PCC Online: Teaching Hub

Prepare to LAUNCH

A pencil rocket launching from a desert landscape with a ringed planet in the background.

The Distance Education Department is dedicated to supporting and promoting the College’s mission and goals of equitable student learning and achievement, academic excellence, and workforce development by delivering high-quality distance education training and support services for faculty and students that meet federal, state, and accreditation requirements.

Use the resources on this page to LAUNCH your online course. You can find resources on the following topics:

Learning
Accessibility
Universal Design
Navigation
Contact
Habits

For student guides, please visit the Student Canvas Learning Center

Support

Distance Education Support

Email: pcconline@pasadena.edu
Phone: (626) 585-7189
Schedule an Appointment

24/7 Canvas Support

For immediate assistance regarding Canvas questions, particularly after business hours, contact the CCC 24/7 Canvas Faculty Support Hotline. In the left-side global Canvas menu, click "Help" button > then click "Contact Canvas Support (Faculty)"

Essential Resources

Faculty Handbook

The Pasadena City College Distance Education (DE) Faculty Handbook provides PCC faculty with essential information about the requirements, guidelines, and procedures for teaching online and hybrid classes at Pasadena City College.

Distance Education Faculty Handbook

DE Training, Certification, and Recertification Information

DE Training & Certification Requirements: Use this webpage to better understand training and experience requirements for teaching online at PCC.
DE Recertification: Use this webpage to better understand the recertification requirements.
PCC DE Recertification Hub: Use this link to enroll in the Canvas course to submit information about the recertification option completed.
- Click on "Enroll in Course".
- Click on "Go to the Course” to start your submission.
- After enrolling, it will show up as a course in your account.

PCC Online: Teaching Resources

The PCC Online: Teaching Resources is a series of 7 modules that support online learning theory, approaches to online course design, and strategies for supporting student success through Course Design, Interaction, Assessment, and Accessibility.

Online Teaching Resources

Course Shells

The Distance Education team has created Canvas shells to help instructors create quality courses with a consistent look and feel that are aligned to the CVC-OEI Online Course Design Rubric.

The shells help create a cohesive experience for students. It does not prescribe course content and you may modify the shell to suit your needs after importing it into your Canvas site.

Course Shells at PCC

Meet Iggy - Your AI Teaching Assistant

Meet Iggy, the PCC DE teaching assistant. Iggy is a virtual assistant designed to make it easier for faculty to navigate the requirements and resources for teaching online at Pasadena City College. Whether you are new to online instruction or looking to refine your course design, the assistant is here to answer your questions about accessibility, Canvas tools, RSI (Regular and Substantive Interaction), and more. Simply type your question or topic of interest, and the assistant will provide guidance, examples, and links to relevant resources. Use this assistant as your personal guide to ensure your online teaching meets college and Title II standards while supporting student success!

How to Access

Select "Nectir AI" from the course navigation on the left.
Create an account if it is your first time accessing the resource. This will sync your Canvas account with Nectir AI.

Want to Learn More or Create Your Own Assistant?

Nectir AI - Learn how to build personalized, FERPA-safe AI Assistants.

Inclusive Iggy, mascot for inclusive course design.

Lance - Your Canvas Accessibility Assistant

Meet Lance, your assistant for Canvas accessibility at Pasadena City College! Lance is designed to help with HTML content and making images accessible. Lance corrects your Canvas HTML to meet WCAG AA 2.1 guidelines. He can format the content using the PCC course shells as a guide or he can use the default Canvas format. If you need help with making images accessible, Lance can also help you create alt text and long descriptions for images.

Want to start using Lance?

Lance is now available through the Nectir AI link in the PCC Online: Teaching Hub.

Lance is depicted as a Lancer in front of Pasadena City College.

Technology Resources

Academic Integrity & AI

Accessibility

Anthology Ally - Find and fix accessibility issues
Pope Tech - Find and fix accessibility issues
Other Accessibility Resources - Webinars and tutorials

Canvas Tools

Canvas Basics
New Rich Content Editor - Updated content creation tool
Using the Canvas Gradebook
Share Course Content with Other Instructors
Advanced Formatting: HTML Code Snippets

Course Content & Video

Concourse eSyllabus - eSyllabus management tool
Canvas Studio - Content authoring tool
CourseArc - Content authoring tool
ScreenPal (Screencast-o-matic) - Screencasting and video editing
3C Media Solutions - Video hosting
VoiceThread - Collaborative multimedia slideshows
WeVideo Interactivity (formerly PlayPosit) - Create interactive videos

Student Engagement

NameCoach - Pronounce student names correctly
Pronto - Real-time chat, group video chat, and file sharing
Zoom - Web conferencing with live captioning

Canvas Integration Request

If you would like to add a new tool to Canvas, please review the page that contains information related to completing a Canvas Integration Request.