Northwest eLearn Webinar - 2013 - Lessons from the field: An analysis of online instructors’ “best practices” Watch the recording at http://patricklowenthal.com/2013/03/lessons-from-the-field-an-analysis-of-online-instructors-best-practices-webinar-recording/

1. Lessons from the field:
An analysis of online instructors’
“best practices”
Patrick Lowenthal
Boise State University
@plowenthal
Joni Dunlap
University of Colorado Denver
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slides @ patricklowenthal.com

2. Stefan Sagmeister
http://www.ted.com/speakers/stefan_sagmeister.html
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3. 3

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6. We created a list of the things
we’d learned in our online
courses so far…
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7. Patrick’s lessons…
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8. Patrick’s #1:
Feedback is
essential
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9. Learning
online can
be isolating
and lonely
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10. Need to
dig deeper
w/ in-
depth
feedback
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11. Low-tech
& high-tech
approaches
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12. Patrick’s #2:
“Guide on
the side” =
absent
professor
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13. Strategies to take:
•Outline your teaching philosophy
•Explain your role in group
discussions
•Establish how long it should take you
to respond to questions
•Identify how often & when you are
online
•Provide students with multiple means
of communication (e.g., email, IM,
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14. Strategies to take:
•Outline your teaching philosophy
•Explain your role in group
discussions
•Establish how long it should take you
to respond to questions
•Identify how often & when you are
online
•Provide students with multiple means
of communication (e.g., email, IM,
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15. Strategies to take:
•Outline your teaching philosophy
•Explain your role in group
discussions
•Establish how long it should take you
to respond to questions
•Identify how often & when you are
online
•Provide students with multiple means
of communication (e.g., email, IM,
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16. Strategies to take:
•Outline your teaching philosophy
•Explain your role in group
discussions
•Establish how long it should take you
to respond to questions
•Identify how often & when you are
online
•Provide students with multiple means
of communication (e.g., email, IM,
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17. Strategies to take:
•Outline your teaching philosophy
•Explain your role in group
discussions
•Establish how long it should take you
to respond to questions
•Identify how often & when you are
online
•Provide students with multiple means
of communication (e.g., email, IM,
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18. Joni’s lessons…
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19. Joni’s #1:
High touch is
just as important
as high tech,
if not more so
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21. Joni’s #2: Don't under-estimate the power of fun,
play, and the unexpected 21

22. People don’t pay attention to boring
things.
– Emotional arousal helps the brain learn.
– Audiences check out after 10 minutes, but you can
keep grabbing them back by telling narratives or
creating events rich in emotion.
~ Medina (2008), Brain Rules, pg. 94
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28. Your lessons…
Now it’s your turn!
What are your lessons learned?
Please go to
http://tinyurl.com/nwelearn2013
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29. So, we’ve been collecting lessons
at several conferences...
• Cite
• COLTT
• EdMedia
• EDUCAUSE ELI
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30. Student support
• Address all “learning styles”
• Have effective rubrics
• Model what you want from students
• Be more concrete and explicit with
instructions
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31. Structure and Presentation
• Put information in digestible chunks
• Use guest lectures where appropriate
• Assign meaningful work
• Use technology intentionally
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32. Presence
• Know your audience
• Be accessible
• Be kind
• Have a sense of humor
• Use synchronous technologies
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33. Personal impact
• Teaching online can be done
anytime/anywhere, but it sure stinks to
be teaching while on vacation
• The world is your audience
• I have learned how to use an iPad in
class
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34. Your coding…
How do your lessons learned align
with these four categories?
--Student Support
--Structure and Presentation
--Presence
--Personal Impact
Please go to
http://tinyurl.com/nwelearn2013
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35. • slides @ patricklowenthal.com
@
• patricklowenthal@boisestate.edu
• Twitter: @plowenthal
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