Online education is used for a variety of purposes in higher education. Two such purposes are improving one's performance over time and understanding one's professional development in the context of online teaching and learning. Relying on data from online staff development courses delivered in five Spanish universities, this article explores online faculty learning through the lens of staff development theory. This theoretical perspective emphasizes the universities' quality assurance contexts and offers an empirical examination of the ways in which faculty members learn curriculum and teaching competencies (CTCs) in online staff development programmes. At the core of this analysis is the contention that faculty members understand and respond to quality teaching lessons and activities. Finally, this study highlights the points deemed important when designing, implementing, and evaluating Internet CTC training courses. (Contains 1 figure.)