Online Learning Toolkit

[see also Facilitating Online Discussions | Instruction Models and Design | Theories ]

Note: See Resources at the bottom of this page for additional sites for Best Practices

Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education - Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson Good practice in undergraduate education:

1. Encourages contact between students and faculty
2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students
3. Encourages active learning
4. Gives prompt feedback
5. Emphasizes time on task
6. Communicates high expectations
7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

Applying the Seven Principles to Online Education

The resources below provides examples using the "Seven Principles..." to online education.

1. The TLT Group: Teaching, Learning and Technology. " 'Seven Principles' Collection of Ideas for Teaching and Learning with Technology"
2. Graham, C. et al (2001). "Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251383888_Seven_principles_of_effective_teaching_A_practical_lens_for_evaluating_online_courses
3. Grant, M. R. & Thornton, H.R. (2007). "Best Practices in Undergraduate Adult-Centered Online Learning: Mechanisms for Course Design and Delivery". Merlot Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, vol.3, no. 4 http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no4/grant.htm

"Teach Online"

• by Michigan State University. This site presents presents pedagogy, techniques, and examples of teaching online for hybrid and fully online courses: https://tech.msu.edu/teaching/

"Designing for Learning"

Designing for Learning

Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online:

1. Be present at the course site
2. Create a supportive online course community
3. Share a set of very clear expectations for your students and for yourself as to (1) how you will communicate and (2) how much time students should be working on the course each week
4. Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences
5. Use both synchronous and asynchronous activities
6. Early in the term --about week 3, ask for informal feedback on "How is the course going? and "Do you have any suggestions?"
7. Prepare Discussion posts that invite questions, discussions, reflections, and responses
8. Focus on content resources and applications and links to current events and examples that are easily accessed from learner's computers
9. Combine core concept learning with customized and personalized learning
10. Plan a good closing and wrap activity for the course

"Effective Teaching Practices for Web-Enhanced, Hybrid and Online Classes"

    Connecticut Community Colleges

1. The instructor facilitates active learning:
   1. Student engagement: student-content interaction, student-student collaboration and cooperation, student-teacher interaction, peer evaluation
   2. Learning facilitation: present content in logical progression and manageable segments, moderate discussions, scaffold information
2. The instructor integrates the diversity of students' needs and experiences into the learning process
   1. consider diverse learning styles
   2. consider prior experience and knowledge
   3. consider cultural diversity
3. The instructor encourages and develops higher-level critical thinking:
   1. Communicates high expectations
   2. Gives students opportunities to engage in abstract thinking and critical reasoning
4. The instructor promotes guided discovery, self-directed learning, and reflection:
   1. Encourages personal autonomy
   2. Provides opportunities for reflection
   3. Encourages self-assessment
   4. Provides opportunities for making informed judgments
5. The instructor facilitates learning through interactive, collaborative activities:
   1. Encourages learning cooperation
   2. Develops collaborative activities
6. The instructor links instruction with real-life situations:
   1. Creates activities that are relevant to learners
   2. Creates problem-based or case-based activities
   3. Creates simulations that apply to real-world situations
7. The instructor promotes a conversational, social, dialogical process:
   1. Incorporates social aspects, provides a realistic environment, presents multiple viewpoints
   2. Develops opportunities for interaction: student-content, student-student, student-teacher
   3. Ensure a sense of community

Resources

Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.

Connecticut Community Colleges. (2006). Effective Teaching Practices for Web-Enhanced, Hybrid and Online Classes. Retrieved July 31, 2019, from http://www.commnet.edu/academics/blackboard/faculty/docs/Effective_Teaching_Practices_for_Web-enhanced_hybrid_online_classes_1a.pdf.

eLearn Magazine. "Best Practices". Education and Technology in Perspective. http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices Provides links to articles about best practices in online learning (learning object creation, motivating students, making the classroom a learning organization, online testing, communities of practice ..)

Guthrie, J.W. (Ed.). (2003). Encyclopedia of Education (2nd ed., vols. 1-8). New York: Thomson Gale

Illinois Online Network: Instructional strategies and pedagogy, https://www.uis.edu/ion/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/instructional-strategies-for-online-courses/

Illinois Online Network: Online Teaching Activity Index https://www.uis.edu/ion/resources/instructional-activities-index/
Many links to examples of best practices in lesson plan format with goals/objectives, guiding questions, strategies...

Leonard, D.C. (2002). Learning Theories. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective Cognitive Responsibility for the Advancement of Knowledge . Retrieved December 17, 2008, from http://www.ikit.org/fulltext/inpressCollectiveCog.pdf.

Smith Nash, Susan, (2005). "Learning objects, learning repositories, and learning theory: preliminary best practices for online courses" Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, vol. 1.