Randy Padilla

Excellence in Online Teaching
CHEP Status: Active
CHEP Awarded: 07/10/2026

Badge Evidence | Completed Courses (4 Hours Each)

The admissions profession is evolving, and today’s admissions professionals must be prepared to do far more than process applications. This course invites learners to explore what it truly means to succeed in admissions in a complex, student-centered environment. Participants will examine the foundations of the profession, essential competencies for success, student decision-making, professional readiness, and ethical responsibility. Through practical examples and reflective application, learners will gain insight into how admissions professionals build trust, reduce friction, and support informed enrollment decisions. Designed for those entering the field or seasoned professionals seeking a refresher, this course challenges learners to think critically, adapt confidently, and develop the professional judgment needed to thrive in a dynamic and impactful role.
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While most courses and instruction focus on specifics of the admissions presentation, few present a sequential step-by-step approach. This course takes a linear look at all the elements that form the essential building blocks of an effective presentation. We begin with the greeting/introduction and progress through building rapport, gathering information, giving information, covering cost, explaining the basics of financial assistance or financing, encouraging the prospect to apply or take the next step, covering the additional enrollment requirements, and setting the stage for follow-up; all will be thoroughly addressed. Upon completion of the course, the admissions professional will understand how important it is to have a framework for delivering compliant, concise, and compelling presentations.
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This course equips admissions professionals with the skills needed to confidently navigate today’s complex enrollment conversations. Learners will explore how product knowledge extends beyond academic programs to include institutional structure, student support, delivery models, and competitive context. Through practical examples and applied strategies, participants will learn how to translate institutional offerings into student value, address hesitation and competing narratives, align presentations with individual goals, and use techniques to master product knowledge for ongoing success. This course is designed for professionals entering or advancing in the field. It will strengthen credibility, confidence, and judgment and will prepare admissions professionals to support informed decision-making and deliver effective, trust-based enrollment conversations.
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Effective communication is central to success in admissions, yet it requires far more than strong interpersonal skills. This course invites admissions professionals to examine communication as a system that shapes understanding, trust, and student decision-making. Participants will explore how messages are processed, where communication breakdowns occur, and how delivery must adapt across modalities and high-volume environments.
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The initial admissions conversation has the most potential for crossing the line into being noncompliant. This course will examine the seven areas most frequently cited for noncompliance and then go on to offer practical tips and talk tracks for having compliant conversations. These seven topics include conversations surrounding graduate employment opportunities and salary expectations, along with five other potentially problematic areas: financial aid, tuition, accreditation, transfer of credit, and licensure. Upon completion, the admissions professional will understand essential components of compliant conversations and have the foundational knowledge to stay within state, federal, and accrediting agency requirements.
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Listening is foundational to effective admissions practice, yet it is often assumed rather than intentionally developed. This course invites admissions professionals to examine listening as an active, disciplined skill that shapes understanding, trust, and meaningful engagement in every interaction. Participants will learn to move beyond surface-level conversations by understanding what listening truly is, recognizing common barriers, and interpreting meaning, emotion, and motivation in student communication. The course also focuses on sustaining high-quality listening in fast-paced environments, including strategies to maintain presence, reset between conversations, and balance efficiency with depth. Designed for real-world application, this course helps admissions professionals strengthen engagement, improve alignment with student needs, and support more effective decision-making throughout the enrollment process.
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Strategic Questioning Skills for Admissions Engagement equips admissions professionals with the tools to guide more focused, meaningful, and effective conversations. This course moves beyond basic questioning techniques to develop intentional, structured, and adaptive approaches that uncover student goals, clarify needs, and support informed decision-making. It also provides practical questioning strategies and examples tailored to common admissions interactions, while emphasizing how listening and questioning work together to shape the pace, depth, and effectiveness of each conversation. Participants will learn how to structure conversations, ask high-impact questions, and adjust their approach based on student responses and communication channels. Emphasis is placed on real-world application, including managing conversations under pressure, avoiding common pitfalls, and developing consistency over time. By the end of the course, learners will use questioning with greater precision, improving both the quality of interactions and overall enrollment outcomes.
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This course focuses on the ACCSC Standards of Accreditation which directly tie to the academic areas and program requirements for an accredited school. The course includes information on program development and design, educational policies and procedures, faculty, student services, and educational delivery methods.

This course is sponsored by ACCSC


This course is designed for employees of all roles and levels at institutions that participate in federal financial aid programs. The course provides an awareness of prohibited acts which could adversely impact operations, and covers the requirements which must be adhered to in order to maintain good standing with state* and federal regulations as outlined in the Program Integrity rules. Emphasis is on areas of misrepresentation related to advertising and recruitment activities, interactions with prospective students and appropriate communication of disclosures and other publications. *This course currently covers the regulations for the following states: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NM, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA. Course participants can select specific state(s) at the beginning of the course to customize the training content to their state.
This course is designed to assist personnel at all levels of an educational institution in the understanding of the provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ("Title IX") as amended on August 1, 2024, and the Clery Act as amended in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 ("VAWA"). These laws require that all individuals in an educational institution understand and comply with the laws in terms of what is prohibited behavior in relation to sex-based harassment and/or sexual violence, and what steps are to be followed when such prohibited conduct occurs. This course gives the participants information about the laws, as well as procedures to follow, to provide for the rights of all individuals under the laws. It also provides additional resources to assist educational institutions in continuing to build and strengthen their Title IX and VAWA policies, procedures and training throughout the year.
Grading decisions carry weight. They determine who advances, who’s workplace-ready, who passes licensing exams. Your professional reputation depends on assessment quality, yet crushing volume makes thorough evaluation unsustainable. You’re working weekends to provide feedback that arrives too late. You’re worried about consistency when fatigue sets in. And valuable assessment data revealing what students actually need sits unexamined because there’s no time to analyze patterns. This course explores where AI supports assessment work without compromising professional judgment about student competency. You’ll learn to analyze patterns informing instruction, maintain consistent standards across submissions, and provide developmental feedback efficiently. By the end, you’ll have practical strategies for managing assessment volume while preserving the expertise-driven decisions that make grading meaningful. IMPORTANT: This course assumes foundational knowledge of AI concepts, the Tell-Team-Trust framework for interaction, the three pillars of AI literacy, and ethical AI practices. It is strongly recommended that you complete ED160: AI Literacy Foundations for CTE Educators and ED161: AI Ethics, Bias, and Responsible Use before enrolling in this course.
This course provides content to enable career and technical education (CTE) educators to strengthen instruction by aligning teaching with the key characteristics of successful graduates. Beyond technical knowledge, students need adaptability, resilience, and transferable skills to thrive in education, work, and life. This course explores six core traits that are necessary for career success: collaboration, communication, innovation, lifelong learning, citizenship, and accountability. Educators will learn practical strategies to embed these traits into curriculum and classroom culture, promote teamwork and problem-solving, and cultivate responsible, adaptable learners. By course end, participants will be equipped to design lessons that build both technical and employability skills, preparing students to succeed in diverse pathways while modeling excellence and responsibility.
This introductory course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to create successful online courses, whether for faculty-supported distance education delivery or as a supplement to classroom instruction. You will learn to design and develop online courses that have structural integrity and navigational simplicity with a focus on student-centered learning and intellectual interaction. The course covers various learning activities that are supported in an e-learning environment and describes the typical components of an online course. We will provide you with the media strategies and course design methodologies that will allow you to develop online courses in an effective and efficient manner.
Your degree of success as an online instructor relies heavily on several factors, among which are your level of preparedness before the date on which the course is launched; your ability to make a smooth transition into the roles and responsibilities associated with teaching in an online environment; and the effectiveness and efficiency with which you manage learners, instructional transactions embedded in the course as well as the learning environment. In this course, you will learn how to project your authority and presence into the e-learning environment, build a relationship with each learner, promote and nurture learner participation, provide informative and constructive feedback in a timely manner, minimize attrition, manage communications, manage unacceptable behavior and resolve disagreements.
This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to successfully author, teach, assess, and revise online courses. You will learn to develop a course framework with consistent modules. Building an online community and constructing a dynamic syllabus are important in helping you communicate with students. You will also learn how to develop an assessment plan that includes peer and self-assessment. No online course is complete without a comprehensive revision cycle. This course will walk you through the process of "closing the loop" to create a complete revision and improvement plan for your online course. We will provide you with ideas for student-centered learning that includes activities and intellectual interactions using a variety of technological tools.
This course will provide you with information to help you effectively communicate with students and encourage communication among students in an online environment. You will learn the importance of facilitating instructor-to-student (I2S), student-to-instructor (S2I), and student-to-student (S2S) communication. Technology tools play a vital role in the communication process and several are discussed in this course. In addition, discussion is also provided to help you further understand how to manage and measure communication in an online course and help students communicate effectively.
This course will provide you with the knowledge to effectively evaluate student learning in an online environment. Technology tools play a vital role in the evaluation process and several are discussed in this module. Discussion will also be provided to help you further understand how to complete formative and summative assessments, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of objective and subjective assessments. Value-added assessments are also discussed in light of how they can be completed and provide feedback for course revision.
This course will provide you with strategies and techniques to help prepare students for the online environment. To do so, you must also assess your strengths and weaknesses as an online instructor. As you help students assess their readiness for online learning, you are also preparing them for the expectations and realities of the online environment. By identifying students' strengths and weaknesses, you can provide guidance to help them achieve the learning outcomes. This course not only notes the necessary technical skills, it also discusses non-technical skills as well as techniques for successful learning and helping students develop their online persona.
This course will provide you with a basic overview of the background and history of the popular instructional method called active learning. This method differs from traditional educational methods such as the lecture model. Active learning has a definite place in education especially in the online learning environments. It is used to support teaching outcomes like critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills and knowledge acquisition that all instructors wish for their students. However, active learning it calls for a change of attitude on the part of students and the instructor in order to be successful. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages as it can make students enthusiastic about learning. Learn about this brave new world of teaching and learning for the next generation.
This course will provide you with strategies and techniques to immerse students in an interactive environment that will incorporate gaming and simulations to introduce, engage, and reinforce online learning. This course will begin with definitions of gaming and simulations as a tool for online learning and will provide guidance to evaluate, implement, and assess the effectiveness of games.
This course will provide you with an overview of online instructors' and learners' personality traits. Participants will be provided with information about the traits themselves, as well as how to identify such traits, utilize them, and develop lessons to reach all students.
This course will explore the online learning landscape and how to ensure learner engagement remains high, even when working virtually. The course discusses various aspects of online education, as well as discussing techniques for both social and motivational forms of engagement and how to apply them appropriately in courses. The goal of this course is to help develop a better understanding of the topic and produce tangible resources to help implement plans, strategies, and ideas at your school. In addition to lecture videos, links to possible resources, and assessments, you will be able to utilize the Journal and Learning Activities. Take advantage of a method that best works for you.
Research shows that supportive working relationships between students and institutional personnel are vital to student retention. For online students, these relationships are especially essential in preventing a sense of isolation and detachment from their academic experience. Because interactions with online students are most likely to occur via phone and text-based methods, developing retention-supporting relationships can be challenging. This course teaches online communication strategies that foster connection and engagement with online learners. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of (a) retention and attrition research, (b) online learning, and (c) technology's unique role in both the relationship-building process and the online student experience.