A FREE PUBLICATION FROM THE CREATORS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSOR

advice to online instructors

Keep Your Classes on Track During the Holidays

This time of year is always one of the most difficult times for students to focus on their studies. In the online classroom it can be an especially challenging to keep students engaged, serious, and committed to assignments and deadlines. For while students in the face-to-face classroom know they must be in X classroom on Y days at Z time each week—no matter the month—the casual setup of the online classroom can bust wide open if not addressed during these holiday months.

Errol Craig Sull December 1, 2009

Synching up with Your Asynchronous Learners

Some students are reluctant to enroll in online courses, afraid they will miss some of the social aspects of the face-to-face classroom. For these students, it makes sense to incorporate online synchronous sessions to provide some of the benefits of the face-to-face class while maintaining most of the flexibility of an asynchronous online course.

Rob Kelly November 23, 2009

Seven Easy Ways to Personalize Your Online Course

In order to be part of an effective learning community, online learners need to feel the presence of the instructor and fellow learners. Jane Dwyer, a senior lecturer at Rivier College, uses the following techniques to create this sense of social presence in her online psychology courses:

Rob Kelly November 17, 2009

Taking a Learner-Centered Approach in Online Courses

One of the biggest changes in recent years has been the adoption of student-centered instruction. Here are a few tips for taking this approach to teaching in your online courses:

Errol Craig Sull November 10, 2009

Tips for Managing Large Online Classes

The following tips from Susan Ko, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Maryland University College, will help you maintain course quality and interaction in large online courses:

Rob Kelly November 6, 2009

Tools of Engagement: Technologies and Strategies for All Learning Styles

How do you motivate online learners?

It’s an age-old question that continues to stump online instructors as well as the managers of distance education programs trying to solve the attrition problem that continues to drag down this otherwise thriving segment of higher education.

Mary Bart October 28, 2009

Understanding the Instructor’s Role in Facilitating Online Discussions

In my classroom-based courses I have always valued discussion as a powerful learning tool that provides students with opportunities to explain their reasoning and understanding, learn different perspectives and points of view, and re-think and possibly revise their own conceptions based on careful reflection of potentially disparate viewpoints. As I prepared to teach my first online course five years ago, it was only natural that discussion would be a part of it.

Michelle Everson PhD. October 19, 2009

Understanding What’s Needed for Online Teaching Success

Larry Ragan, director of faculty development for Penn State World Campus, may have given a new spin to the old expression “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Except, unlike the philosophical musing that’s become immortalized as one of those motivational posters, Ragan’s focus is on improving online learning.

Mary Bart October 12, 2009

Reaching Online Students with Learning Disabilities

Students with disabilities are drawn to online courses for many of the same reasons as everyone else, but it’s often the anonymity that makes learning

Mary Bart September 30, 2009

A Modular Course Design Benefits Online Instructor and Students

Andrea Henne, dean of online and distributed learning in the San Diego Community College District, recommends creating online courses composed of modules—discrete, self-contained learning experiences—and uses a course development method that specifies what to include in each module.

Rob Kelly September 15, 2009

A FREE PUBLICATION FROM THE CREATORS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSOR

advice to online instructors

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