Classroom teachers are increasingly expected to teach online - creating content area courses from scratch with little support or training. But high-quality, researched-based online teaching has its own particular set of skills and expectations, and most resources are directed at college-level instructors. This no-nonsense handbook is for that busy classroom teacher, with clear techniques for planning, instruction, and assessment, as well as sections on teaching students with diverse needs and exceptionalities. Based on the authors real-life experiences as an online teacher, there are multiple examples including sample assignments across content areas, rubrics for grading, and sample scripts for parent contact as well as tips to reduce instructor workload and conduct successful live instruction.
Demystifies online teaching for both enthusiastic and wary educators and helps faculty who teach online do their best work as digital instructors. It is difficult to imagine a college class today that does not include some online component—whether a simple posting of a syllabus to course management software, the use of social media for communication, or a full-blown course offering through a MOOC platform. In Teaching Online, Claire Howell Major describes for college faculty the changes that accompany use of such technologies and offers real-world strategies for surmounting digital teaching challenges. Teaching with these evolving media requires instructors to alter the ways in which they conceive of and do their work, according to Major. They must frequently update their knowledge of learning, teaching, and media, and they need to develop new forms of instruction, revise and reconceptualize classroom materials, and refresh their communication patterns. Faculty teaching online must also reconsider the student experience and determine what changes for students ultimately mean for their own work and for their institutions. Teaching Online presents instructors with a thoughtful synthesis of educational theory, research, and practice as well as a review of strategies for managing the instructional changes involved in teaching online. In addition, this book presents examples of best practices from successful online instructors as well as cutting-edge ideas from leading scholars and educational technologists. Faculty members, researchers, instructional designers, students, administrators, and policy makers who engage with online learning will find this book an invaluable resource.
This practical resource draws on the best of neuroscience to inform decision-making about digital learning. We live in unprecedented times that have pushed schools to make many decisions that have been postponed for years. For the first time since the inception of public education, teachers have been invited to redesign the learning landscape by integrating an intelligent selection of digital educational resources and changing pedagogical approaches based on information from the learning sciences. This handbook will help teachers make the most of this opportunity by showing them how to use digital tools to differentiate learning, employ alternative options to standardized testing, personalize learning, prioritize social-emotional skills, and inspire students to think more critically. The author identifies some gems in quality teaching that are amplified in online contexts, including 40 evidence-informed pedagogies from the learning sciences. This book will help all educators move online teaching and learning to new levels of confidence and success. Book Features: Provides quick references to key planning tools like decision-trees, graphics, app recommendations, and step-by-step directions to help teachers create their own online learning courses.Guides teachers through a 12-step model for instructional design that meets both national and international standards.Shows educators how to use an all-new Digital Resource Taxonomy to select resources, and how to research and keep them up to date.Explains why good instructional design and educational technology are complementary with best practices in learning sciences like Mind, Brain, and Education Science.Shares ways teachers can leverage technology to create more time for the personalized aspects of learning. Shows educators how to design online courses with tools that let all students begin at their own starting points and how to differentiate homework.Offers evidence-informed pedagogies to make online intimate and authentic for students.
Teaching Online: A Practical Guide is a practical, concise guide for educators teaching online. This updated edition has been fully revamped and reflects important changes that have occurred since the second edition’s publication. A leader in the online field, this best- selling resource maintains its reader friendly tone and offers exceptional practical advice, new teaching examples, faculty interviews, and an updated resource section. New to this edition: new chapter on how faculty and instructional designers can work collaboratively expanded chapter on Open Educational Resources, copyright, and intellectual property more international relevance, with global examples and interviews with faculty in a wide variety of regions new interactive Companion Website that invites readers to post questions to the author, offers real-life case studies submitted by users, and includes an updated, online version of the resource section. Focusing on the "how" and "whys" of implementation rather than theory, this text is a must-have resource for anyone teaching online or for students enrolled in Distance Learning and Educational Technology Masters Programs.
In this valuable resource, experts share deep knowledge including practical “how-to” and preventive trouble-shooting tips. Instructors will learn about course design and development, instructional methods for online teaching, and student engagement and community building techniques. The book contains successful teaching strategies, guidance for facilitating interactions and responding to diversity, and assessments, as well as future directions for online learning. With many field-tested examples and practice assignments, and with voices from students, teachers, and experts, this book arms instructors and administrators with the tools they need to teach effective and empowering online courses. This one-stop resource addresses all of the core elements of online teaching in terms that are universally applicable to any content area and at any instructional level. “A rare book in education: one that is not only highly useful but also intellectually coherent and based on robusta>, transferable principles of learning and teaching. All educators—in online environments and in brick-and-mortar schools—will find this an invaluable resource.” —From the Foreword by Grant Wiggins “We now know we can get increased participation with online tools to make thinking more visible and switch the traditional delivery of instruction to personalize learning. While it is inevitable that online learning will become an important skill for everyone, the ideas, concepts, strategies, design elements, and tools in the book by Thormann and Zimmerman can also be applied to blended learning.” —Alan November, Senior Partner and Founder, November Learning “The authors of this book have created an excellent resource for anyone interested in becoming an online instructor or improving his or her skills in online teaching. The authors share a wealth of step-by-step activities, examples of assignments and teaching strategies that will guide both novice and experienced teachers as they expand their skills into the online realm. Even as a ‘veteran’ online instructor the book provided me with new ideas to try in my next online class.” —Sam Gladstein, Coordinator, Edmonds eLearning Program at Edmonds School District, WA “Cheers to Thormann and Zimmerman for providing a must-read for online teaching. This clear and practical guide takes the instructor from design to implementation of online courses. The authors remove the anxiety about online teaching for those thinking about on-screen instruction, and provide new thinking and examples for those already immersed in it. It is a great guide for those entering the field and a superb resource for those actively engaged in it.” —Anthony J. Bent, Chairman, Global Studies-21st Century Skills Committee of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Book Features: The building blocks necessary to create a successful online course. The know-how of long-time online instructors. Models for Skype conferencing with groups of students. Templates for course building, including sample assignments, activities, assessments, and emails. Detailed treatment of diversity in the online environment Joan Thormann is professor in the division of Technology in Education at Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She edits a column on technology and special needs for Learning and Leading with Technology. Isa Kaftal Zimmerman is the principal of IKZ Advisors in Boston, Massachusetts, an educational consulting firm serving educators and stakeholders in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
This pithy yet thorough book provides an evidence-based guide on how to prepare for online teaching, especially for those who are making a swift transition from face-to-face to online instruction. Guided by the Model Teaching Characteristics created by The Society for the Teaching of Psychology, this book covers important topics like: how to adapt to expected and unexpected changes in teaching, how to evaluate yourself and your peers, and tips on working smarter/optimizing working practices with the resources available. The features of the book include: Practical examples exploring how to solve the typical problems of designing and instructing online courses. Interactive "Worked Examples" and "Working Smarter" callouts throughout the book which offer practical demonstrations to help teachers learn new skills. Further reading and resources to build on knowledge about online education. End of chapter checklists which summarizes suggestions about how to be a model online teacher. This essential resource will provide support for teachers of all levels and disciplines, from novice to the most experienced, during the transition to online teaching.
Find out how to apply learning science in online classes The concept of small teaching is simple: small and strategic changes have enormous power to improve student learning. Instructors face unique and specific challenges when teaching an online course. This book offers small teaching strategies that will positively impact the online classroom. This book outlines practical and feasible applications of theoretical principles to help your online students learn. It includes current best practices around educational technologies, strategies to build community and collaboration, and minor changes you can make in your online teaching practice, small but impactful adjustments that result in significant learning gains. Explains how you can support your online students Helps your students find success in this non-traditional learning environment Covers online and blended learning Addresses specific challenges that online instructors face in higher education Small Teaching Online presents research-based teaching techniques from an online instructional design expert and the bestselling author of Small Teaching.
The Online Teaching Survival Guide offers faculty a wide array of theory-based techniques designed for online teaching and technology-enhanced courses. Written by two pioneers in distance education, this guidebook presents practical instructional strategies spread out over a four-phase timeline that covers the lifespan of a course. The book includes information on a range of topics such as course management, social presence, community building, and assessment. Based on traditional pedagogical theory, The Online Teaching Survival Guide integrates the latest research in cognitive processing and learning outcomes. Faculty with little knowledge of educational theory and those well versed in pedagogy will find this resource essential for developing their online teaching skills. Praise for The Online Teaching Survival Guide "At a time when resources for training faculty to teach online are scarce, Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad have presented a must-read for all instructors new to online teaching. By tying best practices to the natural rhythms of a course as it unfolds, instructors will know what to do when and what to expect. The book is a life raft in what can be perceived as turbulent and uncharted waters." —Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, program directors and faculty, Teaching in the Virtual Classroom Program, Fielding Graduate University "Developed from years of experience supporting online faculty, Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad's book provides practical tips and checklists that should especially help those new to online teaching hit the ground running." —Karen Swan, Stukel Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Illinois Springfield "This book blends a fine synthesis of research findings with plenty of practical advice. This book should be especially valuable for faculty teaching their first or second course online. But any instructor, no matter how experienced, is likely to find valuable insights and techniques." —Stephen C. Ehrmann, director, Flashlight Program for the Study and Improvement of Educational Uses of Technology; vice president, The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group
An update to a provocative manifesto intended to serve as a platform for debate and as a resource and inspiration for those teaching in online environments. In 2011, a group of scholars associated with the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh released “The Manifesto for Teaching Online,” a series of provocative statements intended to articulate their pedagogical philosophy. In the original manifesto and a 2016 update, the authors counter both the “impoverished” vision of education being advanced by corporate and governmental edtech and higher education’s traditional view of online students and teachers as second-class citizens. The two versions of the manifesto were much discussed, shared, and debated. In this book, Siân Bayne, Peter Evans, Rory Ewins, Jeremy Knox, James Lamb, Hamish Macleod, Clara O'Shea, Jen Ross, Philippa Sheail and Christine Sinclair have expanded the text of the 2016 manifesto, revealing the sources and larger arguments behind the abbreviated provocations. The book groups the twenty-one statements (“Openness is neither neutral nor natural: it creates and depends on closures”; “Don’t succumb to campus envy: we are the campus”) into five thematic sections examining place and identity, politics and instrumentality, the primacy of text and the ethics of remixing, the way algorithms and analytics “recode” educational intent, and how surveillance culture can be resisted. Much like the original manifestos, this book is intended as a platform for debate, as a resource and inspiration for those teaching in online environments, and as a challenge to the techno-instrumentalism of current edtech approaches. In a teaching environment shaped by COVID-19, individuals and institutions will need to do some bold thinking in relation to resilience, access, teaching quality, and inclusion.
