Effective Online Teaching – Best Practices

By: Allison Hunt

One might think that effective online teaching might involve a high level of tech savviness or the ability to entertain students with videos where your focus is allure rather than the content of the course. Effective online teaching is actually more simple and more doable than this, and the practices listed here are also correlated with student success. So, let’s dive into what you can do to create optimal online learning environments.

In order to make this article as practical as possible, I thought it would be best to list some practices and then talk briefly about some techniques to execute those practices.

#1.) Instructor Presence

Techniques to enhance instructor presence:  

  • Create weekly announcements using the “Announcement” tool in Blackboard
  • Create just-in-time video, with the “Video Anytime” button in Blackboard.
  • Create introduction video to introduce your course or learning modules.
  • Create narrated content with Screen-cast-o-matic or Camtasia Relay.
  • Respond frequently in discussion board forums using the “Discussion Board” tool in Blackboard.
  • Comment on students work in Blogs, Wikis, or Journals (formative/corrective feedback).

#2.) Student Engagement

Engage your students with collaborative learning techniques such as:

  • Discussion technique (Brain Storm) – Round robin technique allows students to generate ideas. Group members take turns responding to a question with a word, phrase, or short statement. Ground rules: students present new ideas, every student in the group posts a response before posting a second comment or response, no one should agree, disagree, or question what is already posted ensuring equal participation and uninterrupted flow of ideas. Tools needed: Blackboard groups or Bb Blogs.
  • Problem solving technique – In Analytic teams technique, team members assume roles and specific tasks to perform when critically reading an assignment, listening to a lecture, or watching a video. It can be particularly beneficial when the instructor assigns roles that exist within the norms of the discipline. Assigned roles could be proponents (list points you agree with and why), Critics (list points to disagree with or found unhelpful and why), Example givers (examples of key concepts presented), Summarizers (prepare a summary of main points), and Questioners (prepare list of substantive questions). Tools needed: Blackboard groups, Bb Wiki.
  • Writing focused technique – In Peer Editing, student pairs critically review and provide editorial feedback on each other’s essays, reports, arguments, research papers, or other writing assignments. It provides student authors with constructive criticism so they can improve their papers before submitting them for a grade. Tools needed: Blackboard groups, Bb Wikis, WebEx.

Instructors can promote student engagement in online courses by:

  • Teaching presence supports engagement. So be active and available. Having a strong presence makes it more likely that your students will be engaged with the course content and each other.
  • Provide personalized instructor feedback on assignments using the in-line grading tool.
  • Participate regularly in discussions on the class or group discussion board.

#3.) Planning and Organizing:

Make your course site as organized, clear, and easy to navigate as possible

Techniques to enhance the organization:  

  • Organize your material using folders (i.e. “Modules”). Place all of your materials for each week or lesson into a single folder so the students can find everything they need in one place.
  • Use course links to link to the discussion board forum for the week or other tools that cannot be directly posted in a folder.
  • Create a detailed and complete course orientation section including first tasks students need to accomplish, explanation of course navigation, technical requirements, etc.

Did you get all of that? Now, how do you know you’re doing a good job? How to assess:

Techniques for assessing instructor success:

  • Provide a Student Survey to poll student attitudes concerning the course.  We recommend you survey at least twice a semester using the Blackboard Survey tool.

Techniques for assessing course design:

  • Use a Course Design Rubric to guide construction of the course site and to guide instruction.  Examples include the Quality Matters Rubric and Blackboard Exemplary Course Rubric.

Recommended readings:

  • Strategies that Engage Students in Online Courses:  http://blog.cengage.com/strategies-engage-students-in-online-courses/