Effective Online Teaching Techniques

These are the slides and some resources from my workshop on "Effective Online Teaching Techniques." It relies heavily on Chickering and Gamson because I like to emphasize that the same principles that make face-to-face teaching effective are the same principles that make for effective online teaching.

What resources would you suggest for teachers new to online teaching? Feel free to add to the comments below. 

• Anderson, Terry & Elloumi, Fathi. (2004) Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University.
• Boettcher, J.V. (2011) “Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online: Quick Guide for New Online Faculty.” Design for Learning.
• Cain, Geoffrey B. (2012) “15 Time-Saving Tips for Teaching Online”. Brainstorm in Progress.
• Chickering, Arthur W. & Ehrmann, Stephen C. (1996) “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever.” The TLT Group. 
• Chickering, Arthur W. & Gamson, Zelda F. (1987) “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.” Washington Center News.   
• Codde, Joseph R. (2006) “Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.”  Michigan State University.  
• Shelton, Kaye. (2006) Online Teaching Tips. Dallas Baptist University Online Education Program. 
• Rubric for Online Instruction. (2009). CSU Chico  

12 Time-Saving Tips for Teaching Online

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Online learning saves time for students. Students in online courses have 24/7 access to their course materials, other students, and their instructor. For working students, this is an incredible benefit. But we often hear that online learning takes a lot of an instructor’s time. I have found that it can be, but when a course is set up in advance to take advantage of a learning management system’s features, a lot of time can be saved. Many of these techniques make for a more engaging experience for the students and less stress for the instructor.

Here are some of my favorite time-saving tips. Please add to them!

1. Create a comprehensive syllabus.

• Utilize a "Week Zero," a module that explains to new students how to be an online student and use the learning management system (LMS).
  
• Direct students to tech support and the help desk as much as possible.
• Create a course “scavenger hunt.”

2. Use a syllabus quiz.
3. Make your course easy to navigate.

• Keep as much content as you can no more than two clicks away.
• Use a consistent format week-to-week or module-to-module.

4. Schedule your time.

• Do not work on your online course because you can; work on it because you have scheduled the time.
• Let the students know your schedule.
• Access your course consistently (e.g. three times a week) and respond to email promptly (with-in 48 hours).

5. Automate your course as much as possible.

• Take advantage of the time-release feature of announcements.
• Record and reuse lectures.
• Let the LMS handle as much of the grading as you can.

6. Distributing and exchanging documents.

• Use the assignment feature of your LMS instead of e-mail.
• Have the students attach documents to a forum posting.

7. Centralize question and answers.

• Use a discussion forum for “Frequently Asked Questions.”
• Create a FAQ page.
• Ask students to ask questions in the forum rather than e-mail.

8. Use online groups with a deliverable

• Let the students do the work.
• Do not respond to every posting, respond to the group deliverable.

9. Use a "common responses" file to quickly paste in answers to common questions.
10. Allow students to facilitate online discussions.
11. Use a detailed grading rubric to help answer questions in advance.
12. Encourage student-student interaction and study groups.

• Give them the space to solve problems.

What about you? How do you streamline your online teaching process? Leave a comment below if you have any time saving tips.