Roadmap to the course
Nameth recommends beginning the course design process with the syllabus—the “roadmap” both for the instructor when designing the course and for students when they take the course. “There is a lot that we do as instructors face to face that perhaps we don’t realize we do and don’t realize its importance. In an online course, particularly in an asynchronous online course, there’s not that real-time feedback or guidance. Because of this, I came to regard my syllabus as a roadmap that really defines the course both for myself and my students,” Nameth says. “As students read through it, particularly before registering for the course, they can really get a sense of what the course will be about.”

To that end, Nameth includes information about the following elements in the syllabus:

• welcome message
• objectives
• assignments
• class norms
• communication methods
• technical requirements
• skills needed to take the course
• course structure
• log in information
• technical support

Having an extensive syllabus is important because from time to time student may not be able to access the course management system. For example, some assignments—such as readings from the textbook or essays—may not require students to work within the course management system. When the syllabus contains detailed information about the assignments, students can continue their progress in the course even when they are temporarily unable to access the course management system.

Nameth lists assignments in the syllabus and in the course management system by week and assignment number (e.g., W1 01 refers to week 1, assignment 1), which makes it easier for students to navigate the course.

What works?
Not everything that works in the face-to-face classroom will work online. Some elements will need to be reworked to fit the medium, and others will require an entirely different approach. “Remind yourself of the purpose of the course—the goals and objectives you set for yourself and the students,” Nameth says.
For example, a discussion activity that you normally do in the face-to-face class may not be suitable to the online format. A substitute may be having students watch a video clip and discuss it in a threaded discussion or write a short essay.

As with the face-to-face environment, once the course is created it will require changes. “I think some people still have the notion that because you’ve taught the course face to face many years it’s easy to [create an online version]. I’ve heard many times, ‘Once I get the lectures recorded and everything uploaded in Blackboard set the way I want it, I won’t really have to work on the course much any more. I won’t have to think about it. It will be easy. This will be a one-time transfer.’ I think that’s definitely a mistake. Just as in the face-to-face environment it takes tweaking. You might need to change your teaching style for a particular group of students. One group may need more scaffolding than another,” Nameth says.

When creating an online course it’s important to have realistic expectations. It would be great to include video clips in each module, but you need to consider the resources required to make that happen and how it will affect the learning experience and the level of support students might needs as a result.

Nameth recommends starting with a simple design and focusing on the learning outcomes and guarding against becoming overly excited about what various technologies can do. She recommends looking at the course from the perspective of the instructor, student, and educational technology expert. Access the course as a student and check to see if the instructions are clear, and try to anticipate what kind of support students might need if you include certain multimedia elements.

“Think about keeping it simple, true to your purpose, your learning objectives, and your enthusiasm for the course. When you put in a technical component, double-check the website. Make sure that it’s still working and easy to navigate. If you embed video, make sure that it can be viewed on a PC and a Mac. I do some things that require a Java update. Can I explain to students how to do that? Having one video in there can lead to hours of questions. Ask yourself, ‘If I were a student what would my questions be? What are the possible problems?’ As the instructor you should be prepared to answer those questions or points students to resources that can answer those questions,” Nameth says.

This is not to suggest that you should avoid using a variety of multimedia elements or tools that require some getting used to. They can be essential course elements. For example, in Nameth’s online pronunciations course, it was necessary for students to be able to record their voices, and one of the biggest problems was students plugging in their microphones incorrectly. The first few times she taught the course, Nameth received three to five emails per week (in two courses of 15 students each) asking for help setting up the microphone. Now, instead having to answer each email, she provides students with a diagram and a video that demonstrates the proper way to install the microphone. “The more experience we have and the more pitfalls we encounter, the better we become as instructors and communicators,” Nameth says.

Excerpted from Online Classroom (Dec. 2010): 1,3.

I’m Teaching Online Next Term: What Do I Have to Know?

Program includes a CD with the video presentation, plus supplemental materials, PowerPoint slides, and complete transcript • $99

New online instructors tend to face the virtual classroom with conflicting feelings of excitement and fear. While embracing the benefits of online learning, they also have a lot of questions … about the technology, about creating a teaching presence, about structuring their course, and much more.

Led by one of the most respected names in distance education – Lawrence C. Ragan, Ph.D., Director of Faculty Development for Penn State’s World Campus – this fast, focused presentation will provide you with a 12-step framework for online teaching success.

View a brief clip from the program:

Loaded with practical advice, you’ll learn the key steps involving:

• Learning management systems
• Course flow and structure
• Planning and calendars
• Creation of a teaching plan
• Establishing expectations
• Student evaluation and assessment
• Tech support
• And more

Along with the video program on CD, you’ll also receive a checklist of core competencies every online teacher should possess.

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This Magna 20 Minute Mentor includes a CD with the video presentation, supplemental materials, a copy of the PowerPoint slides and the program’s transcript.

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The faculty member’s point was well taken, and over the years Ragan and others on various committees at Penn State have worked to define:

Core competencies for online teaching success – Currently there are 28 competencies across the three main topic areas of technology, course administration, and pedagogy.

Online instructors’ performance expectations – Currently there are eight key performance expectations and a description of the associated behaviors.

Performance metrics – Although not all of the behaviors lend themselves to metrics, items such as feedback, availability and communication can be quantified.

“The online performance expectations are shared with online instructors as both a way to set the context for their online teaching experience and as a tool to help balance their own teaching expectations,” Ragan said. “They have been developed from almost 15 years of experience, best practices research, observations of what good instructors do, and student feedback.”

During the recent online video seminar Setting Expectations for Online Instructor Performance, Ragan explained the importance of defining expectations for the online classroom, as well as how to keep new instructors from getting overwhelmed.

Ragan also provided an overview of the eight performance expectations developed by the Penn State World Campus Performance Expectations Committee, and encouraged participants to adapt the categories and associated behaviors to the culture of their specific college or unit.

The online instructor performance expectations he discussed are:

1. Technology Access
The instructor is responsible for meeting the same technology requirements as required for students.

The instructor is expected to:

• Secure access to a high-speed bandwidth connection for class activities.
• Test all course-related technology prior to the start of the course.

2. Course Management and Instruction
The instructor is responsible for managing and teaching the class from start to finish.

The instructor is expected to:

• Follow the established and published course schedule.
• Conduct (that is, “teach”) the course within the scheduled time frame.
• Make and communicate schedule adjustments as necessary.
• Provide each student equal opportunity to succeed.

3. Preparation
The instructor is responsible for assuring that they possess the required skills and competencies for teaching online.

The instructor is expected to:

• Be operationally proficient in the course technology.
• Be prepared with the skills to teach online.
• Be able to complete the required administrative tasks necessary to complete the course.

4. Course Familiarity
The instructor is responsible for being adequately familiar with the online course.

The instructor is expected to:

• Be familiar with the syllabus including course milestones, due dates and critical course activities.
• Make changes to the syllabus as necessary and communicate the changes to the students.
• Review and be familiar with the course content.
• Identify and report inaccurate course content, confusing information and/or instructions, broken links, and other course design issues.
• Review the course teaching guide to gain an understanding of the intent/context of the course such as the author’s teaching philosophy, content, learning activities, and assessments.

5. Availability
The instructor is required to be available to the online learner for the duration of the course.

The instructor is expected to:

• Regularly access the online course.
• Notify students and appropriate administrative units if unable to log in to the course.

6. Communication
The online instructor is responsible for managing course–related communications.

The instructor is expected to:

• Clearly communicate student expectations.
• Communicate instructor class schedule and access.
• Actively participate in course-related discussions and activities where appropriate.

7. Feedback
The online instructor is responsible communicating with and providing feedback to students.

The instructor is expected to:

• Provide prompt feedback.
• Inform the learner of when they can expect a response if the instructor cannot provide a detailed response within 12 hours.
• Provide clear and concise feedback to explain the degree to which the student is achieving the course/lesson outcomes.
• Communicate to students when they can expect to receive graded feedback on assignments and exams.

8. Documentation & Record Keeping
The online instructor is responsible for maintaining records of course transactions and communications.

The instructor is expected to:

• Keep a record of communications with students including when other modes of communications are used.
• Record and communicate student progress information such as assignment and quiz grades.
• Post the final course grade promptly.

1. Teaching and Learning

• State objectives, expectations, and policies
• Establish communication rules and group decision-making norms
• Give prompt, effective feedback

“I believe that you absolutely have to have an understanding of the pedagogy in order to be successful. If you try to map over what worked for you in the classroom and you don’t make the accommodations – not that that was a bad thing, but if you don’t make the accommodations and understand the dynamics of how it is now going to occur in the online classroom – you’re going to struggle and I think your students are going to struggle. So I think that is really a critical dimension of being able to understand, and conceptualize, and manage that teaching and learning sphere. It’s very, very important.”

2. Technology Aptitude

• Know the LMS
• Seek technology assistance
• Be creative and flexible

“If I don’t make you successful with the foundation tools that you’re working with – that is, the learning management system, or if you’re using Web 2.0 technologies, or whatever the environment might be – it might be Illuminate Live or it might be Connect Pro – but if you’re not facile in those technologies, you are going to struggle and your students are going to struggle. So regardless of what tools are selected, I think the second largest category of competencies has to be around the technology.”

3. Classroom Administration/ Management

• Check and manage roster
• Submit grades according to University policy
• Manage drop/adds

“There are some non-negotiables in this teaching and learning process. For the institution, for example, a non-negotiable is the fact that you are able to submit grades on time and that students are able to see their progress as they move through the course, or that you’re able to manage the drop-add process. All of the mechanics, I think, have become so innate in us in the face-to-face environment that when we move to the online environment we sometimes forget that.”

4. Faculty Workload Management

• Define time frames
• Develop schedule and responsibilities
• Communicate expectations

“In listening to faculty, a critical element of their success is how they manage their time. I would argue that I can’t help you manage your time until you’ve had some experience. A little bit like attitude, I can probably give you some suggestions of things. I can suggest to you, for example, that you set defined timeframes during the day when you’re going to be teaching online, and that you try to prevent the course from bleeding into your home life, and your recreation life, and your vacation. I know none of you has ever done this, but sometimes faculty take their computers on family vacations and they’re still teaching their course. And I’m not sure what I would say to that one, except you’ve got to be careful; you have to be able to define those boundaries about when you’re teaching online and when you’re not.”

5. Building Community

• Foster dialog and interaction
• Provide for “space” for instructional & social interactions

“The need for the instructor to be able to craft this learning space where people feel valued and they’re contributing to it. Again, I would agree that that’s really, really important, and it’s certainly a potential outcome of a well-designed learning space. We have these tools, right, that allow us to do this, so why wouldn’t we take advantage of it?”

Excerpted from “Asking the Question: Rate the core competencies for online teaching.” Distance Education Report, 13.22 (2009): 5.

1. Roll call – Take attendance on the first day. A simple discussion board with a response of “I’m here” alerts you to who has not found the classroom site as well as provides documentation of the students’ presence in the course which may be required for the registrar or financial aid records.
2. Syllabus quiz – Give a syllabus quiz during the first week. This quiz provides an opportunity for students to experience the online testing environment and provides an incentive for students to read the syllabus and other important information.
3. Ask the class – Create an “ask the class” discussion area in each module/unit. This is a place for students to ask general questions (similar to raising your hand in class and asking a question) and encourages students to respond to each other.
4. To-do list – Create a to-do list as the first item in each module. This item provides an introduction to and guidelines on how to approach the material in the module. Clear directions significantly reduce confusion and provide time management suggestions to the student.
5. Establish rules and expectations – Disseminate clear and consistent rules and expectations such as when to turn in assignments, the beginning and ending date of units, turn-around time for responses to questions or feedback on assignments. If everyone knows the rules and expectations from the beginning of the course, it reduces the time needed for continuing clarifying these important topics. A message sent to students the week before the beginning of the course is a great opportunity to introduce these rules and establish the rigorous standards of the course.
6. Private office – Create a dropbox or private journal function for students to communicate with you on confidential matters. Using a private office within your online course removes course specific communications from your general e-mail and provides on-going documentation of your conversation with the student.
7. Roadmap to success – Write a clear and concise document of student expectations, responsibilities and accountability for learning. This document addresses items such as the policy on late work, how to get technical help, netiquette, the flexibility and mobility of online learning, technical requirements, and finally how to access university resources such as the library and the writing center.
8. Take advantage of tools and technology – Use online tools within the course management system such as student tracking, testing automation, self-grading or rubrics added to assignment dropboxes, to increase your efficiency. In addition, external tools such as a wiki, Google tools, a spreadsheet, or a database tracking system all can increase your efficiency. In general, handle each item only once—if you open an item, do something with it, don’t just peek and plan to come back later.
9. Establish a routine – Set your schedule. Get in the habit of going to your online courses at consistent times and know what you are going to do while at the course site. For example early Monday morning I check for unanswered questions or items in my private office, but I don’t enter the discussion at that time or grade assignments. Alternating time throughout the week (i.e. Monday in the morning, Tuesday in the afternoon and Thursday in the evening) increases the likelihood of being present when different groups of students are online and supports the asynchronous nature of most online learning courses.
10. Don’t re-invent – Use existing resources. There are a number of quality learning activities available on the web. Sources such as MERLOT (http://www.merlot.org) and YouTube (http://youtube.com) are potential resources. Using these resources can reduce the time needed to develop similar materials.

Hopefully with these strategies, instructors can enjoy the convenience and creativity of online teaching without feeling overwhelmed.

Deborah A. Raines, PhD , RN, ANEF, is the director of Scholarship of Teaching at The Center for Teaching and Learning, Florida Atlantic University.

When students are asked to help out, either directly or indirectly, a course can become more efficient and will run more smoothly, and the students can become more engaged with fewer concerns. Following are some suggestions on how to make the best use of your students as “assistants.”

Check out any suggestions and information found in discussion or chat forums. In the discussion and chat features of online courses, students offer information, insights, criticism, and suggestions on specific instructor questions related to the course—as well as on other student postings, the course overall, and even the instructor himself/herself. Read these thoroughly; there is much to be learned about problems in the present course, concerns students have with the subject matter, and confusion about instructor directions or comments.

Get a better sense of student learning needs from their lives. One of the biggest complaints students have about online courses is that they are too generic and theoretical, with little or no thought given to a course’s application in students’ real lives, in terms of “This is what I’m doing now” or “This is what I will be doing.” Yet when course information does touch the students in a meaningful, truly useful manner, it keeps students more engaged in the assignments and creates a better rapport throughout the course.

Two ways to ensure this are by reading the student biographical information that typically is posted at the beginning of a course and by posting a relevant question to the class, such as “How will the information in this course prove helpful in your everyday lives?” Use the information you learn about the students to insert activities, post resources, and offer discussion or chat questions that make the course more pertinent to them.

Post questions that will benefit the students and you—and your future courses. Ask class and individual questions of students relating to their experience in the course, their professional interests, and their course concerns. Don’t hesitate to ask students about other areas of the subject matter they would like to explore, what they think could make the course a more positive experience, and their overall reaction to your teaching of the course. By seeking this information, you can learn much to refine the course while it is being taught, to direct the course more toward student needs, and to improve upon future courses you teach.

When necessary, employ a buddy system to help weaker students. You will come across a student or two whose computer skills or basics in the subject you’re teaching may be very weak; the attention you must give all your students makes giving intense individual assistance to these students difficult if not impossible. To help, set up a buddy system: ask for student volunteers who will be available to answer another student’s questions during the course. You will find there are always students willing to volunteer; the end result is a class that is stronger and thus more engaged and vibrant. (Note that you should never promise extra credit or the like—it is not fair to the members of the class who may not have those strengths to offer.)

Be aware of problem areas that students encounter in navigating the course site. No course management system or course structure is perfect. Keep a master checklist of all items to look over before a course begins, and add those legitimate ones that students point out. This will only ensure that your next courses go smoother yet.

Let students remind you of your responsibility and role as an online instructor. Each student comes to you for guidance, information, insights, and suggestions on a subject so that he or she can become more adept with that subject. It makes no difference whether this is a core subject for a student’s major, a refresher course for a profession or certification, or an elective: the students themselves serve as a constant reminder that you are in the role of instructor because of your subject knowledge, your ability to teach, your adeptness at instructing online, your high ethical and moral standards, and your commitment to your school’s rules and policies. Never forget any of these elements; when you do, the students lose, the school falters, and you disappoint—all results that you never want in your teaching portfolio.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 14 years and has a national reputation in the subject. He has written and conducted workshops on it and is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book: How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from Teaching Online with Errol: The Online Instructor’s Hidden Assistant: The Online Student, Online Classroom, June 2009, 6-7.

• Are you familiar with your college’s intellectual property policy?
• Do you know if you own the class material you have created?
• Do you have permission to use all copyrighted materials you use regularly?
• Do you know how to prevent defamation and harassment issues online?
• Do you have a disability expert on campus that regularly assists in the development of online materials so that you do not violate disability guidelines?

If you answer “no” to any of the questions, you might be at risk for a lawsuit, says Rob Jenkins, associate professor of English at Georgia Perimeter College.

In a recent online seminar A Legal Primer for Online Instructors, Jenkins and Debi Moon, JD, assistant vice president of educational affairs at Georgia Perimeter College, discussed the top legal issues for online faculty and how they can limit their exposure.

Consider the following scenario: You are an online professor who has produced an award-winning online course and now want to sell your online materials to a large publishing house. Does your college have any rights to the material?

The answer? It depends.

What the courts would look at is whether your college has a formal policy that spells out intellectual property rights and whether you signed a contract regarding ownership rights at the start of your employment.

“Let me tell you what the general rule is,” says Moon. “If you created your materials in your office, using nothing but what’s called the ‘incidental use of college property,’ and that means using your [office] computer, more than likely, unless you had a contract or unless it said something in your intellectual property policy, you actually own all the rights to those materials.”

While that sounds cut and dried, there are also exceptions. For example, if you were paid a stipend beyond your salary to create the materials, or given a reduced workload, then the school likely will be given at least some ownership to the materials, Moon says. Moreover, if the creation is a “work for hire” as agreed in writing before work begins, then the college has complete ownership of the work, she says.

The best thing is to know your rights.

“The first thing you need to do, if you’re not familiar with exactly what your college’s intellectual property policy says, is go download a copy.” says Moon. “You might be surprised to find out, as I often am, that colleges sometimes don’t have a policy on intellectual property. I’m hoping yours does, so go download it and if you have questions about it, you need to talk to your chair, dean or your VPAA and find out exactly what your rights are. And I would insist, if you have any doubts, get it in writing that you own the rights to your material.”

Other scenarios covered during the seminar involved computer use policies, harassment and defamation issues, social media and privacy concerns, ADA guidelines, and finally copyright issues, which Jenkins says is probably the least understood area in online education.

There also are some “not-so-major items” that are important but don’t seem quite as crucial. However, when one of these is overlooked, it can become the ugliest wart on your class, resulting in negative student attitudes and a diminishing of your stature as instructor.

The following list contains a few of these “small things” that often are overlooked in online courses.

Look over your course before it begins. Because a course is usually preset by the school, many online faculty assume that everything is ready to go. But often this is not the case. Be sure to check for broken links, duplication of or missing assignments, and typos. Confirm that all course material is visible to the students and that grading/points have been assigned to each project, homework, and test; and that final exam dates (if applicable) and all related information are posted.

Check your spelling and grammar. Students will not appreciate emails, announcements, and other postings with spelling errors, typos, or punctuation/grammar errors. Sure, it takes a bit more time to check for these—but it’s your reputation and the school’s reputation at stake. While no one is perfect, students expect their instructors to be—and all it takes is one typo from you for a student to feel that you are not prepared to teach.

Be sure that page numbers in assignments match the text(s). Sometimes the assigned pages do not match the pages in the text(s) students have. This happens most often when an instructor is teaching a course again and again and forgets to check for a new edition of the text(s) being used, page numbers are entered incorrectly, or the text(s) you assigned does/do not match the one(s) ordered by the bookstore. Be sure all assigned readings are in sync with the text(s) used—your course will proceed much more smoothly if they are.

Make a checklist of all school policies applicable to your course. It is so easy to overlook or forget one or two school policies or procedures, especially if you are new to the school. Make a checklist so you won’t overlook any. If you are unsure of a policy, ask a supervisor.

Always be positive in your feedback and postings. You will be teaching many students, so you will be typing many thousands of words during one course; this can make it easy to overlook your tone or word choice now and then. Don’t let it happen. A negative tone, use of all caps, and no positives in assignment feedback, emails, or other postings can be devastating to a student. So check all before you send, and always end each missive with an upbeat, optimistic tone.

Be substantive in your announcements, feedback, postings, etc. Students can’t see you (except in rare webinars) or shake hands with you; all they have are your words, so it is crucial that they are, for the most part, many. The “Great paragraph, Tom!” or “Good point, Cathy!” postings are fine, but they should never be representative of your writings to students. Be substantive (and do so often, not occasionally) in these so they know that you are invested in the class, care about the class, and are interested in the class.

Keep track of the errors and oversights you discover for future courses. We all make mistakes in each course we teach. But as long as we use these errors as lessons to improve ourselves, they are not for naught. Make a list of these errors and keep them handy so that when you next teach a course the same problems will not occur. Your class will run more smoothly, the students will have a more positive learning experience, and you’ll feel more relaxed.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 14 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: In Teaching Online Never Overlook the Small Things, March 2009, Online Classroom.

Results of the 2009 Managing Online Education Survey, a collaborative initiative of the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) and The Campus Computing Project, were discussed Oct. 29 in a live online seminar featuring Kenneth C. Green, founding director of The Campus Computing Project, and Russell Poulin, interim executive director of WCET.

The goal of the survey was not so much to quantify the growth of online education, though there were a few questions on that and not surprisingly 95 percent reported an increase in the number of enrollments, but to get to the heart of the operational, instructional, and IT issues for online programs.

The survey covered a wide range of important planning and policy issues including faculty training, support services, tuition, ADA compliance, and assessment. Some of the key findings are:

• Organizational structures for online education programs are in a state of flux with 45 percent having restructured their management of online programs in the past two years and 52 percent anticipating they will restructure in the next years. Further, 29 percent reorganized during the past two years and expect another reorganization soon.
• In terms of profitability, only 1.6 percent report that their institution lost money on online programs. Forty-five percent report having profitable programs and a surprisingly large 45 percent of campuses don’t know if they’re making or losing money with online education.
• More than three-fourths (77 percent) of institutions in the survey report that they limit class size for online courses, with 37 students being the average enrollment cap.
• Tech support, a critical but sometimes overlooked factor to online student success, ranged from 24/7 support provided by 36 percent of institutions to Mon.-Fri. 9-5 support offered by 17 percent.
• Slightly over half (53 percent) of the institutions surveyed report mandatory technology training for faculty teaching online programs.
• Despite the emergence of a whole host of low-cost and easy-to-use web-based technologies, online courses rely heavily on traditional print materials. Eighty-five percent say textbooks are “widely used” in their programs.

Green and Poulin noted that while anecdotal information about how different campuses are managing their online programs is plentiful, they hope the data gathered with the survey will be “a catalyst for conversations” with regards to campus planning and policy decisions.

The survey data are based on responses from 182 senior campus officials at two- and four-year public and private U.S. colleges and universities who were surveyed in September and October 2009.

10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching:
Best Practices in Distance Education

Teaching online for the first time is a little like trying to drive a car 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.

If you’d like to better understand the “rules of the road” for online teaching and learning, 10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education is the perfect guidebook.

10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education

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In the traditional college classroom today, faculty and students arrive with a set of expectations, shaped largely by past experiences. And although students may need the occasional (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. Variables that, if not managed properly, can lead to frustration and an overall bad experience for teacher and learner.

This special report features a series of columns by Dr. Lawrence C. Ragan, Director of Instructional Design and Development for Penn State’s World Campus, and will help you establish online instructor best practices and performance expectations. The following snippets are just a taste of the insider’s advice found in the full report:

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #1 Show Up and Teach — The necessity of this statement is borne of the misimpression that the online class “teaches itself.” Since most of the course is already authored and designed for online delivery, instructors may believe they simply need to serve as the proverbial “guide on the side” as the students navigate the learning system. Not true!

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #2 Practice Proactive Course Management Strategies — The online instructor can help create a successful learning experience by practicing proactive course management strategies such as monitoring assignment submissions, and communicating and reminding students of missed and/or upcoming deadlines.

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #3 Establish Patterns of Course Activities — Although the online classroom environment provides tremendous flexibility of time and place of study, establishing and communicating a course pace and pattern of work can aid both instructor and student, and alleviate confusion around how the course operates.

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #4 Plan for the Unplanned — For those small or not-so-small occasions when “life happens,” having a strategy for informing students of these changes can go a long way to maintaining course continuity.

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #5 Response Requested and Expected — Timely instructor feedback is essential for the online learner to manage their learning experience. Instructors are expected to respond to student inquiries within one business day.

10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education

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Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #6 Think Before You Write — Most experienced online instructors can relay a variety of stories about a dialogue with a student that went awry due to a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the intended message. Take special care to be as clear and concise as possible.

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #7 Help Maintain Forward Progress — Students in the online classroom rely on the timely return of assignment and exam grades in order to maintain positive forward progress in their studies.

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #8 Safe and Secure — Using the institutionally supported learning management system provides increased degrees of security and confidentiality and keeps “institutional business” within the appropriate confines.

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #9 Quality Counts — Instructors need to establish strategies for addressing the quality of the online learning experience, including content resources, instructional design strategies, and systems performance.

Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #10 (Double) Click a Mile on My Connection — As with many aspects of the online classroom, the technological infrastructure plays a critical role in determining student and instructor satisfaction.

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Faculty Focus contains a wealth of valuable material – not just about best practices in distance education, but all of the key issues that matter to today’s top faculty and administrators. It’s packed with strategies, tips, and other information you can use on the topics that impact your students, your school and your work, including:

• Instructional Design
• Faculty Development
• Teaching Strategies
• Distance Learning
• Classroom Management
• Educational Assessment
• Faculty Evaluation
• Learning Styles
• Curriculum Development
• Community College Issues
• Trends in Higher Education
• And much, much more.

10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education will serve as a valuable guidebook for new online educators, or those who are looking for proven strategies to help them overcome the unique challenges of online teaching.

10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education

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