Week 1: Start with the fundamentals
This Weeks Objective: Decide how you will create a strong structure for you online course- to ensure students are clear about what they are expected to do, and when it has to be done.
Why is online teaching important?
Evidence
Online learning is here to stay. According to a new meta-analysis by the U.S. Department of Education, evidence shows online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning. The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Also-
- Using technology to give "students control of their interactions" has a positive effect on student learning.
- Learner activity or learner reflection and self-monitoring of understanding are effective in online learning.
- The use of video or online quizzes does not appear to enhance learning.
Substantive Interaction
United States Federal regulations specifically define correspondence and distance education. Correspondence education is typically self-paced. Interaction between the instructor and student is limited, is not regular and substantive, and is primarily initiated by the student. Distance education supports regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor, either synchronously or asynchronously. The difference is distance courses must have substantive interaction. Why is this important? First and foremost you don't want learners to be isolated when they are learning. Second, if a course is defined as correspondence, your school will lose financial aid for that course (see St. Mary-of-the-Woods Colleges), and may not eligible to participate in Title IV programs. All distance courses must have regular and substantive interaction.
A Conservative Approach
The Nine steps to quality online learning by Tony Bates is for instructors or faculty who are new to teaching online, or who have had a poor experience of teaching online from the lack of following best practices. This is a conservative approach for transitioning from the classroom to online. This series of posts is about getting the fundamentals of online teaching right. The focus is mainly on using LMS's (like Laulima), since they provide an adequate ‘framework’ to manage the key processes of teaching and learning. Starting to Teach Online is a remix of Tony's work.
1. Decide how you want to teach online.
2. Decide what kind of online course you and your students need.
4. Build on existing resources.
6. Set appropriate learning goals for online learning.
7. Design course structure and learning activities
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate
Good Practice in Online Teaching
Chickering and Gamson’s Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, provide a meaningful lens for thinking about online teaching and learning. Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice to the Online Classroom translates the 7 principles to the online classroom. Concerns and Strategies Regarding Online Teaching provides practical strategies for online instructors who aspire to design and deliver effective online instruction. A teacher’s concern model is presented to accurately assess concerns and strategies experienced by online instructors in this study. Here are ten best practices for anyone just getting started in the online environment. Research and experience suggest that these practices contribute to an effective, efficient and satisfying teaching and learning experience for both faculty and students. Using these practices can help develop confidence, comfort, and experience in teaching online. Here are are 22 tips from successful online educators.
Resource
10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education
Assignment
Comment on your peers plans in their Google document by using the criteria below.
- How does your comment contribute in meaningful ways to further make
sense their plan? - Does your comment add insight? Did you take something from the plan and relate it to readings, resources, or from what someone else has said, and analyzes it?
- Or does your comment make a criticism, an observation an
interpretation, or draw a conclusion? - Or you can ask a question that proposes answers. The good question asks “why” and “how” and demonstrates you have thought about, and have done some research, on the question. Answers are proposed and asked for feedback.