing committee includes representatives from throughout SUNY, including EIT Officers, chairs of sub-committees on EITA standards, procurement leaders, library leaders, CIO, CAO, Disability Officers, Diversity Officers, and online learning leaders, SUNY System Administration staff, and representatives of UFS, FCCC, and the Student Assembly, among many others
- Digital Tools Working Group – this is a short-term sub-group of the EITA Advisory Committee and is tasked with making recommendations on how SUNY should proceed with reviews and repositories of various digital tools throughout the system
- Campus Plans and Reporting Working Group – this is another short-term sub-group of the EITA Advisory Committee and is tasked with creating recommendations for campuses around EITA reporting. This group will use a maturity model to guide campus reporting and help facilitate a roadmap for continuous improvement
SUNY OER Advisory Board
SUNY OER Advisory Board offers strategic guidance to ensure alignment between statewide initiatives and campus needs.
OLIS Advisory Board
The OLIS Advisory Board is dedicated to providing guidance and support to the Office of Library and Information Services by leveraging our expertise, experience, and networks. Our mission is to help OLIS achieve its strategic objectives and to ensure its long-term sustainability.
The OLIS Advisory Board works closely with the broader SUNY library and DIAS community. Members of the advisory board represent campus sectors and OLIS stakeholder groups.
OLIS Library Site Visits
OLIS concluded a successful two‑year site visit initiative, completing visits to more than 45 SUNY libraries. These visits provided valuable insight into local priorities and accomplishments, as well as the strong commitment of SUNY libraries to delivering high‑quality services, resources, and teaching and learning support. This initiative also gave us an opportunity to reflect on the impact of our shared services SUNY-wide, from the R1 research institutions to the small community colleges.
OLIS Service Level Agreement
To enhance transparency and awareness of available resources and support, OLIS developed its first publicly available Service Level Agreements (SLAs). SLAs for electronic resources and OLIS services were published on the OLIS website, marking an important step in standardizing and formalizing services provided to SUNY libraries and establishing a foundation for ongoing service assessment.
OLIS Task Forces and Working Groups
OLIS engages SUNY libraries in collaborative decision‑making through task forces and working groups that evaluate services and recommend solutions to shared challenges. These groups bring together system‑wide expertise to inform strategic planning and initiatives. In 2024-2025, OLIS convened a number of these groups, including the Resource Sharing Platform Task Force, the SUNYConnect Core Task Group, the Elsevier Task Group, and the OCLC Negotiations Advisory Group. This collaborative model ensures informed, transparent decisions that incorporate perspectives and needs from libraries across the SUNY system.
SUNY Online Service Level Agreement
The SUNY Online Service Level Agreement includes services and resources provided by SUNY Online for free and those provided for a fee. It was distributed in January to campus CIOs in order for them to make budget decision for the following fiscal year.
SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors Program
The SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors program celebrates and amplifies the voices of exemplary online educators across the system, recognizing their enthusiasm for online teaching, innovation, and commitment to online learner success. In 2024–2025, 32 SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors from 16 SUNY campuses represented the diversity and strength of our online teaching community. Through storytelling, professional engagement, and peer mentorship, Ambassadors highlight the transformative power of online education.
By sharing authentic faculty perspectives, providing advice, and engaging in outreach activities, SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors inspire colleagues, strengthen the Online Teaching community of practice, and model evidence-based online practices that continue to expand high-impact and high-quality online educational opportunities across SUNY and beyond.
Dr. Jennifer Shloming, FIT, is a 2019 SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador and, since this recognition, she has actively participated in various Community Engagement opportunities. She regularly appears as a guest author writing blog posts to share teaching tips and her strategies for incorporating technology into her courses. She has also led webinars during National Distance Learning Week for the past four years. As a result of her exemplary teaching and her leadership in the SUNY Online Community, Jennifer earned the SUNY FACT2 Award for Excellence in Instruction in 2024.
SUNY Effective Online Practice Program
The SUNY Effective Online Practices Program aims to collect, share and showcase the online best practices, strategies, and innovative online teaching and learning activities or programs of exemplary SUNY online practitioners from across the SUNY system. All effective online practice submissions will be included in the SUNY Effective Online Practices Repository.
Award Tracks include:
- Online teaching and learning practices
- Online program partnership practices
- Online student support practices
- Online innovative academic technologies practices
Total entries in the SUNY Online Effective Practices Repository (since 2015): 93 entries from 33 campuses. An average of 700 community votes are submitted annually, and three awards are conferred.
Effective Online Practices Repository
Effective Online Practices repository allows community members to share their success and challenges and to engage one another in conversations that advance their professional practices.
Dr. Jie Zhang’s (SUNY Brockport) recent nomination for the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching for 2026 was largely impacted by her service to the SUNY Online Community. She is a 2025 SUNY Online Effective Practice award winner (2nd place) and frequent webinar presenter for SUNY Online, displaying leadership in the SUNY Online Community. Our community engagement activities have provided Dr. Zhang with the opportunity to share her projects for feedback, collaboration, and to serve as a model for other campuses.
SUNY Online Managed Websites
SUNY Online manages our own internal websites, the DIAS website, and s website for prospective students to explore SUNY-wide online programs and courses offered by SUNY campuses that include online.suny.edu, explore.suny.edu, dle.suny.edu, and innovate.suny.edu. The following are the visit statistics for those websites.
This main SUNY Online website has received 25, 216 active users to the site in 2024-2025 representing 129 countries.
The Explore website features online courses and programs from 56 SUNY campuses and has received 491,761 total active users 2024-2025 representing 213 countries. There are 983 active programs, 182 of which are SUNY Online+ certified and 17,209 active courses (3 semesters) on the Explore website.
This website is a repository of resources for the SUNY Digital Learning Environment. For 2024-2025, it has received 14,916 active users from 83 countries. Two new dashboards have been added: Unique Tools Dashboard and EIT Accessibility Dashboard.
This new website, created in October 2023, features an overview of the DIAS portfolio and has received 968 active users for 2024-2025 from 46 countries.