Teaching Strategies and Techniques

Digital Content Curation

We run across excellent online content all the time. Instructional designers are always finding new tools and applications that would be of interest to faculty and course designers. Librarians also frequently have a wealth of information on systems that would benefit those involved in developing

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Tips from the Pros: Interactive Self-Checks

Many online courses still use static content such as readings, PowerPoint presentations, and the like. Students are not “doing” anything other than consuming the information. We wanted to buck this trend by providing more interactive and engaging content. We did so by creating the Conversations

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The Role of Questions in Online Teaching

One of the most common mistakes I see among online faculty is to misuse questions under the guide of teaching by “Socratic dialogue.” Faculty will drop comments such as “Why did the author take this position?” into the margins of a student’s assignment thinking that

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Three Common Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching Online

Hundreds of studies have demonstrated that there is no significant difference in learning outcomes between online and face-to-face courses. But many students still report having a bad experience with online education because their instructor makes some easily identified mistake when moving courses online.

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How to Keep from Going MIA in Your Online Course

As an adjunct professor and one who works daily with faculty in helping them understand online education, I have noticed and heard of increasing numbers of professors going missing in action (MIA) while teaching their online course. This is particularly disturbing since engagement is the

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What Research Tells Us about Online Discussion

Student discussion differentiates online education from the old correspondence courses. But there are still many questions to answer in order to facilitate good discussion online. Hong Zhiu, of the University of Texas at San Antonio, did a meta-analysis of studies of online discussion over the

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Tips from the Pros

Cultivating Relationships OnlineFaculty spend most of their training in learning their subject matter. But when 17,000 students were asked to list the qualities of an effective teacher, “respectful” and “responsive” came out above “knowledgeable.” Knowledge of the subject matter is more of a baseline for

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