Table of Contents
List of Tables, Figures, and Exhibits xv
Foreword xvii
Preface xxi
Acknowledgments xxii
About the Authors xxiii
Introduction xxv
PART ONE: CORE PRINCIPLES AND BEST PRACTICES OF ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING 1
1 Teaching Online: The Big Picture 3
Preparing to Teach in the Online and Blended Environments 4
Uh?]Oh. What Did I Say I Would Do? 4
Is This You? 5
The Definition of a Course 6
How Do Online and Blended Courses Differ from Traditional Courses? 8
Types of Online and Blended Courses 10
The Four Stages of a Course 13
Learning Theories and Theorists 13
Summary—and What’s Next 22
2 Pedagogical Principles for Effective Teaching and Learning: Ten Core Learning Principles 23
Background of the Ten Core Learning Principles 25
Ten Core Learning Principles 26
Principle 1: Every Structured Learning Experience Has Four Elements, with the Learner at the Center 27
Principle 2: Learners Bring Their Own Personalized and Customized Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes to the Learning Experience 30
Principle 3: Faculty Mentors Are the Directors of the Learning Experience 32
Principle 4: All Learners Do Not Need to Learn All Course Content; All Learners Do Need to Learn the Core Concepts 33
Principle 5: Every Learning Experience Includes the Environment or Context in Which the Learner Interacts 35
Principle 6: Every Learner Has a Zone of Proximal Development That Defines the Space That a Learner Is Ready to Develop into Useful Knowledge 36
Principle 7: Concepts Are Not Words But Organized and Interconnected Knowledge Clusters 37
Principle 8: Different Instruction Is Required for Different Learning Outcomes 38
Principle 9: Everything Else Being Equal, More Time on Task Equals More Learning 39
Principle 10: We Shape Our Tools, and Our Tools Shape Us 40
Summary—and What’s Next 41
3 Best Practices for Teaching Online: Ten Plus Four 43
Best Practices for Online and Blended Teaching and Learning 44
Best Practice 1: Be Present at Your Course 44
Three Types of Presence 46
Best Practice 2: Create a Supportive Online Course Community 47
Best Practice 3: Develop a Set of Explicit Workload and Communication Expectations for Your Learners and for Yourself 48
Best Practice 4: Use a Variety of Large Group, Small Group, and Individual Work Experiences 50
Best Practice 5: Use Synchronous and Asynchronous Activities 51
Best Practice 6: Ask for Informal Feedback Early in the Term 52
Best Practice 7: Prepare Discussion Posts That Invite Responses, Questions, Discussions, and Reflections 53
Best Practice 8: Think Digital for All Course Content 54
Best Practice 9: Combine Core Concept Learning with Customized and Personalized Learning 55
Best Practice 10: Plan a Good Closing and Wrap Activity for the Course 57
Four More Best Practices for Online and Blended Teaching and Learning 57
Best Practice 11: Assess as You Go by Gathering Evidences of Learning 58
Best Practice 12: Rigorously Connect Content to Core Concepts and Learning Outcomes 58
Best Practice 13: Develop and Use a Content Frame for the Course 59
Best Practice 14: Design Experiences to Help Learners Make Progress on Their Novice?]to?]Expert Journey 60
Summary—and What’s Next 61
4 Technology Tools to Support Teaching and Learning 62
Guidelines for Choosing and Using Technology Tools 63
Basic Set of Technology Tools for Online and Blended Teaching and Learning 65
Basic Set of Digital Technology Tools: Their Teaching and Learning Purposes 66
More Thoughts on the Basic Tools 70
Tools for Practicing Contextual Knowledge and Exploring Possibilities 74
Staying in Sync with Tools 77
5 Four Phases of a Course: Themes and Happenings 79
Phase 1 Course Beginnings: Starting Off on the Right Foot 79
Phase 2 Early Middle: Keeping the Ball Rolling 85
Phase 3 Late Middle: Letting Go of the Power 90
Phase 4 Closing Weeks: Pruning, Reflecting, and Wrapping Up 97
Summary—and What’s Next 103
PART TWO: SIMPLE, PRACTICAL, AND PEDAGOGICALLY BASED TIPS 105
6 Phase 1: Course Beginnings: Starting off on the Right Foot 107
Tips for the Course Beginnings 107
Course Beginnings Tips Overview 109
Getting Started—Preparing Your Syllabus and Course Site 109
Getting Started—Preparing Your Syllabus and Course Site 110
CB Tip 1: Essential Elements of an Online or Blended Course Syllabus and Course Site 110
CB Tip 2: More on the Significant Elements of an Online or Blended Syllabus 118
CB Tip 3: Creating a Syllabus That Jump?]starts Learning 122
CB Tip 4: Using “Bookending” to Add Structure and Meaning to Your Course 127
CB Tip 5: Generating Energy and Purpose with Specific Learning Goals 130
Getting Started—Launching Your Course 134
CB Tip 6: Hitting the Ground Running: Maximizing the First Week 134
CB Tip 7: Launching Your Social and Cognitive Presence 136
CB Tip 8: Getting to Know Students’ Minds: The Vygotsky Zone of Proximal Development 140
CB Tip 9: Getting into the Swing of a Course: Is There an Ideal Weekly Rhythm? 142
Creating and Managing Discussion Posts 145
CB Tip 10: The Why and How of Discussion Boards: Their Role in the Online Course 145
CB Tip 11: Characteristics of Good Discussion Questions 148
CB Tip 12: Power Questioning for Meaningful Discussions 154
CB Tip 13: Response Posts—A Three?]Part Structure 158
CB Tip 14: Discussion Wraps: A Useful Cognitive Pattern or a Collection of Discrete Thoughts? 160
CB Tip 15: Using Discussion Forums to Gather Evidence of Learning 162
CB Tip 16: Feedback in Discussion Posts—How Soon, How Much, and Wrapping Up 166
CB Tip 17: The Faculty Role in Blended and Online Courses 168
Summary—and What’s Next 171
7 Phase 2: Keeping the Ball Rolling in the Early Middle 172
Tips for the Early Middle 172
EM Tip 1: Tools for Teaching Presence: E?]mails, Announcements, and Discussion Forums 174
EM Tip 2: Monitoring Student Progress Using Learning Management Systems 177
EM Tip 3: Early Feedback Loop from Learners to You 178
EM Tip 4: Early Feedback Tools: Rubrics, Quizzes, and Peer Review 181
EM Tip 5: Steps in Memory?]Making: What Teaching Behaviors Make a Difference 184
Summary 187
EM Tip 6: Tips for Making Your Grading Time Efficient and Formative for Learners 188
EM Tip 7: Dealing with Difficult Students—What Do You Do? 191
Building the Cognitive Presence 195
EM Tip 8: Building Cognitive Presence Using the Practical Inquiry Model 196
EM Tip 9: Core Concepts of a Course—Do You Know Yours? 198
EM Tip 10: Designing Assessment Plans for Online and Blended Courses 202
EM Tip 11: Three Best Assessment Practices 205
EM Tip 12: Assignments for the Evaluating and Creating Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy 210
Strategies and Tools for Building Community 213
EM Tip 13: Collaborating with Groups of Two or Three—Casual Grouping 214
EM Tip 14: Group Projects in Online Courses: Setting Up and Structuring Groups 216
EM Tip 15: Using Synchronous Collaboration Tools 220
EM Tip 16: Using Audio and Video Resources to Create a More Engaging Course 222
Summary—and What’s Next 225
8 Phase 3: Letting Go of Power in the Late Middle 226
Overview of Late Middle Tips 226
Going Deeper: Leveraging the Power of Questions 228
LM Tip 1: Questions and Answers: Upside Down and Inside Out 228
LM Tip 2: Three Techniques for Making Your Students’ Knowledge Visible 230
LM Tip 3: Developing Rigor in Our Questioning: Eight Intellectual Standards 232
LM Tip 4: Moving Beyond Knowledge Integration to Defining Problems and Finding Solutions 237
Feedback for Cognitive Growth 239
LM Tip 5: “Are You Reading My Postings? Do You Know Who I Am?” Simple Rules for Feedback in Online Learning 239
LM Tip 6: Feedback on Assignments: Being Timely and Efficient 244
LM TIP 7: Substantive Feedback: Doing It Wisely and Well 248
LM Tip 8: Rubrics for Analyzing Critical Thinking 252
Assessing Learning as You Go with Projects 255
LM Tip 9: Customizing and Personalizing Learning Projects 256
LM Tip 10: Managing and Facilitating Group Projects 259
LM Tip 11: Assessing Group Projects 261
LM Tip 12: Four Effective Practices During Project Time 264
Community Empowerment and Social Networking 267
LM Tip 13: Course Middles and Muddles: Souped?]Up Conversations That Help Build Community 268
LM Tip 14: Using Social Networking Techniques to Build a Learning Community 269
LM Tip 15: Experts: A Touch of Spice 272
Summary—and What’s Next 275
9 Phase 4: Pruning, Reflecting, and Wrapping Up 277
Tips for the Closing Weeks 277
Meaningful Projects and Presentations 279
CW Tip 1: Using What?]If Scenarios: Flexing Our Minds with Possibilities 279
CW Tip 2: Stage 3 of a Learning Community: Stimulating and Comfortable Camaraderie 281
CW Tip 3: Learners as Leaders 283
CW Tip 4: Course Wrapping with Concept Mapping: Capturing Course Content Meaningfully 285
CW Tip 5: Using Case Studies in Online Courses: Making Content Real 290
Preparing for the Course Wrap 294
CW Tip 6: Pausing, Reflecting, and Pruning Strategies 294
CW Tip 7: Closing Experiences: Wrapping Up a Course with Style 296
CW Tip 8: Real?]Time Closing Gatherings: Stories and Suggestions 299
CW Tip 9: Debriefing Techniques: What One Change Would Students Recommend? 302
Conclusion—and What’s Next 303
10 Teaching Accelerated Intensive Courses 305
Tips for Intensive Courses (IC) 305
IC Tip 1: Designing for Intensive Courses Using Content Framing and Case Studies 306
IC Tip 2: High?]Impact Practices for Short Courses: Reflections, Patterns, and Relationships 308
IC Tip 3: Developing Expertise in Short Courses: Can It Be Done? 313
Conclusion—and What’s Next 315
PART THREE: CONTINUING YOUR JOURNEY TO EXPERTISE 317
11 What’s Next: Reflecting and Looking Forward 319
Reflecting and Looking Forward Using the Four Course Phases 319
Reflecting and Looking Forward with the Learning Experiences Framework 325
Advice from Fellow Online Instructors 328
Conclusion: Innovation as a Three?]Phase Process 330
Appendix: Resources for Learning More about the Research and Theory of Teaching Online 333
References 339
Index 359
Subject Index 363
