Alamo Colleges Overview
Alamo Colleges Online (ACOL) Overview

Who We Are
Alamo Colleges Online (ACOL) serves the five independently accredited colleges of the Alamo Colleges District.
The Alamo Colleges Online Team strives to build an environment of trust and transparency, developing a cycle of engagement with each of the five Colleges. Our Instructional Design team is assigned to each college and work in partnership with the Distance Learning/Instructional Innovation Center staff. Our goal is to support each college. See Alamo College Online Links to an external site. for more information.
Mission Statement
Empowering our diverse communities for success by building and strengthening each College's capacity to deliver premier, quality digital learning experiences for students.
Services We Offer
Each ACOL Instructional Designer strives to support our faculty--the frontline of student success. ACOL offers an Instructional Design Suite of Services that includes:
- One-on-one consultations on a variety of topics such as Objectives, Assessment Strategies, Accessibility, Course Layouts, Course Mapping, and Media Integration
- Group workshops (either in-person or virtually) on in-demand topics or Introduction to Quality Matters, design rubrics for online or blended courses
- Group Workshops (in-person or virtually) in partnership with the college Distance Learning/Instructional Innovation Center (IIC)
Click Instructional Design Suite of Services Download Instructional Design Suite of Services to review more details.
Schedule an Appointment
Resources
Alamo Online Blogs:
What Makes a Good Online Course? Links to an external site. Six-part series
- Part 1: Organization and Structure
- Part 2: Clear and Consistent Communication
- Part 3: Instructor Engagement
- Part 4: Diversity of Materials
- Part 5: Assessment Methods
- Part 6: Safety and Respect
Websites
Keep Teaching website Links to an external site.
- Recorded Webinars
- Video Tutorials
Canvas Commons Resources (must be logged in to ACES to access Canvas Commons)
- Alamo Colleges Online Course Layout
- DesignPLUS Basic Elements Training Module
- DesignPLUS Intermediate Elements (Multi-Tool) Training Module
- DesignPLUS Advanced Elements Training Module
Other Resources
Professional Development Opportunities
Upcoming Workshops
Please visit the Events Calendar in Alamo Talent to review and register for upcoming sessions.
Certification Opportunities
Alamo Colleges Online supports faculty who are interested in taking certification workshops for online design through Quality Matters:
- Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR)
- Peer Review Course (PRC) - Pre-requisite is APPQMR
Please contact your department chair and your college's Instructional Innovation Center for more information.