The Online Teaching Survival Guide

Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Foreword xxiii Introduction xvii 1 Teaching Online: The Big Picture 1 Preparing to Teach in the Online and Blended Environments 2 Uh-Oh. What Did I Say I Would Do? 2 Is This You? 3 The Definition of a Course 4 How Do Online and Blended Courses Differ from Traditional Courses? 6 Types of Online and Blended Courses 8 The Four Phases of a Course 10 Learning Theories and Theorists 11 Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934): Theory of Social Development 11 John Dewey (1859-1952): Experiential Learning 13 Jean Piaget (1896-1980): Theory of Genetic Epistemology or Origins of Thinking 14 Jerome Bruner (1915-2016): Constructivism 14 John Seely Brown (1940-): Cognitive Apprenticeship 15 Roger Schank (1946-): Schema Theory 16 Albert Bandura (1925-): Social Learning Theory 17 Jean Lave (1939-): Situated Learning Theory 17 K. Anders Ericsson (1946-2020): Expert Performance Theory 18 Ellen Langer (1947-): Theory of Mindful Learning 18 Daniel Goleman (1946-): Theory of Emotional Intelligence 18 Other Theorists and Influencers 19 Summary--and What's Next 19 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 20 2 Pedagogical Principles for Effective Teaching and Learning: 10 Core Learning Principles 21 Background of the 10 Core Learning Principles 23 Ten Core Learning Principles 24 Principle 1: Every Structured Learning Experience Has Four Elements, with the Learner at the Center 25 Principle 2: Learners Bring Their Own Personalized and Customized Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes to the Learning Experience 28 Principle 3: Faculty Mentors Are the Directors of the Learning Experience 30 Principle 4: All Learners Do Not Need to Learn All Course Content; All Learners Do Need to Learn the Core Concepts 31 Principle 5: Every Learning Experience Includes the Environment or Context in Which the Learner Interacts 33 Principle 6: Every Learner Has a Zone of Proximal Development That Defines the Space That a Learner Is Ready to Develop into Useful Knowledge 34 Principle 7: Concepts Are NotWords but Organized and Interconnected Knowledge Clusters 35 Principle 8: Different Instruction Is Required for Different Learning Outcomes 36 Principle 9: Everything Else Being Equal, More Time on Task Equals More Learning 37 Principle 10:We Shape Our Tools, and Our Tools Shape Us 38 Summary--and What's Next 39 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 40 3 Best Practices for Teaching Online: 10 Plus 4 41 Best Practices for Online and Blended Teaching and Learning 42 Best Practice 1: Be Present at Your Course 42 Best Practice 2: Create a Supportive Online Course Community 45 Best Practice 3: Develop a Set of Explicit Workload and Communication Expectations for Your Learners and for Yourself 46 Best Practice 4: Use a Variety of Large Group, Small Group, and Individual Work Experiences 48 Best Practice 5: Use Synchronous and Asynchronous Activities 49 Best Practice 6: Ask for Informal Feedback Early in the Term 50 Best Practice 7: Prepare Discussion Posts That Invite Responses, Questions, Discussions, and Reflections 50 Best Practice 8: Think Digital and Mobile for All Course Content 52 Best Practice 9: Combine Core Concept Learning with Customized and Personalized Learning 53 Best Practice 10: Plan a Good Closing andWrap Activity for the Course 55 Four More Best Practices for Online and Blended Teaching and Learning 55 Best Practice 11: Assess as You Go by Gathering Evidences of Learning 56 Best Practice 12: Rigorously Connect Content to Core Concepts and Learning Outcomes 56 Best Practice 13: Develop and Use a Content Frame for the Course 57 Best Practice 14: Design Experiences to Help Learners Make Progress on Their Novice-to-Expert Journey 58 Conclusion 58 Summary--and What's Next 59 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 59 4 Technology Tools to Support Teaching and Learning 61 Guidelines for Choosing and Using Technology Tools 62 Guideline 1: Pedagogy First, Technology Second 62 Guideline 2: Keep It Simple 62 Guideline 3: Involve Your Learners in Choices and Use of Digital Tools and Resources 63 Guideline 4: Have Choices and Backups for When the Cloud Disappears 64 Guideline 5: Review Your Technology Tool Set Every Two to Three Terms 64 Set One: Basic Technology Tools for Online and Blended Teaching and Learning 65 Communication Tools in Learning Management Systems 66 More Thoughts on the Basic Tools 71 Set Two: Enriched Basic Technology Tools 72 Set Three: Tools for Applying Knowledge in Authentic Contexts 75 Staying in Sync with Tools 77 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 78 5 Four Phases of a Course: Themes and Happenings 79 Phase 1 Course Beginnings: Starting Off on the Right Foot 79 Course Beginnings: Themes and Best Practices 79 What's Happening in Course Beginnings 83 Phase 2 Early Middle: Keeping the Ball Rolling 85 Early Middle: Themes and Best Practices 85 What's Happening in the Early Middle 89 Phase 3 Late Middle: Letting Go of the Power 90 Late Middle: Themes and Best Practices 90 What's Happening in the Late Middle 95 Phase 4 Closing Weeks: Pruning, Reflecting, andWrapping Up 97 Closing Weeks: Themes and Best Practices 97 What's Happening in the Closing Weeks 101 Summary--and What's Next 102 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 102 6 Phase 1: Course Beginnings 103 Overview of Tips for Course Beginnings 104 Preparing Your Syllabus and Course Site 104 Launching Your Course 105 Creating Meaningful and Stimulating Discussion Forums 105 Managing Discussion Forums 105 Preparing Your Syllabus and Course Site 105 CB Tip 1: Essential Elements of an Online or Blended Course Syllabus and Course Site 106 CB Tip 2: More on the Essential Elements of an Online or Blended Syllabus 114 CB Tip 3: Designing Learning for All 117 CB Tip 4: Creating a Syllabus That Jump-starts Learning 119 CB Tip 5: Using "Bookending" to Add Structure and Meaning 124 CB Tip 6: The Faculty Role in Blended and Online Courses 128 Launching Your Course 131 CB Tip 7: Hitting the Ground Running: How Not to Lose the First Week 131 CB Tip 8: Launching Social and Cognitive Presence 132 CB Tip 9: Generating Energy and Purpose with Specific Learning Goals 137 CB Tip 10: Getting to Know Students' Minds: The Vygotsky Zone of Proximal Development 140 CB Tip 11: Getting into the Swing of a Course: Is There an Ideal Weekly Rhythm? 142 Creating Meaningful and Stimulating Discussion Forums 145 CB Tip 12: The Why and How of Discussion Forums: Their Role in the Online Course 145 CB Tip 13: Four Types of Discussion Forums: Purpose, Structure, and Assessment 148 CB Tip 14: Characteristics and Examples of Good Discussion Questions 152 CB Tip 15: Power Questioning for Meaningful Discussions 157 CB Tip 16: Guided Student Response Posts--A Three-Part Structure 161 Managing Discussion Forums 162 CB Tip 17: Discussion Wraps: A Useful Cognitive Pattern or a Collection of Discrete Thoughts? 163 CB Tip 18: Using Discussion Postings to Gather Evidence of Learning 166 CB Tip 19: Feedback in Discussion Posts--How Soon, How Much, andWrapping Up 168 Summary--and What's Next 170 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 170 7 Phase 2: Keeping the Ball Rolling in the Early Middle 171 Overview of Tips for the Early Middle 171 Monitoring and Managing Communications 172 Memory, Metacognition, and Learning Guides 172 Building Cognitive Presence 172 Strategies and Tools for Building Community 172 Monitoring and Managing Communications 173 EM Tip 1: Tools for Teaching Presence: Announcements, E-mails, Discussion Forums, and Texting 173 EM Tip 2: Monitoring Student Progress Using Analytics 176 EM Tip 3: Early Feedback--It's a Two-Way Street 178 EM Tip 4: Tips for Making Grading Time Efficient and Formative 182 EM Tip 5: Dealing with Difficult Students--What Do You Do? 185 Memory, Metacognition, and Learning Skills 190 EM Tip 6: Steps in Memory Making: What Behaviors Make a Difference 190 EM Tip 7: Promoting Metacognitive Skills--Activities for Thinking About Thinking 194 EM Tip 8: Student Guides for Course Reading and Listening Resources 198 Building the Cognitive Presence 201 EM Tip 9: Building Cognitive Presence Using the Practical Inquiry Model 201 Conclusion 204 EM Tip 10: Core Concepts of a Course--Do You Know Yours? 204 EM Tip 11: Assessment Plans for Online and Blended Courses 208 An Assessment Plan That Is Distributed and Continuous 210 EM Tip 12: Three Best Assessment Practices 211 EM Tip 13: Assignments for the Evaluating and Creating Levels of Bloom's Taxonomy 215 Strategies and Tools for Building Community 218 EM Tip 14: Collaborating with Groups of Two or Three--Micro-Teaming 219 EM Tip 15: Projects in Online Courses: Setting Up and Structuring Groups 221 EM Tip 16: Using Synchronous Gathering Apps 224 EM Tip 17: Using Audio and Video to Create Engaging Learning Experiences 226 Summary--and What's Next 228 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 228 8 Phase 3: Letting Go of Power in the Late Middle 229 Overview of Tips for the Late Middle 229 Going Deeper: Leveraging the Power of Questions 230 Feedback for Cognitive Growth 230 Assessing Learning as You Go with Projects 231 Community Empowerment and Social Networking 231 Going Deeper: Leveraging the Power of Questions 231 LM Tip 1: Questions and Answers: Upside Down and Inside Out 231 LM Tip 2: Three Techniques for Making Your Students' Knowledge Visible 233 LM Tip 3: Developing Rigor in Questioning: Eight Intellectual Standards 235 LM Tip 4: Moving Beyond Knowledge Integration to Defining Problems and Finding Solutions 240 Feedback for Cognitive Growth 242 LM Tip 5: Timely Feedback on Assignments and Using Rubrics 243 LM TIP 6: Substantive Feedback: Doing It Wisely andWell 248 LM Tip 7: Rubrics for Analyzing Critical Thinking 252 Assessing Learning as You Go with Projects 254 LM Tip 8: Customizing and Personalizing Projects 255 LM Tip 9: Managing and Facilitating Group Projects 258 LM Tip 10: Assessing Group Projects 260 LM Tip 11: Four Coaching Practices During Project Time 263 Community Empowerment and Social Networking 266 LM Tip 12: Course Middles and Muddles: Souped-Up Conversations to Spark Energy 266 LM Tip 13: Using Social Networking to Build Community 268 LM Tip 14: Experts: A Touch of Spice 270 Summary--and What's Next 273 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 273 9 Phase 4: Pruning, Reflecting, andWrapping Up 275 Overview of Tips for the Closing Weeks 275 Meaningful Projects and Presentations 276 Preparing for the Course Wrap 276 Meaningful Projects and Presentations 276 CW Tip 1: Using What-If Scenarios: Flexing Our Minds with Possibilities 277 CW Tip 2: Stage 3 of a Learning Community: Stimulating and Comfortable Camaraderie 279 CW Tip 3: Learners as Leaders 281 CW Tip 4: Course Wrapping with Concept Mapping: Capturing Course Content Meaningfully 284 CW Tip 5: Using Case Studies: Making Content Real 288 Preparing for the Course Wrap 292 CW Tip 6: Pausing, Reflecting, and Pruning Strategies 293 CW Tip 7: Gaming Activities for Energy, Learning and Engagement 295 CW Tip 8: Closing Experiences: Wrapping Up a Course with Style 298 CW Tip 9: Debriefing Techniques: What One Change Would Students Recommend? 301 Conclusion--and What's Next 302 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 302 10 Teaching Accelerated Intensive Courses 303 Overview of Tips for Intensive Courses (IC) 303 IC Tip 1: Designing Intensive Courses Using Content Framing and Case Studies 304 IC Tip 2: High-Impact Practices for Short Courses: Reflections, Patterns, and Relationships 306 IC Tip 3: Developing Expertise in Intensive Courses: Can It Be Done? 310 Conclusion--and What's Next 313 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 313 11 Flexible Learning Models and Experiences 315 Overview of Tips for Flexible Learning Designs (FL) 315 What Are Flexible Learning Designs? 316 FL Tip 1: Incorporating Online Elements Quickly--Five Essentials 317 FL Tip 2: Making Large Online Classes Feel Small 322 FL Tip 3: Structuring the Synchronous Online Class Meeting 326 Conclusion--and What's Next 330 Pause, Reflect, and Integrate 330 12 What's Next: Reflecting and Looking Forward 331 Reflecting and Looking Forward Using the Four Course Phases 331 Design and Preparation Phase 332 Reflecting on Phase One, Course Beginnings 333 Reflecting on Phase Two, Early Middle 334 Reflecting on Phase Three, Late Middle 335 Reflecting on Phase Four, Closing Weeks 336 Reflecting and Looking Forward with the Learning Experiences Framework 337 Learner 337 Faculty Mentor 338 Content and Knowledge Resources and Goals 338 Environment and Context 339 Advice from Fellow Online Instructors 340 Advice 1: Just Do Your Best 340 Advice 2: It's Kind of Fun to Do the Impossible! 340 Advice 3: Be Prepared to Learn a Lot 341 Advice 4: Don't Underestimate the Value of Connection 342 Advice 5: Let Go of What Used to Be 342 Conclusion: Innovation as a Three-Phase Process 343 References 345 Index 369