Professional Documents
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10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching
10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching
Online Teaching:
Best Practices in
Distance Education
A MAGNA PUBLICATION
10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching:
Best Practices in Distance Education
In the traditional college classroom today, faculty and students arrive with a certain set of
expectations, shaped largely by past experiences. And although students may need the occa-
sional (or perhaps frequent) reminder of what’s required of them, there’s usually something
very familiar about the experience for both faculty and students alike.
In the online classroom, an entirely new set of variables enters the equation. It’s a little like
trying to drive in a foreign country. You know how to drive, just like you know how to teach,
but it sure is hard to get the hang of driving on the left side of the road, you’re not quite sure
how far a kilometer is, and darn it if those road signs aren’t all in Japanese.
This special report explains the “rules of the road” for online teaching and learning and
features a series of columns that first appeared in the Distance Education Report’s “Between
the Clicks,” a popular column by Dr. Lawrence C. Ragan, Director of Instructional Design and
Development for Penn State’s World Campus.
The articles contained in the report will help you establish online instructor best practices and
expectations, and include the following principles of effective online teaching:
• Show Up and Teach
• Practice Proactive Course Management Strategies
• Establish Patterns of Course Activities
• Plan for the Unplanned
• Response Requested and Expected
• Think Before You Write
• Help Maintain Forward Progress
• Safe and Secure
• Quality Counts
• (Double) Click a Mile on My Connection
These principles, developed at Penn State’s World Campus, outline the core behaviors of the
successful online instructor, and help to define parameters around the investment of time on
part of the instructor. In his articles, Ragan identifies potential barriers and limitations to
online learning, and specific strategies to assist instructors in achieving the performance
expectations.
Christopher Hill
Editor
Distance Education Report
Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #2 Practice Proactive Course Management Strategies ....................................7
Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #10 (Double) Click a Mile on My Connection ..............................................23
n the previous article, I introduced What we know about teaching in the of activities for online instructors, and
PAGE 6
professors. Now, overlay the new teaching their online course. These
dynamics of the online classroom. expectations establish a minimum set
I
time and energy available and
the first expectation of instructors monitoring assignment submissions, demands of the course structure. It is
teaching online as “Show Up and communicating and reminding also dependent upon the age and ex-
Teach.” The primary point of this students of missed and/or upcoming perience of both the instructor and
simple statement was to explicitly deadlines, and making course the learner.
define the anticipation that the in- Initially, a different level of course
structor actively participate in all di- With a new course, new management by the online instructor
mensions of the online classroom. may be required. This instructional
Most importantly however, “Show Up instructor and perhaps new oversight is necessary because the
and Teach” was designed to counter online classroom presents a signifi-
the misperception that, once created, students, it will be necessary cant shift in the understanding of
the online classroom can manage roles and responsibilities on part of
itself.
to monitor and respond to both the instructor and the student.
Since, in most cases, the course student activity (or lack Also, the degree of course manage-
content has been created and stored ment will evolve and become more
in the learning management system, thereof) more proactively. efficient with experience. The instruc-
some instructors may believe that tor will learn how to clearly define
their role of providing the course progress adjustments where and and communicate student expecta-
content is complete and therefore when necessary. tions as well as define and communi-
their role as instructors in the online NOTE: The term “course manage- cate their own performance
experience is complete. Just as we ment” can encompass many dimen- standards. With a new course, new
expect in the face-to-face classroom, sions of the educational experience. instructor and perhaps new students,
the online instructor is required to be For example, managing student it will be necessary to monitor and
visible and active in leading the rosters, assigning team structures, respond to student activity (or lack
learning experience. The second ex- grading assignments and submitting thereof) more proactively. Through
pectation in the list describes the type grades and taking discipline action trial and error, the instructor will
of active participation required in the can all be part of “course manage- develop a sense of where and when
online classroom and speaks to the ment.” For the purposes of this to insert course management strate-
need for class oversight and article, “course management” is used gies that lead to the best learning
management. to refer to those activities directly outcomes for the students positively.
related to the teaching and learning The challenge for the online in-
Principle # 2: Practice activities involved in the online structor is to find the degree of inter-
Proactive Course Management course. action and intervention that works
Strategies Now I wholly expect this expecta- with the dynamics of their online
The online instructor can help tion to raise a few eyebrows and even classroom. The goal is to structure
create a successful learning experi- draw a knee-jerk reaction of “I expect the course management strategies so
PAGE 8
ence by practicing proactive course my students to monitor their own
management strategies. These strate- progress in the course, just like in my
PAGE 12
all class participants appreciate this important predictability is inter-
educational freedom, it is often a re- rupted. Communicating changes to
A Reasonable Response
Timeframe
By Lawrence C. Ragan, PhD. The challenge for the online instruc-
tor is defining a reasonable timeframe
for responding to student inquiries, as-
signments, or discussion postings. An
he “10 principles” of online in- how we do our work and play. With
T
instructor once stated that they fully
structor performance have thus the speed of our modems and penetra- intended to be active and responsive
far focused on proactive strate- tion of broadband access, we have to their learners by checking into the
gies that ensure the instructor is come to count on an immediate and course “at least once a week!”
visible and active in the online ready response to our inquiries and Needless to say, this response rate
classroom. This article discusses a communications. We become annoyed would be unacceptable to most partici-
“reasonable” time frame for instruc- at the web site that takes too long to pants when the entire online learning
tors in responding to student inquiries. load or the colleague or family experience may be only 14 or 15
member that takes to long to respond weeks long! In a course with a shorter
Principle # 5: Response to our email. It’s as though someone duration, this rate or response would
Requested and Expected slipped a little note under our door prove detrimental to student progress.
Timely instructor feedback is marked “urgent reply requested” when Left to individual instructor discre-
essential for the online learner in order we receive an email requiring a tion, a “reasonable” response
to manage their learning experience. response. Each email seems to be timeframe may vary from 24 to 72
Instructors are expected to provide marked “urgent!” hours. Depending on the nature of the
feedback to student inquiries within Whether we agree or not on the course, content domain, expectations
one business day. If the instructor amount of time we expect until we get of the audience, course duration, and
cannot provide a detailed response a response, we have developed indi- the support system provided, this
within one business day, the instructor vidual “norms” for how long it should range may be considered acceptable.
is asked to respond to the student take before we send a second “gentle Industry standards suggest a reason-
within one business day to note when reminder” message or, finally in frus- able response timeframe of one
a more detailed response will be tration, pick up the phone and attempt business day (24 hours) during the
provided. a response via the old fashion person- week and 48 hours over a weekend.
to-person voice method! Don’t you This window of response enables both
Expecting a Response NOW hate it when your inquiry goes unan- the instructor and learner to establish
Much of our academic and personal swered within our expected time a rhythm of interaction that supports
lives now include some dimension of frame? learner progress and is manageable for
information technology. It has become A delay in the response rate for the the instructor. It also implies that the
the expectation that we all have, and online learner is complicated by the instructor is attending to the course
use, email accounts and instant fact that further progress in their activities at least once per weekday,
messaging systems for connecting academic work may hinge on the in- and at least once over the weekend.
with our children. We are quick to structor’s reply or feedback to an idea Without clearly defined guidelines
use web searches for information or question. In the case of the true and expectations, instructors are left to
gathering before setting out for a distance online learner, this delay of determine their own standards leading
vacation or purchasing a large ticket response is multiplied by the lack of to wider variations between courses. If
item. The impact of these communica- contact with the learning institution. the online learner is participating in
PAGE 14
tion and information tools is at first The learner is less able to stop by the
subtle but quickly becomes integral to instructor’s office or even to check in
PAGE 16
tion. The delicate and intricate art and ideas, opinions, humor, criticisms or
science of human-to-human communi- praise represents a “simpler” form of
he 10 principles of online in- students are able to monitor their random meetings between instructor
PAGE 22
almost instantaneously. provide a quality experience, consider-
Another complementary develop- ation must be given to the strategies
A
to date:
of online instruction series,
let’s review the list as it stands
the same technology as is required
for student participation. Online
course delivery requires access to
early in the morning through the late
evening hours. Many instructors ap-
preciated and embrace the freedom
1: Show Up and Teach high-speed Internet access (DSL, this allows for time management over
2: Practice Proactive Course cable modem, or satellite). the duration of the course offering.
Management Strategies Instructors should access the Conceptually at least, the total
3: Establish Patterns of Course complete description of the technical amount of time required to instruct
Activities requirements for their program in the course would be equal to that of
4: Plan for the Unplanned order to ensure compliance. The the face-to-face but is distributed over
5: Response Requested and online instructor is also expected to a longer period of time. This
Expected experience each functional dimension dimension of the online classroom
6: Think Before You Write of the online course in order to assess creates an expectation that the in-
7: Help Maintain Forward Progress systems functionality and structor has a similar technological
8: Safe and Secure performance. platform and bandwidth as the
9: Quality Counts students.
Required Functionality The technology requirements
This final statement rounds out the Most online learning systems posted by the institution as a require-
“top 10” by establishing the expecta- require learner access to high-speed ment of participation for the learner
tion that the online instructor ade- bandwidth for optimal systems per- can serve as a guide for the online in-
quately understands the online formance and functionality. It has structor as well. Typically these re-
learning platform available to the become increasingly difficult to quirements state the technology
online learner. This expectation has access and participate in the media- platform and connection rate for
two primary intents. The first is that and interactive-rich learning systems optimal systems performance. If the
the instructor is able to functionally typically encountered in today’s instructor determines that their
operate at the same level as the online classroom. With the advent of operating platform is significantly
students taking the course. The socially constructed social and different than what is required of the
second outcome of this expectation is learning spaces, such as collaborative learner, alternative arrangements may
that when the instructor experiences authoring documents and media rich be necessary. For example, if the in-
the performance and function of the publication systems, as well as virtual structor does not have access to
delivery system from the students’ learning spaces such as Second Life broadband connection, identifying
perspective, appropriate adjustments and Croquet, a broadband connec- other access locations such as local
can be made to the design of the tion, in many cases, is a requirement libraries, Internet cafes, or educa-
learning system, if required. of participation. Today’s online tional facilities may serve as
learner recognizes this requirement access sites.
Principle #10: (Double) Click a as a cost of the advantage of the
PAGE 24
Mile on My Connection “anytime/anyplace” educational op-
The online instructor needs portunity.
www.magnapubs.com